March 2 Letters: Silicon Valley must address automation issues – The Mercury News

P.K. Agarwals oped (Opinion, Feb. 28) on the disruption of jobs with new technology (e.g. self-driving vehicles) is likely well-meaning and informative, but shows a core problem that has now dramatically become front and center. The election showed that large numbers of Americans are worried about their futures. Automation eliminates jobs, disrupts careers, and can ruin lives for those who are unprepared for it. It also improves quality, reduces costs, improves safety, uses less resources, and many other benefits.

If there is one thing Silicon Valley can learn from the last few years, simply treating technology and automation as unicorns and rainbows and ignoring its social disruptions has stoked a backlash that will only grow as automation spreads. It will not dissipate until the social costs are addressed on an equal level, and not just by suggesting online classes, as Agarwal writes offhandedly, but by specific programs that reach the millions of displaced workers. It is in Silicon Valleys deepest interest to address these issues proactively.

Michael Klein Palo Alto

Republicans say they want to reduce health insurance costs by allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines. There is not a state in the country that bars an insurance company from selling within it if the company is in good standing, has a presence in the state and thus falls under the consumer protection laws of that state. By allowing companies to sell across state lines Republicans want to allow insurance companies to locate their headquarters where consumer protections are lax. There is evidence this may already be happening. If you have a problem with an insurance company denying a claim or refusing to pay, you have to go to the state where the headquarters is located rather than your states Insurance Commissioner. Ask a Republican if they will require the insurance company who sells across state lines to be under the consumer protection laws of the state where the policy holder resides. I have and was greeted with silence.

HarveyJohnson San Jose

President Trumps speech and the Democratic response, thanks to the advent of television and social media, is nothing more than pure theater, a stage for meaningless political rhetoric. Nothing was said that he hasnt said before. Goals were set that wont be reached, and promises were made that will not be kept. It makes no difference who or which political party is in power, very little happens for the greater good. Our polarized dysfunctional political system wont allow any meaningful accomplishments.

Joseph Rizzuto Los Gatos

So, what if Hillary Clinton had also won the Electoral College vote and, in the first week of her administration, before all of her team was in place, she green lighted a risky raid on Yemen over a dinner table, not in the Situation Room, did not observe the raid from the Situation Room, apparently tweeted about a TV program during a raid that resulted in Yemeni civilian deaths, the loss of an MV-22 Osprey aircraft and the death of a Navy Seal, whose father, Bill Owens, did not want to meet with the president while at Dover Base to receive the body of his son. Would the Republicans be shouting lock her up? And would the Republican Congress be convening a committee to investigate Benghazi II?

Bob Davis San Jose

Commander-in Chief Donald Trump wants to spend more than half (54 percent) of our budget on the military (Page 1A, Feb. 28). He must have forgot that the United States already spends more money on defense than the next 10 nations combined. With Russia as a friendly ally, we would have hoped the defense budget might have gone down not up. Unfortunately, Trump missed some early training when he resisted military service five times as a young man. One hopes his bellicose attitude doesnt lead us into an unnecessary war.

Stan Fitzgerald San Jose

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March 2 Letters: Silicon Valley must address automation issues - The Mercury News