Robot builds house in two days

Nobody will be able to afford a house if the robots take away all the jobs. The few people making these robots will be the only ones with money. We need to create jobs, not put everyone on welfare.

Still going to require other trades to finish the job and probably skilled human brickies to do parts, it'll probably reduce the build time by a good factor but until the hire cost is less than the cost of a good team it'll never really catch on

Marx presciently stated that humans would have to compete with machines. In the 70's it was widely reported that the computer revolution would mean more leisure-time. Well, that didn't work out. Now women work as well as men for the same household standard of living. To further reduce pay, the authorities are mass importing cheap labor from abroad. In other news, the robotization of car factories require less workers. Where will it end? Let's face it--the uber-rich must be thinking with the development of robots what do they need all that labor for? Plus over-population...They won't give up their controlling wealth. Killing time, I guess. Maybe they figure that a natural plague will do the job. But an unnatural one would be better (one that they have a vaccine for).

Robots taking our jobs? Some economists don't seem to think that's the case. This article from the Brookings Institution titled "Don’t blame the robots for lost manufacturing jobs" (April 29, 2015) goes into some depth with the issue.

Between 1993 and 2007 (the timeframe studied by Graetz and Micheals) the United States increased the number of robots per hour worked by 237 percent. During the same period the U.S. economy shed 2.2 million manufacturing jobs. Assuming the two trends are linked doesn’t seem farfetched.

Of course, correlation is not causation, and there is no shortage of alternative explanations for the decline in U.S. manufacturing. Globalization, offshoring, and skills gaps are just three frequently cited causes. Moreover, some researchers, like MIT’s David Autor, have argued that workers are benefiting from working alongside robots.

The article continues to compare the United States with other industrialized and robotized nations, such as Germany, Sweden, and South Korea, and how the introduction of robots has impacted each nation.

Another way to look at this is to ask: How many jobs would each economy have lost if the decline in manufacturing employment was proportional to the increase in robots?

By this metric the United States should have lost one-third more manufacturing jobs than it actually did and Germany should have lost 50 percent more, while the United Kingdom lost five times more than it should have. The lesson is that the net impacts of automation on employment in manufacturing are not simple, and at least during the time frame studied here [1993 to 2007] they cannot be said to have caused job losses.

So, while this is a pretty neat development, I wouldn't worry too much about it taking away bricklaying jobs in any real fashion any time soon.

a reply to: undo

"if people could do the type of work they would actually enjoy instead of what they feel they have to do, things would be just fine."

People seldom enjoy the luxury of working at something they actually like doing.

"certainly there would still be a market for old style constructed homes, so it wouldn't be completely gone."

Dont know buddy i seen my parents both in there late 50s lose there home down to the last building recession simply because my Father, a carpenter, lost his employment and could not find suitable paid work of a similar caliber.

"if we expanded our space exploration and actually started a large scale colonization of cities in space, on planets and so on, the jobs would be everywhere."

I tend to agree with you there but short of humanity inventing a method of getting raw materials and machinery in to low earth orbit at an affordable cost that's not going to happen any time soon im afraid.

originally posted by: ScreenBogey
Marx presciently stated that humans would have to compete with machines. In the 70's it was widely reported that the computer revolution would mean more leisure-time. Well, that didn't work out. Now women work as well as men for the same household standard of living. To further reduce pay, the authorities are mass importing cheap labor from abroad. In other news, the robotization of car factories require less workers. Where will it end? Let's face it--the uber-rich must be thinking with the development of robots what do they need all that labor for? Plus over-population...They won't give up their controlling wealth. Killing time, I guess. Maybe they figure that a natural plague will do the job. But an unnatural one would be better (one that they have a vaccine for).

If you truly believe this, in all ernesty and all of it's deepest implications; what stops you from waging war against the oppressors, why are you online telling us about it? About the men and women who would wear your skin if it bought them luxury. Where is your war then? This is not an encouragement but rather a challenge if you truly believe and I mean truly believe these things, are you not a extremist? Wouldn't you then be radicalized?

originally posted by: undo

originally posted by: EternalSolace
This type of technology just goes to show how fast our society is moving toward automation. Jobs will continue to be lost at an ever increasing level as we go further into the world of automation. I can even see how the technology behind self driving cars can used on garbage trucks, delivery trucks, and taxis. It leaves society with a question that needs to be asked; Do we continue to look at the unemployment as a bad thing, or do we start moving toward a leisure based society?

Unfortunately, I don't see technology such as this brick layer lowering the cost of homes. All that will happen is this robot will replace a human brick layer and the contractor will pocket that wage instead of lowering the cost of the house. The same goes for any job lost to automation. The wage will be pocketed and prices stay the same. That's just the type of mindset that humanity has.

in a non-regulated environment they would just try to price cut each other till the price was more reasonable.

Fewer jobs due to increased automation means more people with no income. So, as automation progresses, who will buy all these products?

a reply to: doobydoll this is why I believe it's not just people on the left concerned about the inequality of wealth, business owners and capitalists are also concerned that having such gaps in the inequality of wealth will eventually effect their bottom line.

Don't get me wrong I do love robotica, but someday they will be threatening our jobs and lives if we don't care for our construction workers to find other suitable jobs to get a paycheck. ..

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
a reply to: doobydoll this is why I believe it's not just people on the left concerned about the inequality of wealth, business owners and capitalists are also concerned that having such gaps in the inequality of wealth will eventually effect their bottom line.

Indeed, it is in the business owners' own interests to ensure workers have a bit of spare cash in their pockets to spend.

Robots makes excellent employees and increase production many-fold, but unfortunately for bosses they don't go out and buy any of it.

Greed, in it's insatiable quest to acquire as much as possible, will inevitably destroy those who live by it.