51% of all job tasks can be handled by today's automation

[ohio#1nolefan]

I am not sure on how much the threat of the min wage going up had anything to do with McDonalds decisions. When I was in Europe the McDonalds had that system before I saw it here in the states. I am not sure how long Europe has had them but def before we did. Scan your own grocery’s has been around a lot longer than the 15 dollar an hour strike BS. Companies are always going to look at ways to increase efficiency and lower labor cost, regardless of min wage.

I agree with all that...
I think the threat of min wage going up as it was proposed, expedited implementation of Mcd's usage of automation. Mcd's has been on a downward spiral for quite some time now, so they need to cut costs anyways. I just read ever since they did away with their big dollar menu they have been struggling. (a few years now)

 

[PoopandBoogers]

 

[ReliableOstrich]

I agree with all that...
I think the threat of min wage going up as it was proposed, expedited implementation of Mcd's usage of automation. Mcd's has been on a downward spiral for quite some time now, so they need to cut costs anyways. I just read ever since they did away with their big dollar menu they have been struggling. (a few years now)

mcd's problem isn't wages, it's they can't market their crap food to enough people.

 

[fsunole025]

I'm a software test (QA) manager and I know this work can and should be automated for the most part...

"This work". Is that in response to statutes and underwriting or quality assurance in software development? Either way, I agree it can and should be automated. That might come across as rude or controversial, but the reality is, manual testing can be automated just as preparing fast food.

The concept of automation is forward thinking but will take decades to accomplish. That is unless Skynet happens sooner than predicted. But seriously, there just aren't enough people in the world that are smart enough and motivated to do this type of knowledge work. I've worked with thousands of software development people and I might have met a dozen that were truly amazing at what they do. It's still a relatively undiscovered craft.

 

[GwinnettNole]

"This work". Is that in response to statutes and underwriting or quality assurance in software development? Either way, I agree it can and should be automated. That might come across as rude or controversial, but the reality is, manual testing can be automated just as preparing fast food.

The concept of automation is forward thinking but will take decades to accomplish. That is unless Skynet happens sooner than predicted. But seriously, there just aren't enough people in the world that are smart enough and motivated to do this type of knowledge work. I've worked with thousands of software development people and I might have met a dozen that were truly amazing at what they do. It's still a relatively undiscovered craft.

The QA of software development is what I was referring to. Don't get me wrong it will take a long time to do what we want but we will no longer hire QA's that do not have coding experience and who aren't interested in writing code. To tell the truth, I can see the interest that programming brings--- it actually is pretty cool. I know that doesn't answer the question of can they write code in a way that meets our needs of course.

What we do now is have experienced developers write code to build the automation framework and the QAs use the framework to automate their test cases. If the resource has no interest in writing code they are shown the door. Adapt or you are out......

 

[Noleguy06]

Anytime UBI comes up but everyone thinks it's for low wages ie fast food workers. This is going to be an issue to for people on wall street or hedge fund workers. It's cheaper and more reliable to have robots/automated systems than humans.

 

[Flie]

The one job segment that could actually grow during all this is IT jobs (software development, DBA, Support, Project Management) because you will still need to program the robots and ensure that work is being done. I'm a software test (QA) manager and I know this work can and should be automated for the most part...

Sys admins and engineers would also be on that list of IT jobs. Somebody needs to know how these automation systems work and be able to design/implement them and fix them when they break.

Highly automated factories also still have a need for maintenance techs, mechanical/electrical engineers, shipping/receiving managers, office staff etc...