Comments on: It’s not war, it’s just automation

By: » It’s not war, it’s just automation 7 Year Bitch: What The World Is Saying About 7 Year Bitch

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:16:38 +0000

[...] not war, it’s just automation Posted in June 23rd, 2008 by in Uncategorized It’s not war, it’s just automation Why is it that we like to bitch and complain about the way things are but are completely unwilling [...]

By: David Schrag

David Schrag — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:19:59 +0000

@Amy B: I worked at Wendy’s for four weeks after high school; does that count?

@Vijay: Not only are techy courses hard but (at least in my day) they’re not cool. Our culture(s?) generally link intelligence with unpopularity. Are there any cultures where the smartest and hardest-working kids are the ones who are most celebrated, or do jocks rule the world everywhere?

By: Amy B

Amy B — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:03:54 +0000

80% of all career paths include a stint at McDonalds. If you haven’t work there yet, then you probably will.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:08:40 +0000

A good friend of mine owns a trash company, and has replaced most of the guys on the back of the truck with a automated system he runs from cab of the truck “with three fingers”.
They operate mostly in smaller communities, but a larger nearby town ran a story about him and there were howls in the paper that (some) citizens didn’t want it because they couldn’t support anything that would be taking away jobs! And this is picking up trash! And they’re paying wages, benefits, insurance, workers comp., etc. through taxes for those guys, and they don’t want it automated. Just unbelievable.

By: StaceyC

StaceyC — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:33:21 +0000

Great post.

And, Vijay…truer words have never been spoken, great observation.

A couple of articles I have read lately have pointed to a couple of interesting consequences of high fuel costs: illegal workers are returning home (they can’t make AS much more money here as they used to) and jobs may be returning overseas (rising Chinese wages+high transportation costs negates any prior benefits of outsourcing manufacturing jobs)…who knew!

By: Vijay Singh Riyait

Vijay Singh Riyait — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:10:07 +0000

I won’t even have to crawl under that security fence either or apply for one of those Visa thingies! I’ll be coming under the Visa Waiver Programme – God Bless America

We’ve discussed this offline and one of the fundamental problems both sides of the Atlantic is that the kids don’t want to do technical/science courses because they are too hard. Much easier to go do a Arts/Media course and pretty much come out unemployable with the only option being to get on to “America/Britain’s Got Talent”. As you say we have only ourselves to blame.

Also, people think India is one way traffic but that is a place of opportunity for those companies willing to sell/market their services there.

It’s a global business world out there, even at the small business level. If you’re not on the edge then you are pretty much nowhere.