Robots
are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax
companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of
automation and to fund other types of employment.
Funny. He made no
such suggestion when the spreadsheet and word processor replaced all of this:
When asked if he is “more on the side that government should
play an active role rather than rely on businesses to figure this out?” Gates responded: “Well, business can’t.”
Government can
play an active role; actively stop
subsidizing robots and actively stop
placing labor at a disadvantage.
Eliminate the minimum wage, such that businesses aren’t
forced to automate in order to offset artificially high wages; stop subsidizing
credit that then allows for higher investment in robots than would otherwise be
the case.
Do this, and businesses can
“figure it out.”
Bill Gates might advocate for solutions that strike at the
source of the problem, as opposed to solutions that will only result in
evermore government control over our lives.
Look, I said “might.”
Spot on, as usual.
ReplyDeleteThank you, gpond. I always value your comments.
DeleteI've said it before (probably here), but Gates is just an EXTREMELY lucky sleazeball who bilked some nerd into giving him DOS for a song, then flipping it to a clueless IBM for giga's.
ReplyDeleteEverything else is marketing (not by him) and corporate devouring of smaller startups for their IP.
An embarrassment to our generation.
Capn
DeleteI begrudge him none of this. He made voluntary deals with voluntary agents. I should have been so smart / lucky.
His transgression in my eyes?
"The U.S. couldn't even get rid of Saddam Hussein. And we all know that the EU is just a passing fad. They'll be killing each other again in less than a year. I'm sick to death of all these fascist lawsuits."
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/eu.html
What happened to *THAT* Bill Gates? We all know the answer.
To paraphrase Jesus (yes, THAT Jesus): "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to remain truthful and honest."
Machines, whether mechanical or electrical robots controlled by software, have been taking over jobs since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. For more than two centuries, mankind has been on this trajectory of machines leveraging human muscles and now human brains. Machines have always brought riches to those who could first find a need for one.
ReplyDeleteLike so many rich men, Bill Gates has made his fortune from machines (of a sort) and now wants government to intervene in the marketplace to prevent others from also becoming wealthy.
BM made a very good point that perhaps our economy wouldn't be so heavily mechanized if government intervention didn't accelerate the substitution of machines for labor by making investment in automation cheaper than paying artificially high wages or complying with expensive labor laws.
How fitting that the photo BM posted of a pre-spreadsheet and pre-wordprocessor office is that of the interior of the office building that Frank Lloyd Wright had designed in Buffalo in the early 20th century for the Larkin Soap Company. Contrary to socialists' Robber Baron propaganda, the Larkin's management wanted a modern, well lighted, safe, physically comfortable and even spiritually uplifting workplace for their employees. Wright gave them one of America's great work spaces.
The fire proof Larkin Building pioneered air conditioning, wall hung toilets and steel furniture. In addition to naturally lighted workrooms, the building also offered a restaurant, a lounge with fireplace and piano, a library, a classroom and a rooftop conservatory. There's not much here over which a socialist rabble rouser could get workers riled up.
As with so much else, the creative destruction of the free market, with perhaps more than a little hidden assistance from government intervention, killed the Larkin business model. Less than 50 years after its construction, Wright's great building needlessly fell to the wrecking ball to be replaced by - nothing. Except for a small archaeological fragment, the site is still empty. We are all a bit culturally poorer for the loss of this brawny masterpiece which an architectural genius envisioned as a cathedral for the celebration of work.
Thank you for the fabulous history of the building!!!
Delete"...perhaps our economy wouldn't be so heavily mechanized if government intervention didn't accelerate the substitution of machines for labor..."
I think it is even more significant - these actions send jobs overseas to low cost countries.
On the other side, without any of the interventions it is easy to imagine even more progress in mechanization / automation, but one that would be more stable and sustainable.