A crisis is coming! Robots are taking your jobs
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This post was last edited by ztj1118 on 2015-11-4 at 11:40. China first became the world’s largest buyer of robots, and then it became the world’s largest user of robots. The rise of robots raises concerns that certain jobs in China will be replaced. The president of the International Robot Federation said that robots can free people from simple, monotonous, and complicated tasks, thereby enabling them to engage in more creative work. In recent years, driven by factors such as China’s accelerating aging population, rising labor costs, and its strategic initiatives, China has first become the world’s largest buyer of robots and then the world’s largest user of them. Robots are playing an increasingly important role in China’s economy, but they also put some workers at risk of losing their jobs. I. The Rise of Robots 1. Defeating the United States: Chinese robots set a Guinness World Record. Yesterday, the Chinese robot \"Xingzhe-1\" (developed by a team from Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications) walked a distance of 134.03 kilometers, thereby breaking the Guinness World Record for the greatest distance covered by a quadrupedal robot. This not only breaks the record previously held by American robots, but also marks the rise of Chinese robots. The rise of robots raises concerns that certain jobs in China will be replaced. 2. China has become the world’s largest user of robots. The rise of robotics in China began with purchases; in 2013, China acquired over 36,000 robots, surpassing Japan, the United States, and Germany to become the world’s largest buyer of robots. CNN Money reported recently that China surpassed Japan in 2014 to become the world’s largest user of robots. 3. The rise of domestic robots. China currently has 420 robotics companies, with over 30 robotics industrial parks under construction or already in operation. According to data from the China Robot Industry Alliance, around 37,000 robots were sold in China in 2013, with nearly 3/4 of them being manufactured abroad. The number of domestic robots has tripled to around 10,000 units, and it is expected that the goal set by the authorities to have domestic brands account for one-third of total sales by 2015 will be achieved. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) states that as automation increases in automobile and electronics factories, by 2017 the number of robots used in Chinese factories will exceed that of any other country. China is the world’s largest robot market, but its robot usage density is far lower than that of other developed countries. In China’s manufacturing sector, there are only 30 robots per 10,000 workers, while South Korea has 437 robots per 10,000 workers; Japan has 323 robots per 10,000 workers, and Germany and the United States have 282 and 152 robots per 10,000 workers respectively. This means that the rise of robots in China has just begun. II. Reasons for the Rise The rise of robots in China is mainly due to the following 3 reasons: 1. Accelerating aging population. CNN reported that China’s working-age population declined by 3.7 million in 2014. The \"Report on China’s Aging Society and the Development of Pension Security (2014)\」states that the pace and extent of population aging in China are faster than in other countries; it took China 40 years less to move from an aging society to a highly aging society compared to the United States. This is attributed to China’s long-term implementation of a one-child family planning policy, as well as rapid urbanization, which have led to low birth rates. 2. The wage level is too high. Rising labor costs in China have increased the market’s demand for robots. During the decade from 2004 to 2013, the average wage of workers in China’s manufacturing sector tripled, with an average annual increase of 15%, while the price of robots dropped by 30% each year. There has never been a country **like China that has seen such a surge in demand for robots in such a short period of time. Chinese manufacturers, facing rising labor costs, also tend to use more robots. Foxconn previously announced a plan to purchase 1 million robots over 3 years. In addition, its factory in Chengdu has been fully operated by robots. 3. The development strategy of **. In the five-year plan for 2011–2015, China identified the robotics industry as one of its key areas for development, with the goal of creating 4–5 leading domestic robotics companies and achieving an annual production volume of 13,000 robots. Affected by these factors, China has made tremendous progress both in robot manufacturing and in the use of robots. III. The Impact of the Rise In a previous report, The New York Times noted that automation has had a significant impact on job opportunities in Chinese factories: from 1995 to 2002, around 16 million factory jobs were lost, accounting for approximately 15% of all manufacturing jobs in China. This trend will also accelerate. Job positions in Chinese factories are likely to disappear at a faster pace than in the United States and other developed countries. A study shows that as many as 43% of Chinese employees believe their educational level is higher than what is required for their current position. As software automation and artificial intelligence have an increasingly greater impact on knowledge-based jobs, especially entry-level positions, it is becoming more difficult for employees who wish to improve their skills to find work. Recently, the World Economic Forum’s website listed 12 job roles that are being replaced by robots. According to a research report from Oxford University in the UK, cited by Bloomberg, robots will replace half of the workforce in the United States over the next 10 to 20 years. Around 700 different types of jobs are facing the threat of computer automation. Among them, journalists, taxi drivers, lawyers and law assistants, security personnel, retail staff, and even musicians and singers are all threatened by intelligent robots. The talents of robots in the field of writing have been demonstrated, with some media outlets including the Associated Press and Bloomberg using robots to write news articles. In addition, robots can also perform some tasks that are relatively dangerous for humans, such as mine clearance. Today, the third mine-clearing operation was carried out along the China-Vietnam border, with mine-clearing robots being deployed. Whether the use of robots represents a liberation for humans is a question that scholars have debated for years. However, data shows that Germany is one of the countries with the highest level of automation in the world, yet its unemployment rate is among the lowest among developed countries. This also strongly proves that automation and employment are not contradictory. Barron Selly, president of the International Robot Federation, said that robots can free people from simple, monotonous, and complicated tasks, thereby enabling them to engage in more creative work. Therefore, while robots take away human jobs, they also provide humans with an opportunity to develop creativity. Faced with the rise of robots in China, we perhaps should think more and panic less.
1. There are external links； 2. No matter how efficient the machine is, few bosses are willing to spend money on it. 3. Once there are not enough job opportunities and a large number of people become unemployed, this creates instability in society – **will that lead you to use robots?**
**They won’t allow a large number of people to remain unemployed, especially in China. Do you know that the changes of dynasties throughout Chinese history were essentially caused by the common people rising up in rebellion when they had nothing to eat? Don’t underestimate the ordinary people; when we’re extremely hungry, we can be just as fierce as wolves. . .
Robots will become widespread, taking over tasks that are not suitable for human handling, without significantly affecting people’s jobs. Support **strategy!
At present, the overall use of robots in China is still lower than that in Europe and the United States, and in the future their use will be limited to large-scale industries. After all, the programs need to be designed by humans, with the robots simply following the paths set by those humans; there is still a long way to go before true artificial intelligence can be achieved.
Machines can only perform repetitive actions during mass production, and it is then that they become useful; moreover, with no interference from external factors, humans are far more flexible than machines
The use of robots has increased the role of technology as a factor in traditional manufacturing processes. The reliance on frontline workers in the process of capital accumulation has decreased, and many people who used to work at the front line will now serve capitalists in other ways. This has led to an increase in the proportion of the service sector in the national economy. Workers in the secondary industry are forced to switch to working in the tertiary industry. Employment remains balanced, but while workers in the primary industry strive for product excellence, those in the tertiary industry must focus on providing a good customer experience. In this way, we are gradually moving into the post-industrial era.
While it can’t be called exaggeration, it can be considered unfounded worry. I think it’s a good thing, as it frees workers from heavy physical labor, especially from environments filled with toxic and harmful dust. This is progress for society. Those who have not worked in the harsh conditions of a chemical plant certainly cannot understand this feeling. As for what these people who take their places can do, they can only enter the tertiary sector; they need guidance so that at least they can work in better conditions, free from the cruel reality of occupational diseases. In short, rather than worrying about unemployment, we should be concerned about the challenges that the intelligence of robots poses to humanity.