Farmers Mull Replacing Illegal Workers With Robots

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

I do recall one of the arguments you made Gary against illegal aliens is that they take away jobs from low skilled citizens, but don't robots do the same thing? Low skilled citizens wont be able to run or maintain any of these robots. Not to mention, it keeps more of the money in higher skilled jobs, which further increases the disparity between rich and poor.

And as I recall you said that illegals were necessary for our economy. It seems that in the agriculture arena they are not.

Running a machine isn't very hard. That argument was given at the begining of the automated machine tool era. The machines are a "push to start" and "push to stop" type. You could train anyone to run them.

But you miss the point, robots would take away 200 low skill jobs and replace them with a couple higher skilled jobs. These low skilled workers are not all illegal, many are citizens, and others are here on work visas. Your argument has been that illegal aliens take away jobs from low skilled workers, but so do robots. But to you its OK in one case, but not OK in the other. Your inconsistent in how you apply that argument. Its ok to take jobs away from low skiled citizens if replacing them with robots, but not OK, if replacing them with cheap immigrant labor.

just can't win with you can we?

who do you think is going to manufacture, program, and maintain these robots?

Not the people who are going to loose their jobs.

they are illegal, why is that a major issue? and those who manufacture, program, and repair/maintain the robots will have a job, plus you'll still have your low cost lettuce and other veggies.

Your making an assumption, all Ag workers are illegal. While some of them are, many are citizens or are here on a visa. So what will happen to the citizens who will loose their jobs?

who do you think will be well qualified to operate those robots? at the same time, they can cross train in repairing and maintaining them too. the glass isn't always half empty, you know?

But you need many fewer people to run and maintain a robot, than you need manual labor to handle the harvesting. Low skilled workers will be out of a job, and fewer jobs will be available for them. I think you were saying about how not everyone can afford to go to school?

as i remember, you're not anti-illegal. so why are you so concerned about citizens now and not about the illegals getting their jobs? are you having your cake and eating it too with that stance of do nothing so the illegals have jobs, or if you do something the usc's will be out of a job?

as far as robots replacing the workers, depending on how many are illegal (let's say 50%) then that leaves 50% of the employees to retrain - i'm certain that a good number of those could be involved in the maintaining of the robots. you have heard of retraining, haven't you?

[Dan J 277]

I do recall one of the arguments you made Gary against illegal aliens is that they take away jobs from low skilled citizens, but don't robots do the same thing? Low skilled citizens wont be able to run or maintain any of these robots. Not to mention, it keeps more of the money in higher skilled jobs, which further increases the disparity between rich and poor.

And as I recall you said that illegals were necessary for our economy. It seems that in the agriculture arena they are not.

Running a machine isn't very hard. That argument was given at the begining of the automated machine tool era. The machines are a "push to start" and "push to stop" type. You could train anyone to run them.

But you miss the point, robots would take away 200 low skill jobs and replace them with a couple higher skilled jobs. These low skilled workers are not all illegal, many are citizens, and others are here on work visas. Your argument has been that illegal aliens take away jobs from low skilled workers, but so do robots. But to you its OK in one case, but not OK in the other. Your inconsistent in how you apply that argument. Its ok to take jobs away from low skiled citizens if replacing them with robots, but not OK, if replacing them with cheap immigrant labor.

just can't win with you can we?

who do you think is going to manufacture, program, and maintain these robots?

Not the people who are going to loose their jobs.

they are illegal, why is that a major issue? and those who manufacture, program, and repair/maintain the robots will have a job, plus you'll still have your low cost lettuce and other veggies.

Your making an assumption, all Ag workers are illegal. While some of them are, many are citizens or are here on a visa. So what will happen to the citizens who will loose their jobs?

I don't give a flying fukc about illegals. They don't deserve any jobs here. We can deal with progress.

Apparently, you feel the same about low skilled workers, regardless of their status.

No, but I do feel that way about your opinions though.

Sure, only when they have to compete with illegals for there work, but when a automation comes along, you want them to get out of the way. In other words, you only care when its convenient for you.

[GaryC 7]

I do recall one of the arguments you made Gary against illegal aliens is that they take away jobs from low skilled citizens, but don't robots do the same thing? Low skilled citizens wont be able to run or maintain any of these robots. Not to mention, it keeps more of the money in higher skilled jobs, which further increases the disparity between rich and poor.

And as I recall you said that illegals were necessary for our economy. It seems that in the agriculture arena they are not.

Running a machine isn't very hard. That argument was given at the begining of the automated machine tool era. The machines are a "push to start" and "push to stop" type. You could train anyone to run them.

But you miss the point, robots would take away 200 low skill jobs and replace them with a couple higher skilled jobs. These low skilled workers are not all illegal, many are citizens, and others are here on work visas. Your argument has been that illegal aliens take away jobs from low skilled workers, but so do robots. But to you its OK in one case, but not OK in the other. Your inconsistent in how you apply that argument. Its ok to take jobs away from low skiled citizens if replacing them with robots, but not OK, if replacing them with cheap immigrant labor.

just can't win with you can we?

who do you think is going to manufacture, program, and maintain these robots?

Not the people who are going to loose their jobs.

they are illegal, why is that a major issue? and those who manufacture, program, and repair/maintain the robots will have a job, plus you'll still have your low cost lettuce and other veggies.

Your making an assumption, all Ag workers are illegal. While some of them are, many are citizens or are here on a visa. So what will happen to the citizens who will loose their jobs?

I don't give a flying fukc about illegals. They don't deserve any jobs here. We can deal with progress.

Apparently, you feel the same about low skilled workers, regardless of their status.

No, but I do feel that way about your opinions though.

Sure, only when they have to compete with illegals for there work, but when a automation comes along, you want them to get out of the way. In other words, you only care when its convenient for you.

What I want is immaterial. Progress is inevitable. Illegals are preventable. Your lack of understanding when it comes to lawbreakers is worrysome.

[Dan J 277]

I do recall one of the arguments you made Gary against illegal aliens is that they take away jobs from low skilled citizens, but don't robots do the same thing? Low skilled citizens wont be able to run or maintain any of these robots. Not to mention, it keeps more of the money in higher skilled jobs, which further increases the disparity between rich and poor.

And as I recall you said that illegals were necessary for our economy. It seems that in the agriculture arena they are not.

Running a machine isn't very hard. That argument was given at the begining of the automated machine tool era. The machines are a "push to start" and "push to stop" type. You could train anyone to run them.

But you miss the point, robots would take away 200 low skill jobs and replace them with a couple higher skilled jobs. These low skilled workers are not all illegal, many are citizens, and others are here on work visas. Your argument has been that illegal aliens take away jobs from low skilled workers, but so do robots. But to you its OK in one case, but not OK in the other. Your inconsistent in how you apply that argument. Its ok to take jobs away from low skiled citizens if replacing them with robots, but not OK, if replacing them with cheap immigrant labor.

just can't win with you can we?

who do you think is going to manufacture, program, and maintain these robots?

Not the people who are going to loose their jobs.

they are illegal, why is that a major issue? and those who manufacture, program, and repair/maintain the robots will have a job, plus you'll still have your low cost lettuce and other veggies.

Your making an assumption, all Ag workers are illegal. While some of them are, many are citizens or are here on a visa. So what will happen to the citizens who will loose their jobs?

who do you think will be well qualified to operate those robots? at the same time, they can cross train in repairing and maintaining them too. the glass isn't always half empty, you know?

But you need many fewer people to run and maintain a robot, than you need manual labor to handle the harvesting. Low skilled workers will be out of a job, and fewer jobs will be available for them. I think you were saying about how not everyone can afford to go to school?

as i remember, you're not anti-illegal. so why are you so concerned about citizens now and not about the illegals getting their jobs? are you having your cake and eating it too with that stance of do nothing so the illegals have jobs, or if you do something the usc's will be out of a job?

as far as robots replacing the workers, depending on how many are illegal (let's say 50%) then that leaves 50% of the employees to retrain - i'm certain that a good number of those could be involved in the maintaining of the robots. you have heard of retraining, haven't you?

I'm not really arguing for or against automation or even for or against low skilled workers keeping their jobs. I'm just pointing out an inconsistency with a point Gary made earlier. He doesn't want illegal immigrants to take jobs away from citizens, but he doesn't care when automation does.

Automation usually replaces much more than 50% of the workers, usually 90% or more. So lets say 50% are illegal, what about the other 40% or so?

[mawilson 2,133]

Sure, only when they have to compete with illegals for there work, but when a automation comes along, you want them to get out of the way. In other words, you only care when its convenient for you.

Dan,

Automation is inevitable. The legal workforce will adapt, as they've done for centuries.

The illegals will go home, if there's nothing else they can do.

[The_dip_sticks 0]

just can't win with you can we?

who do you think is going to manufacture, program, and maintain these robots?

China

[The_dip_sticks 0]

Sure, only when they have to compete with illegals for there work, but when a automation comes along, you want them to get out of the way. In other words, you only care when its convenient for you.

Dan,

Automation is inevitable. The legal workforce will adapt, as they've done for centuries.

The illegals will go home, if there's nothing else they can do.

How will the work force adapt and sustain it self when they have to compete with robots for work? Im sure employers will rather have a robot as a slave with no compensation than have a citizen doing the job and earning a wage. What happens when robots take over more than its fair share of jobs in the work force, how will the human population handle that? There might be a greater turn around in productivity as machines dont get tired and can work non stop, but the economy can be affected as the people with buying power will decress. A machine can leave humans with out jobs and also cause employers to lower high skill wages for the few jobs available because they can always threaten to repleace you with a robot(that will work for free). People will be in desprate take it or leave it situations with less freedom to negociate salaries. I feel that with the rise of automatizaion there will be an incress in the amnount of jobs that robots take away far from the amount illegls do. Machines will easly replace humans in both remedial unskilled and highly skilled jobs. Jobs will be become more scarsce when employers have machines that are willing to work for free in contrast to illegals who can only do low unkilled jobs. Illegals replace unskilled low paying jobs but robots replace skilled and unskilled once. Why do large companies hire illeglas? Because they work them like dohs doing hard labor jobs for very cheap wages. With robots available in many areas they will be transitioned into higher skilled fields too. It is then that we will suffer even more because employers will rather have FREE labor from a robot than having to pay us a decent salary. Robots scare me.

[Jasman0717 9]

I do recall one of the arguments you made Gary against illegal aliens is that they take away jobs from low skilled citizens, but don't robots do the same thing? Low skilled citizens wont be able to run or maintain any of these robots. Not to mention, it keeps more of the money in higher skilled jobs, which further increases the disparity between rich and poor.

But now you take the low skilled citizens and train them on robot maintenance

[mawilson 2,133]

How will the work force adapt and sustain it self when they have to compete with robots for work?

The same way they have done for centuries. People have been being replaced by machines

since the Industrial Revolution.