We Need to Move Beyond Robot Doomerism
“The robots are coming” need not be understood as heralding the apocalypse. An automated society in which states and worker-owned enterprises use technology to serve public ends while meeting individual needs is entirely consistent with the good life.
Fear and doomerism over new technology will only halt the real work of fighting for democratic control of it. The robots may be coming, but building a society in which automation serves the public good remains a distinctly human task. (Wang Gang / China News Service / VCG via Getty Images)
For all our concern with the rise of robotics and the threat to workers these machines pose, the robots keep coming. In Japan, the aviation industry is struggling to meet labor requirements, and one airline company is attempting to bridge the gap with “humanoid” robots that will load and unload cargo. Japan Airlines is deploying the technology at Haneda Airport with the hopes that the robots will not only meet immediate employment needs but someday take on further tasks.
One core concern on the Left about new technologies is that they will discipline and punish workers, at once diminishing their bargaining power and relative strategic position with management. In the long run, this means lower wages, poorer working conditions, and layoffs. At scale, improperly handled, the mass adoption of automation without a plan for what comes next for workers — and consumers — threatens economic decline. If no one is working, no one is getting paid. If no one is getting paid, no one is buying whatever the robots are selling, making, or servicing.
Who Do the Robots Work for?
The deployment of robots in Japan requires us to think about automation a bit differently. The country faces labor challenges arising from low birth rates and an aging population. On top of that, the airline industry — at least before oil prices spiked — was dealing with growing tourism numbers. This meant that airports and airlines were facing pressure from a shrinking labor pool alongside growing demand.
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