Obsopocalyptic Visions

Miles of sophisticated capital devoid of human labour... Automated factories, automated stacking for shipping, automated warehousing...

With automated haulage (possible with the wave of unmanned vehicle technology in recent years) and automated retail on the horizon, we're getting close to the point where you can have a gigantic distribution system churning out products with nary a human involved. Unless you count the owner.

With such awesome capabilities, is it any wonder that profits are skyrocketing for capital, while unemployment remains intractable, and may even be getting worse?

Automated Manufacturing

Automated Palletizing

Automated Warehousing

World Income Distribution

From sociologist D Conley (2008).

So the poorest 60% of the world (roughly 4.2 billion) own earn only about 5.6% of the world's income between them.

Many of these people, when they are lucky enough to find work, eke out a living doing horrid jobs such as sweatshop labour, heavy lifting, migrant farm work, mining etc. Such jobs are susceptible to automation in the coming decade.