People Building Bridges – A Relic of the Past?
Happy Monday, dear readers!
Are you sick and tired of your humble blogger’s doomsday posts? Are you bored with the constant updates about technology changing the face of the labor market? Do you find yourself on the mainland of present-day workers compensation, and your humble blogger calling to you from future-fantasy-island?
Well, good news, dear readers! Your humble blogger is ready to build a bridge to you…
MX3D, a Dutch company, has announced that it will 3D print a bridge in Amsterdam to span a 49-foot canal. The robots are expected to be set up, then print the bridge as they go, and even cross the bridge as its being built to build the next stage. If all goes well and as planned, the two robots will complete the bridge in one day. Other than the engineer supervising the robots pushing the “go” button, the effort will be done with no human labor.
Let that sink in, dear readers… think back to all the romantic and heroic images of workers building the roads we walk on… our bridges, our skyscrapers – they can and will be done by machine.
If you’re a fan of The Wire, there’s an episode in season 2 where, to the horror of a dock workers’ union representative, a presentation of a robotic crate unloading reflects increased productivity, lower costs, and, of course, an almost total elimination of industrial injuries. The union representative mutters “you can’t get hurt if you’re not working.” Of course, that’s kind of the point. Coincidentally, if you’re not a fan of The Wire, it is your humble blogger’s legal opinion that you should at least give it one more chance.
California, between growing minimum wage and growing workers’ compensation costs, has had the miraculous effect of creating a climate where industrial technology like this is economically feasible – it’s actually cheaper to leap into the future than to stay and hire people in the present.
Sadly, it won’t be long before defense attorneys are equally available in automatic form, or, at the very least, are not necessary because of the automation of the labor force. And who will mourn your humble blogger then?