[rinkjustice]

Automation is already cannibalizing the manufacturing sector. Productivity is up yet employment is down dramatically. The assembly line worker is being phased out forever.

Will new jobs in robotics/automation account for the old ones? Not nearly enough. Aside from a few technicians on the shop floor, I think we'll increasingly see robots building and designing other robots. Any humans that will be involved in the process will be highly skilled and able to do so by remote location.

Bottom line: if you're in the manufacturing industry, you're now in the robotics industry.

[eru]

In a sense the age of robotics has arrived in entertainment a long time earlier.

While nearly all machines in manufacturing required human operators until recently, radio and TV are machines that provide their services directly to the end user.