[bredren]

The endgame is robotic replacement for skilled labor.

The pandemic has forced technology companies to push harder on communication products and development of virtual places.

Severely diminished trade with China would require an acceleration in manufacturing technology on a scale that could only be borne out of necessity.

Recognizing that robotics technology is orders of magnitude more challenging than an improved Zoom interface, It won’t come easy. But the demand will be there and so would be the creativity to overcome the challenges.

[mountainb]

Sure that will be a lot of it. Robots also require lots and lots of both skilled and unskilled labor to maintain. Christopher Mims has a great pop business book out this year about the state of automation in logistics and industry. One of the emphases he makes is which things are being automated now and what types of jobs for people that automation creates at multiple skill levels and social classes.

I think when it comes to articulating this to the public and to the government, I would never say "robots are replacing all skilled labor," because that would predispose the legislator or the staffers supporting the legislator to think about what they could do to quash it.

[bredren]

> because that would predispose the legislator or the staffers supporting the legislator to think about what they could do to quash it.

Fwiw, I see only a downward trend in the effectiveness of governments larger than cities to contain or regulate technology. What is possible is changing too fast.