Do you believe robots & machinery are taking our jobs, or is this a natural progression of the workforce? Explain.

Answer 1

There's a few ways to go about answering this.

I should point out that any result on the human aspect is going to be reliant on policy, not on technology. The World Economic Forum has conducted studies on this, and overall, automation does not have a net negative effect on employment. But whether or not this continues, and continues to be a good thing, is dependent on whether or not the benefits of such automation is shared and not hoarded.

If the owners of the machines are too small a group or are not reined it, then automation could mean a massive shortage of work for a massive number of people. Otherwise, it could free many people from menial or unpleasant jobs and allow them to follow other pursuits (family, leisure, arts, or even other jobs).

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/two-myths-about-automation-debunked/

I personally see this as a natural and good development. Automation and mechanization is what makes it so that we live in a world now where the majority of the population is engaged in some line of work other than agriculture. We no longer live in a world where you need eight to grow enough food for ten. Even critics of machinery and automation seem to know this. Even the Luddites, who despite being used as a byword for violent technophobia where not violent or technophobic. Most of their objections were based around the effects industrialization had on the peasantry and 'unskilled' workforce, since the factory owners could essentially leave the worker with no living and easily replace them if they wished.

Too long, didn't read. Whether or not automation is good or bad depends more on economic and social policy than how advanced the machine is. Humans have been making tools to ease our labors since before we were technically humans. I'm a techno-optimist, if you will. I believe that as long as we keep the ethics of our developments in mind, more advanced technology is good. We can make more people's lives much better and more fulfilling (and possibly even longer and/or with a much higher population). We simply need to use science and technology responsibly.