These facts don't conflict. Americans want automation. The problem has always been who gets most of its benefit.
It is a little surreal how old school robotic automation, which has been going on since the 60's, seems to be lumped in with AI these days like it's some kind of new wave of industrial revolution.
Efforts to automate more US factories come as companies in East Asia have already charged ahead in establishing multiple “dark factory” sites—facilities featuring near-complete automation with a small human staff to provide oversight and troubleshooting.
AI is accelerating automation, to the point where you can automate all processes that don't require human involvement. This is why China is currently ahead of the US. They have been strategic and pragmatic in their use of AI instead of focusing solely on achieving AGI.
The US is catching up to China. This means that Trump's "dream" of bringing plants back to the U.S. to create jobs for Americans will not be realized because they will simply build these "dark factories."
No way the US is catching up to China. They are far ahead in everything except weapons and war.
I was hearing about dark sites about a decade ago. Wonder why it took so long. Probably because we don't want to starve too many blue collar families at once.
Yeah that's... probably not why.
Afaik we owe the invention of PLCs, the basis for modern industrial automation, to car manufacturing plants.
Yes, at GM no less, along with the robotic arm also first used at GM.
Farmhands warn of tractor automation as dark farmland future looms.
Only a few. Nearly every farmer is facing a problem of There just aren't enough for the hands to hire. Farming is generally very seasonal you work very hard for long hours during harvest, but that's only two or three weeks a year. Planting season again, you work very hard for a couple weeks, but the new it's done and you just wait for things to grow. It's not just waiting, You occasionally have to get out to weed and monitor the conditions, but there's many weeks where there's little to do and no need for a farmhand.
Many farmers have a second job of some sort that they work between farming tasks.
immigration restrictions also hurt because people who are poor and would take anything and be happy with work for those few weeks can't get in. In the poorest countries, you can easily have a nice living only working a few weeks a year in the US.
Used to it was really easy for farm workers to migrate back forth across the southern boarder of the US. Reagan changed the rules so that it was harder for Mexicans workers to go back and forth to Mexico. This is because they wanted to be able to exploit their labor year round and by criminalizing immigration they allowed workers to be locked up for further exploitation with even less pay because slavery is legal in prison
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