As times have changed we have become more and more dependent on technology. Computers are are doing jobs that would have taken hundreds of people to do. But is this good for our nation? Will be lose knowledge, experience and hard work for an easy click of a button? Sure computers are helping companies produce their products quicker and cheaper but are they helping the economy at all. More and more people are losing jobs to technology and we are forgetting how things used to be done, with hard work and determination.
In this comic strip from www.cartoonstock.com it shows a boss explaining to four of his workers, the new factory manager. It shows exactly what is occurring in today world. This follows the basic rule of supply and demand. With the advancement in technology firms are able to reduce the number of workers and wages and are able to produce more products for a cheaper price. This is allow the firms to decrease the price of production and increase the amount of production. With an increase of production price the firm can lower their price of the product, increase the consumer's demand and because it is cheaper and easier to produce the supply of the product with also increase.
More importantly, is this advancement in technology helping out the nation economically? Sure it is lowering prices of products which allows consumers to go out and spend money but with the decrease in jobs it makes spending money very difficult. We are in very difficult times financially right now and as more and more people lose jobs due to technology we are only going to be put into tougher times. The demand for jobs is becoming lower and lower and the demand for technology replacing those jobs is only increasing. They makes companies more money and more products at a lower price. Who would blame them? No one. However, it is truly hurting more people than it is helping.
Critique of out with the old in with the new
ReplyDeleteby: Ken Tisch
In the afore mentioned blog the pros and cons of the rapid advances technology were discussed. The argument of efficiency vs humanity was introduced. It piqued my curiosity by making me wonder what effect some of the pros and cons will have long run on the economy.
Perhaps the easiest side to address is the technology is a good thing side. It does make the average joe able to get more stuff done in a day than was dreamed possible 60 years ago. By this efficiency the company saves time and money and is able to reinvest more into expanding the company potentially hiring more people and getting bigger and bigger (the same could be said for the economy at large. It has also made it easy to buy and sell via the internet and electronic money, they even say that in afew years well all have little chips with bank accounts on em and all we'll ever need to do to buy anything is swipe a card or even our hand! The possibilities for economic growth here are tremendous!
On the other hand technology has a bad side as well. Because its made things quick and easy it could be argued that the average person is much more lazy and apt to cut corners than before which of course can lead to a decrease in the quality of goods produced. It also causes health problems since one can literally do everything without hardly ever getting up there are major problems with obesity and diabetes in recent years. These health issues cause all sorts of prices to rise and can affect the performance of a workforce.(great for low fat food suppliers and self help novelists though ;)... ) It has also opened the doorway to a new menace cyber-crime and identity theft which is responsible for millions of lost dollars per year.
Before I go there is one point that Im quite neutral on. Technology raises the bar in terms of education. Back 60 years ago one could support a family with a job that merely required a highschool education but now one needs at least a BA in order to live comfortably. This means that more people will get higher education so they can live the life the want. On the one hand if everyone is better educated then woohoo better people to run the country. But if everyone is educated what happens to the value of a BA diploma?