And now to the stunning and exciting news,
which I believe you'll agree, shows once again
that at Whipple's we only take forward steps.
This is the X109 B-14 modified, transistorized,
totally automatic assembly machine which
eliminates 61,000 jobs, 73 bulky, inefficient machines,
81,000 needless man-hours per 11 working days and
4 million dollars in expenditures each year
for employee hospitalization, employee insurance, employee welfare,
and employee profit participation.
Within six months our entire production facilities
will be totally automated. Ladies and gentleman,
from now on, Whipple will operate from a brain center
with machines such as this one.
(Roxanne Meadows) Recently, there was a study by economist David Autor of MIT
that states that our middle class is obsolete
and being replaced by automation.
(Peter Joseph) Quite simply, mechanization is more productive,
efficient and sustainable than human labor
in virtually every sector of the economy today.
Machines do not need vacations, breaks, insurance, pensions,
and they can work 24 hours a day, every day.
The output potential and accuracy,
compared to human labor, is unmatched.
The bottom line: repetitive human labor
is becoming obsolete and impractical across the world,
and the unemployment you see around you today
is fundamentally the result of this evolution
of efficiency in technology.
For years, market economists have dismissed this growing pattern,
which could be called 'Technological Unemployment'
because of the fact that new sectors always seem to emerge
to re-absorb the displaced workers.
Today, the service sector is the only real hub left
and currently employs over 80% of the American work force,
with most industrialized countries maintaining a similar proportion.
However, this sector is now being challenged increasingly
by automated kiosks, automated restaurants,
and even automated stores.
Economists today are finally acknowledging
what they have been denying for years.
Not only is technological unemployment
exasperating the current labor crisis we see across the world
due to the global economic downturn,
but the more the recession deepens
the faster the industries are mechanizing.
The catch, which is not realized,
is that the faster they mechanize to save money,
the more they displace people,
the more they reduce public purchasing power.
This means that while the corporation can produce everything
more cheaply, fewer and fewer people will actually have money
to buy anything, regardless of how cheap they become.
The bottom line is that the labor-for-income game
is slowly coming to an end.
In fact, if you take a moment to reflect
on the jobs which are in existence today,
which automation could take over right now if applied,
75% of the global workforce could be replaced
by mechanization tomorrow.
- Tell me, you really expect to automate this place in six months?
- Hmm, four months would be a better guess.
You know there are a lot of things going in the old trash heap, Hanley?
Time clocks for instance: there won't be anybody to punch in or out.
[Chuckling] I think I'll donate them to a museum.
[More chuckling]
Something, Hanley?
- Yes, something. Something like, a lot of men out of work!
- You know what your trouble is, Hanley?
You're holding on tight to this 19th century.
- I'm holding tight to some principles, Mr. Whipple,
some principles that have to do with firing.
Tell me, Mr. Whipple, why are you so eager
to replace men with machines?
Ever occur to you that you might be trading efficiency for pride?
- Pride? - Yes pride, Mr. Whipple, craftsmanship:
what a man feels when he makes something!
Tell me, what do you suppose that machine of yours feels?
Anything? Anything at all?
- What the devil can I do with pride!
Can it? bottle it? wrap it? produce it?
I'm not selling pride; I'm selling product!
However we're not only faced with ongoing systemic global debt defaults,
we're also faced with incoming labor collapse
or growing labor collapse across the world,
due to again, technological unemployment
largely ignored by economists
who choose to see basically what they prefer to see, as best I can tell.
The invention and application of technology
is what has caused every major shift of human labor
throughout history. Given the exponential- literally-
rise in our development in automation
and computer technology, artificial intelligence,
I'm sorry to say, well actually, I'm very happy to say,
is that humans really don't stand a chance
to compete with what we've created.
We can't personally evolve as fast as our technological ingenuity is.
And the effectiveness and application over time is just powerful,
and either a shift happens,
or we just continue this constant grind down
of destabilization through global unemployment.
- Now you realize that this somewhat wholesale discharge
has nothing whatever to do with dissatisfaction on your part or
that as a man. It's merely progress, Mr. Dickerson, progress!
Out with the old, in with the new, automation!
That will be all, Mr. Dickerson.
We also need to use the most efficient methods
for producing those goods
and in this case, deliberate mechanization.
Technological Unemployment- and I've talked about this at length,
I'm not going to go into too much detail here-
is now inverse to productivity in most sectors.
In other words, the more people are displaced,
the more mechanization comes in, the greater the productivity.
That's an amazing change in the paradigm
as far as the way we've been operating for thousands of years.
This means in fact it is negligent, literally irresponsible
for us to not mechanize on every relevant level
if we wish to be again truly efficient
and respect the nature and habitat that we live in.
- Shall I tell you the difference, Mr. Dickerson, between you and it?
That machine costs two cents an hour for current. It lasts indefinitely.
It gets no wrinkles, no arthritis, no hardening of the arteries.
That one machine is a lathe operator, a press operator.
Two of those machines replace 114 men
that take no coffee breaks, no sick leaves, no vacations with pay!
Oh! Hanley, this should interest you.
This is a Tape Control 7 Axis.
What do they they call it- a 'Sentry.' You know what it does?
It keeps an eye on every operation in the entire plant.
It keeps absolutely accurate data on man hours, cost hours,
product rejects, just everything!
It's the most sophisticated machine I've ever seen. I just bought it.
- And how many men does it replace?
- Oh well, this should please you, only one, just one.
As a matter of fact, Hanley, it replaces you.
A perfect letter, not one error or erasure,
typed at the moment of conception. Am I getting through to you, young man?
- I presume you mean that secretaries are obsolete now.
- Precisely obsolete, and do you know what else it means?
It means there will be no more powder rooms, no more coffee breaks,
no more work stoppages due to various and sundry inconveniences
such as maternity and that sort of thing.
- Inconveniences like maternity?
You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Whipple,
but if we keep up with this sort of thing,
we're going to have wonderful products, but mighty few people to buy them.
- Hapley, that is not my concern.
I am here to provide efficiency, that is my only concern!
(Carl Sagan) Scientists never seem to grasp the enormous potential
of machines to free people from arduous and repetitive labor.
(Timothy Leary) What would we do if we didn't have to work all the time?
The answer to the new question- what is human life about?
what are we going to do with all this time?
Up until this time you had to work.
We now realize that it is an insult for any American citizen
to be forced to do a job that can be done better by a machine!
I propose this, I want you to think about this:
let's realize that work is something done by robots,
so the new motto becomes "Robots work, human beings perform."
- How are you finding retirement?
- Oh tolerable, Mr. Whipple, tolerable.
I manage to keep busy, not as much as I'd like. My...
wife says I'm underfoot, but ah, I do all right.
But you know it's kind of nice to sleep late in the mornings?
- It's important, this retirement I mean, very important.
Man should have time for leisure when he grows older.
It's important he have time for leisure.