{"id":50188,"date":"2015-05-08T08:22:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T12:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=50188"},"modified":"2015-07-15T14:31:36","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T18:31:36","slug":"which-street-do-we-care-more-about-wall-street-or-main-street-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2015\/05\/08\/which-street-do-we-care-more-about-wall-street-or-main-street-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Which street do we care more about, Wall Street or Main Street? [Christian]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From DSC:<\/em><\/span>
\nThis posting is not meant to pick on Freightliner or any other particular company.\u00a0 But the articles listed below (not to mention many other articles re: Google’s self-driving car or re: other technologies) caused me to reflect upon the ramifications of our decisions.\u00a0 The articles made me reflect upon the heart of capitalism and how\/why we make the decisions we do within our corporations.\u00a0 That is, what happens when our corporations answer to Wall Street but not to Main Street?\u00a0 What are the ramifications to us, to our neighbors, to our neighborhoods, and to our nation? For that matter, to our very future?
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And the topic is far bigger than self-driving trucks.\u00a0 The replacement of people with technology has been going on for quite some time. Modern day examples include ATM machines, self-service scanners\/checkouts at the store, telephone switches and automatic voice response units, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Readers of this blog will know that I’m generally pro-technology and that I see technologies as tools.\u00a0 However, replacing people with technologies at the pace that we’re seeing these days causes me to seriously pause…especially when jobs\/humans seem to be being replaced far faster than new jobs are being created.
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Freightliner unveils first autonomous semi-truck licensed to drive itself on highways<\/strong><\/a> — from spectrum.ieee.org by Evan Ackerman<\/p>\n

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Excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

[On May 5, 2015], Freightliner introduced the world to its Inspiration truck<\/a>, a prototype for the first semi-truck capable of fully autonomous highway driving that’s been officially licensed to operate on public highways in Nevada.<\/p>\n

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Mercedes shows off self-driving “Future Truck 2025”<\/strong><\/a> — from spectrum.ieee.org by Philip E. Ross<\/p>\n

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\"Freightliner-Self-DrivingTruck-May2015\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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From DSC:<\/span><\/em>
\nHmm…though this truck looks like some incredible engineering, I’m more interested in addressing the overall trend here…and it’s a very troubling trend indeed.\u00a0 I say troubling because I see our corporations much more inclined towards answering to Wall Street, but not so much to Main Street. If the incentive is to maximize value for investors — regardless of the costs to society at large — then we as a nation could end up with far larger societal issues than we’ve ever encountered before.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If we answer to Wall Street, we will chose the less expensive algorithm or robot every time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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For example, if more lower and middle class jobs disappear, and people are out of work…downward spirals could start happening all over the place (and as you’ll see below and in many other articles out there, the trend of automation, robotics, algorithms, and other technologies replacing people isn’t limited to blue collar positions). People could get discouraged after not being able to find jobs.\u00a0 The rising cost of college and getting re-trained may be out of reach for many. Despair could set in along with increased use of drugs — addictions, crime, and violence could become more prevalent. Such things could lead to more broken families, increased incarceration, etc.\u00a0 These types of situations, in turn, would bring more costs in a variety of ways to our nation. Issues that could quickly have inter-generational, long-lasting impact.
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The replacement of jobs is at all levels and covers white collar positions as well. For example, also see:<\/span><\/p>\n