Robots and Marxism

[novemba]

What do Marx and Engels have to say about robots replacing humans as primary laborers for a society? Do you ever really think this could happen? Discuss!

[Rockfan]

lol whos gonna be the working class then lol
viva la robot revolution hahahaha
but yea i dnt no for real im to dumb and dont read enogh to know what marx and engles would think.

[comrade_mufasa]

What do Marx and Engels have to say about robots...
I think you need to reword your question becouse Marx and Engels would not have know what robots becouse the idea was not around at the time. I think what you mean is "What would Marx and Engels have said about robots...". Sorry to be an ass :P

I heard of this idea that would create a revoultionary situation ripe for communism. With all the advancements in automated machines; like the ones that we always see in car factories; that repalce human labor, less and less workers are needed. In the futer even simple jobs such as moping floors and washing windows will have no human involment at all. This creates a problem. With all of these workers not working how do they get money(1). If they have no money how do they buy the products that are produced by the machines(2).

(1): This point alone gives the right conditions for a revolution. Remeber how many people were questioning capitalism during the great depression becouse they had lost there jobs and could not get money to eat. This brings us to point 2.

(2): If people have no money to by anything then they will not buy anything. This means that the companies are not making money. This weakins the capitalist system.

Both of these togather give very good material conditions for a revolution to succeed.

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by necro_oner
I swear this belongs here

Why?

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[dietrite]

Why?

I second that.

[novemba]

ok maybe not...so move it

[bunk]

this is interesting, drones are already being used for some military tasks

[encephalon]

i think a more pertinent question (because, as it has been said, robots taking up a lot of undesirable work is inevitable) is this: what will happen when machines become sentient? (and unless you believe in some kind of voodoo makes-no-sense superstitious crap, you have to seriously consider that this will eventually happen).

[Raisa]

IM leaving it here. There are already posts on this issue in here. Why not add another one! Each is authentic and different even if its about the same damn thing.

[Andy Bowden]

Surely the people who would maitain the robots would become the workers? :unsure:

[comrade_mufasa]

Originally posted by Andy [email protected] 13 2005, 09:00 AM
Surely the people who would maitain the robots would become the workers? :unsure:
Yes but a robot replaces 10 workers some times and only needs at the most 2 people to mantian it. Thats 8 people with no job.

[Organic Revolution]

with ROBoTs there would be no working class.

[joshdavies]

The labour theory of value says that the value of a commodity comes from the amount of work put into it. If that law didn't exist then we wouldn't be in capitalism. A situation where the whole process of production was taken on by machines would mean that there would be no working class, no class society and you'd get a weird kind of communism.

But capitalism isn't likely to do this. The ecnomic incentive for putting more technology into something for the capitalist is that it allows them to produce above the average level and so increase profits.Getting rid of a workforce wouldn't do this though because if the entire working class didn't exist then there would be no profit to make in selling commodities (there would be no one there to pay for them). I think its in Volume 1 of Capital where Marx points out the contradiction in the capitalist wanting to pay his workers less but for other capitalists to pay their workers more so that his own profits are higher because he pays less wagtes and there is more money available for people to spend on his products. If robots did everything in society it would be the equivolent of people being able to pick clothes, computers and everything else they needed from trees - what capitalist in their right mind is likel6y to benefit from that?

If production worked in this way then where would people's money come from to buy the products? The capitalists wouldn't be taking any from profits and workers wouldn't be earning any for their labour. You would in fact have no classes. The suggestion that production under capitalism could change to production that isn't exloitative through capitalism and without any revolution is a utopian one which doesn't understand that the capitalists act as a class and doesn't understand the nature of technological progress under capitalism - i.e. it happens to increase the rate of profit.

The other problem is that such a situation is extremely unlikely to arise. Its very difficult to imagine a future where nobody builds the parts for machines, maintains and supervises machines or works at a call centre explaining how to fix the machines and what to do if they go wrong.

I won't write anymore on this now because I can only vaguely remember reading something quite interesting about it. Wheb I find it I'll post it up.

[ComradeRed]

Logically, upposing these bots and droids could exist, wouldn't it be only under communism?