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#1 2026-03-17 13:28:02
- Void
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- Registered: 2011-12-29
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Disruptions from robotic labor
I have had a thought on the issue of "Disruptions from robotic labor".
Macro-Hard or Digital Optimus is recent concern.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/r … ORM=VRDGAR
Quote:
Elon Musk Launches “Macrohard” AI System To Challenge Software Giants Like Microsoft
YouTube
Mint
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4 days ago
So, recently there was concern that our labor force would be insufficient due to low birth rate.
Now, it looks like robots may take many tasks over, and earlier on, a lot of "White Collar" work.
We could say, "Just train the white collars to do blue collar work". Well, some could and some might not do OK.
The projections of the future have a robot or a human doing tasks with the robots displacing the humans.
But what about a human "AND" a robot to do tasks? In some cases, this might work.
You then have four hands and two brains on the job. If the human wage is $30.00/hour and the robot cost is $1.00/hour, then the average is $15.50/hour, and you potentially have more hands/brains/muscles doing the work. If the robot came with a display screen it could teach the human parts of how to do a task like installing drywall, as an example.
On the other hand, the reformed white-collar worker might be useful to keep the robot on track with what it would do. The robot might be able to do the finer work of the task, and the human would be an assistive apprentice in some ways.
So, at least for a time, it might be possible to avoid large scale unemployment for humans where they contribute nothing to the economy.
Such a situation would be bad for them and also wasteful of the labor they may be able to provide.
By adding robots to the economy in this way also we can greatly expand the work force, and economic output.
A person might hire themselves out as a person and their robot that are used to working together.
Ending Pending 
Last edited by Void (2026-03-17 13:46:29)
Is it possible that the root of political science claims is to produce white collar jobs for people who paid for an education and do not want a real job?
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#2 2026-06-26 06:50:49
- tahanson43206
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Re: Disruptions from robotic labor
This post is reserved for an index to posts that may be contributed by NewMars members.
Index:
Post #3: Disruptions from AI systems functioning as robotic labor
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#3 2026-06-26 07:03:31
- tahanson43206
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Re: Disruptions from robotic labor
This topic showed up as having no replies, in June of 2026.
The topic itself might be interpreted as covering disruptions caused by AI systems performing white collar duties, such as programming, but extended far beyond programming.
This topic has potential to grow if NewMars members would like to report observations or personal experiences as AI systems replace human workers.
I have seen reports that human beings are organizing to try to help other humans who have been displaced.
An option that might work for some folks is to learn how to enlist AI tools to magnify their abilities.
AI tools have risks associated with them.
I see such tools as very similar to power tools. A human who has learned how to use power tools safely is greatly increased in capability over someone who can use hand tools.
Examples from personal experience include:
Drill press
Table saw
Radial arm saw
Lathe
Scraping tool (rotary bar cutter) (not sure of correct name)
Band Saw
Router table
Jig saw (powered)
Power grinders
Power sanders
Power hand tools of various kinds
All of these require training and experience to avoid mishap.
I see AI tools as very similar. The ones I've experienced so far make mistakes, so I am constantly on the alert for departures from the path I want to pursue. Often I make mistakes, and my experience has been that occasionally my AI tool catches my mistake, but occasionally it does NOT catch my mistake, so we go off on a wild goose chase of my own creation.
A hand power saw will obediently cut a straight path through clean wood, but if I steer a path toward a hidden knot in the wood, the hand power saw will go along with me right until the knot binds the blade and the force feeds back to the operator.
In short, I see AI tools as power tools for white collar workers, and those who can master them will be far more productive than workers who are limited to native ability.
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#4 2026-06-26 11:01:06
- RobertDyck
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Re: Disruptions from robotic labor
I remember in the 1970s when people complained that factory automation would put people out of work. They talked about a 20 hour work week. People spending much more time doing leisure activities. But didn't happen. People work more hours today to just pay the bills. And it wasn't new then. When the automated loom was invented, powered by steam engines, people were concerned that factories would take away jobs from people using a spinning wheel to spin wool into thread, weave thread into cloth in a hand loom at home. Before steam engine powered automation, England's economy was cottage industry, people making cloth in their homes. There was a luddite movement in the early 1800s. Some even took off their wooden shoes, threw them into mechanical equipment to damage the equipment and jam gears. The wood shoes were called sabot, the act of throwing one into equipment was called sabotage.
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#5 2026-06-26 11:37:42
- Void
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Re: Disruptions from robotic labor
I think you might be correct. In time a more white-collar human mind might be bonded to a AI/Robot mind to do work. Although they will have to develop blue-collar thinking as well.
For instance, a group of people and robots might clean an office building overnight. This could exist until robots got so good that human were not needed, but maybe humans + robots on a task may work the best of all forever. A silicon mind is an alien, and we cannot be sure that it will ever parallel what a human mind can do.
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Is it possible that the root of political science claims is to produce white collar jobs for people who paid for an education and do not want a real job?
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#6 2026-06-26 14:34:22
- SpaceNut
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Re: Disruptions from robotic labor
Most of us have lived through some of the changes in jobs and what are the causes to where they have gone.
The terms "white-collar" and "blue-collar" are used to categorize jobs based on the type of work performed, the work environment, and historical distinctions in attire. White-collar roles involve intellectual, administrative, and clerical duties in office settings, whereas blue-collar roles entail physical manual labor or skilled trades.
Evolution and Fading Lines
While these categories were once rigid, the modern job market has become much more fluid:
Part-time service and retail positions (such as grocery store workers, department store associates, and cashiers) are most traditionally associated with pink-collar or blue-collar designations, depending on the focus.
To further categorize modern professions, the market now recognizes pink-collar (traditional service/caregiving jobs like nursing or teaching), and green-collar (jobs in environmental and sustainability fields).
Other Relevant "Collar" Colors
As the economy has evolved, a few other specialized categories have emerged for these types of jobs:Grey-Collar: This color is sometimes applied to retail employees because the job sits in a "gray area". It combines the physical labor of a blue-collar job (moving inventory) with the customer service and digital point-of-sale tech skills of a white-collar job.
No-Collar: This is occasionally used to describe part-time gig-economy workers (like instacart shoppers or independent delivery drivers) who work flexible hours outside of a traditional corporate or union structure.
The term "open-collar" or "no-collar" is sometimes used broadly in academic labor discussions, but the most precise social and economic term for individuals experiencing homelessness and joblessness is the "under-class" or "no-collar."
The Chronically Unemployed: Individuals who are out of work and face severe systemic barriers to re-entering the workforce.The Unhoused / Homeless: Individuals who lack stable housing, which critically disrupts their ability to obtain or maintain traditional "collared" employment
Outside of color designations, social scientists rely on the term under-class. This structural category defines individuals who experience intersecting crises:
Entry level "stepping stone" roles are being backfilled by experienced mid-career professionals and older workers who bring institutional knowledge that AI cannot replicate. This dynamic forces structural displacement downward through several distinct economic pressures
Even with some job skills retraining to keep people the downward settling is on the rise.
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#7 Yesterday 10:25:29
- Void
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Re: Disruptions from robotic labor
And yet humanoid robots may not be any color of collar. Most will be ungendered.
Some people will assign gender to some robots, that is a bit odd, we can set that aside.
But I am not sure what gender will mean with a robot labor force. It seems sensible that robots will not have a natural mating motivation, unlike some of the members of the genders.
I really have no prediction of the results of that. Only to say it would be different.
Ending Pending
Last edited by Void (Yesterday 10:26:28)
Is it possible that the root of political science claims is to produce white collar jobs for people who paid for an education and do not want a real job?
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