“Many of the jobs that are being fought over by unions today are jobs that will be outlawed within several generations as inhumane.”

May 2nd, 2012

So this cuts two different ways.

On the one hand, a robot that can take jobs that are dangerous or monotonous or repetitive will eliminate the need for a human to work on it. That, of course, eliminates a job, but will make the cost of goods and services less, thus raising all of our standards of living.

On the other hand, by eliminating the ability of people to do work, the pride and satisfaction one gets from a job disappears. I’m not sure what effect this would have, long term, on mankind, as more jobs are taken over by machines.