This photo is from a Wired Science article on happiness in China and money*. I saw it an immediately thought about the 1st and the 3rd world contrast and how in the cases of China and India there is the beginning of a shift in status from one to the other. The house in the foreground could easily be in southern Louisiana (because of the water). Without the water it could probably be found in any state of the United States.
Think this is not happening? Read about outsourcing or manufacturing or check out the source for all the THINGS laying around your house. And then I read this
Canon shifts to robots for camera production, by Xeni Jardin at 5:18 pm Monday, May 14 Boing Boing
"The move toward machine-only production will likely be completed in the next few years, perhaps as soon as 2015," according to a company official quoted in the AP.
But do not fear being made obsolete, earthlings.
"Human beings are needed to come up with innovations on how to use robots," another Canon spokesperson told AP. "Going to a no-man operation at that level is still the world of science fiction."
Ever hear of the bell curve. Half of all people are statistically on the left side, the lower side of the distribution. This is not Lake Wobegon where all the children are above average. Below average people do not "come up with innovations" as a rule. I worry that our brave new world is obsoleteing many of us.
* Money and Happiness: China Surveys Suggest a Limited Link by Brandon Keim, May 14, 2012, 5:05 pm
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