If American Robots Had Their Own Economy, It'd Be Bigger Than Switzerland (fastcompany.com) 54
From a report: The total value of all the robots in the United States, from Roombas to auto-manufacturing plants to those that fold laundry, and everything in between, is $732 billion, a number that, according to a study released today by researchers at CEBR and Redwood Software, is larger than that of the economy of Switzerland. Other findings in the study suggest that American investment in robotics has doubled since 2009, and went up 30 percent between 2011 and 2015.
Badger jizz (Score:5, Insightful)
This is like comparing a speed to a distance.
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This is like comparing a speed to a distance.
If you read any suitably advanced astronomical paper they measure distances in speed. You're just not refined enough ;)
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This baby made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.
LOL...Captcha is "bragger." How fitting.
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Maybe it's just a coincidence. Like how "Gift" in German means "poison" in English.
It's unfuckingcanny how many other words in their time & galaxy mean exactly the same as they do in this corner of ours though.
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A light year is based upon the length of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. Therefore it is just as much a derived unit.
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This is like comparing a speed to a distance.
It is just a matter of time.
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... before it gains some momentum? Obviously USA has plenty of mass for that.
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Or comparing it to the monetary value stored in Swiss banks, which would makes $1T look like a rounding error.
Re: What's the point of this submission? (Score:1)
If he bothered to add the electricity bill of that, then he'd be closer to 0. Unemployed people because of those robots, closer to -$700bn. Social impact that creates? Etc etc.
I enjoyed every second of my 1.5-hour lunch breaks (something US "economy" participants can only dream of) in Zueri and I'd do it again, given the opportunity.
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Congratulations, you were the winner in winner takes all. Sucks to be everyone else tho.
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Do you have the same reaction every time the eurotrash bitch that America doesn't have passenger railroads like they do? You should.
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Switzerland is smaller than US cities in terms of population.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=population+swizerland%2FNYC
egalitarianism is nice (Score:1)
But it grows more difficult each day to find a good example of a society where people are equal and there is not a huge gap between rich, poor and middle class. While Switzerland has enjoyed a rather large middle class, even there the trends are that the poor and rich are growing and the middle class is shrinking. [swissinfo.ch] (yea, 5 year old article)
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I'm waiting for the Republicans to count robots as 3/5th of a person.
You must be misremembering slavery.
You're waiting for Democrats to count robots as 3/5 of a person.
Republican abolitionists will make waves about how robots deserve the same rights as everyone else.
Democrats will start a war over it.
Republicans will win.
Democrats will realize that they can get more political power by sucking up to the robots, and try to relabel themselves "Party for the Robots."
Republicans ignore the Democrat spincrafting.
Democrats develop robot unions as bloc-voting appartus, get teamsters
What is a Robot? (Score:1)
The OP has been modded down to oblivion, though it may have been satirical. But if it is a legitimate comment, then it begs a legitimate question: what is a robot? There aren't any self-aware computers, and likely won't be in our lifetimes. So what is a robot? Automation? Because a WW II ball bearing factory line would qualify. Is it a discreet device that creates a product in an automatic manner? Because if that is the case then everyone's home printer is a robot.
The point is, "robot' is a catch wo
Another thing. (Score:2)
It should be "larger than Switzerland's". Unless they measure economies (whatever they mean by that; I doubt they know themselves) in units of area.
Subwub (Score:1)
They quote some company and another yet provide no links to original research? Interesting.
If by "economy" the journo that quoted an unquotable research paper meant GDP then yes. But you simply need to add just the foreign currency reserves and you're wrong.
If by "economy" he meant anything else then ha-ha (that simpsons character).
For example, the company I worked for in CH had an annual IT budget of more than $1bn. ANNUAL.
Next time either link to original research or bother to investigate and use your bra
I'm still confused (Score:2)
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There are more automobiles in Switzerland than there are Libraries of Congress in the USA. There.
It's Only A Beginning (Score:2)
Re: Swiss robots and CNC machines (Score:1)
Oh we don't even need to go there. I think we can stop at Zug washing machines.
Market takeover? (Score:2)
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That means that American robots can take over Switzerland's most valuable export: neutrality. Pretty easy for bots to best humans there.
More like sociopath CEOs will get the sociopath "employees" they always wanted and that'll take any kind of abuse unfazed. The future is like Uber, click here to install this mandatory update and accept new and worse terms. Cue Darth Vader. And you don't get fired, your account is "suspended" and you're out. If you thought employers were dicks before, wait until they can do it remotely and facelessly so they can pretend not to see you get kicked in the balls.
Obviously robots need to pay taxes (Score:1)
Property tax, income tax, sales tax, occupation tax.
Just saying.
And go to jail when they kill. Or do machine oils. That stuff's addictive.
and also (Score:1)
The number of molecules in the ocean is greater than the total number of hairs on all people's asses.... just about as a useful comparison.
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Robots already have their own economy (Score:2)