Quote from: Murwa on December 12, 2013, 01:57:12 PM

There is a third way.

Open source economy based on principle of production on demand.

We just need a cheap 3D printers available for general population not only in labs such as NASA. And right now printers can print in almost anything , there is no technology that we lack.

Don't be so naive - production of replicator-level 3D printers will be monopolized by large corporations like anything else. Energy also won't be free, look how EU banned cheap Chinese photovoltaic panels to reduce competition for preferred corporations.

Quote from: FiatKiller on December 12, 2013, 02:05:03 PM

The production has increased because they can set one up and then go to another machine and get it going also. But we still need an operator and it is extremely unlikely a machine could ever autotag the wires. They are extremely thin wires and I don't see how humans can even do it. I would go insane doing that job. lol So I guess it depends on what kind of automation you are talking about.

Increasing productivity with automation doesn't directly means an elimination of the workers on this concrete plant, however competing companies may be wiped out from the market entirely and have to fire 100% their employees. Good example is high-productive Germany and lagging Southern & Eastern Europe. Germany has low unemployment and high level of automation simultaneously, but Greece/Spain/Latvia/Bulgaria etc have closed many industries and suffer now from 30-50% real unemployment!
Relative to the whole country's economy it is the same as firing some part of the employees on each factory proportionally.

Quote from: jdbtracker on December 12, 2013, 04:31:44 PM

Now it is fully automated everything in the plant. The Owner still keeps workers around because he probably knows that for the economy they are necessary, no one ever gets layed off at that plant... but everyone just stands around for hours doing nothing just watching the machines do their thing, people are just there for back-up now.

Are you telling about Russia? If so, don't hope it will last permanently - preserving inefficiency is possible due to oil and gas revenues, as well as Vladimir Putin's fear to lose its power if unemployment start rising.
Will be interesting to look what will happen when oil price will fall below $100! Grin