Asylum out of control in USA

[mintoots]

It is truly sad that in technologically advanced countries this kind of thing can be done by machines and because we are so deficit in STEM we are trying to export it to low paid immigrants who overall actually cost more money than if we used technology to automate it...

The ultimate question about productivity and efficiency is who gains and loses from it? The principle of automation in my view is risky because it is rooted in the principle of extraction. Tech requires material resource which is extracted through dirt cheap labor. For instance, lithium mines in South Africa are pretty much run with the same oppressive practices as the cotton gin. When the tech does start to run, i.e. a.i., massive volumes of resources are often necessary to keep it running, like water and energy for data centers. The jobs lost to automation are not just immigrant jobs, it is jobs in general, available for many. On the other hand, it is quite notable that many immigrants are instead saturated in the dirty labor that tech has not fully infiltrated yet, like some aspects of farming or corner store assistance ---which are much needed food access points in areas with no food access. Meanwhile, companies that automate may experience some efficiency which translates to profit but this profit rarely ever trickles down. Instead it keeps getting invested in some other industry which may also be seeking to transition to automation.

So on the question of what is lost: natural resources and jobs in general. Who gains: capitalists at the higher bits of the pyramid.