You know, I hope to hell a robot replaces his job. No 75 year old man, let alone Veteran, should have to do that. A robot with replaceable knee joints is a way better fit.

My sincere hope is that robots can take these painful, laborious jobs and free us mushy humans from them.

I hope they can also take the jobs of the snipers and the sniped.

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drfloyd51 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I hope we have the social infrastructure to support people whose jobs are automated. Because no one, especially a 75-year-old, should starve to death living in poverty.

	▲	ben_w 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Given the pension ages in much of the world, and the USA in particular (I'm guessing which side he was on in Vietnam, but Vietnam's state pension age is lower), I'd hope this was in the past tense rather than the future.

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nkrisc 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So a robot takes his job: who feeds and houses him? Or is he supposed to just go down a few rungs on the job ladder and take a worse job robots can’t currently do?

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nosioptar 15 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Option c: grind him up and mix him in with hamburger. Society saves money on his pension/housing/etc and consumers save a bit on their grocery bill.

Didn't Paul Wolfowitz say something about how there will be no more poverty once we eat all the poor?

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swat535 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A better question would be: why do we have a society where the elderly have to work to survive and get their basic needs met?

	▲	nkrisc 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s also a good question, but ultimately a separate one. My point is that replacing people with robots before answering your question is irresponsible.

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suriyaG 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

i 100% agree with your sentiment. but what is the replacement here? go without any insurance or salary? without providing an alternative for better life, this is basically just robbing someone off a livelihood

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vonnieda 3 hours ago | parent [-]

If he is 75 and still has to work to get by he has already been robbed of his livelihood. The average lifespan for males in the US is 76ish.

Maybe he just does it for the love of the game, but there are so many old, sick, people in pain who have to labor like this just to get by every day.

Universal basic income is a simple and obvious answer. In a few years we will have zillion dollar companies being run entirely by robots making enormous profits. Share the fucking profits with everyone so that everyone can at least live with dignity.

	▲	jmogly 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		He definitely is doing it for the love of the game. Different generation loves to work
	▲	krapp 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		>Universal basic income is a simple and obvious answer. In a few years we will have zillion dollar companies being run entirely by robots making enormous profits. Share the fucking profits with everyone so that everyone can at least live with dignity. Sure, but what do we do in the US? UBI would be politically and culturally a non-starter here unless it was extremely means tested and limited (making it no longer universal) and all other forms of welfare were repealed (under the aegis of "reducing government bloat and inefficiency.") Americans won't accept spending their hard earned taxes to make the lives of non-whites, immigrants and the indigent poor too comfortable.
	▲	xienze 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> In a few years we will have zillion dollar companies being run entirely by robots making enormous profits. "Zillion", I see you've done extensive research here. And these companies aren't making any profit, nevermind enormous. > Share the fucking profits with everyone so that everyone can at least live with dignity. Give us a yearly number for what "living with dignity" looks like, multiply that by the entire population, and tell us what you come up with.

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weard_beard 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sure, killing robots would stimulate the economy but I’d like to see robot victims reduce the surplus population!

They’ll never match real children when it comes to dying horribly.

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watwut 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That veteran is not doing the job because lack of robots. He does it because he needs money and cant get them otherwise.

His situation wont improve with robots. Much less with robots in society run by right wing anti-social services anti-pathy millionaires.