Can industrial jobs be replaced by machines? In the age of automation and robotics, Guillaume Meurice asked himself the question. Answer with this vox doll that exposes the limits of overproduction in France.
From 17 to 20 May 2022, Villepinte will host Global Industry, a national event about the industry of tomorrow. Guillaume Meurice went there to meet the actors of the industrial sector and to discover all the new technologies. And the least we can say is that in terms of robotics, the comedian and columnist at France Inter fully viewed.
Faced with all these innovations, each more promising than the next, Guillaume Meurice asked himself the question: if automation becomes more common in the industrial sector, can people work less to live longer? This possibility does not seem unanimous:
Excerpt from the vox doll:
A Belgian industrialist: “We have reduced the five hours of work to less than five minutes. Machines serve us to work better, not to work less.”
†If a machine replaces the work of five people, wouldn’t we divide the remaining work and call it progress?
Guillaume Meurice: “Don’t machines replace people?”
The Belgian industrialist: “No not at all”
Guillaume Meurice: “Does that mean the machines aren’t much use?”
The Belgian industrialist: “Yes, because as the machines go faster and faster, you can do a lot more work than we used to.”
Guillaume Meurice: “But do we have to produce so many tricks and gadgets?”
The Belgian industrialist: “We’re surfing this path.”
meditate.