Opinion
Video did not kill anyone
Two misconceptions persist rather stubbornly in people's minds. First: video killed the radio star, second: automation destroys jobs. The Buggles trumpeted the first one to the world in 1979, people still listen to it wistfully on their car radios today and don't realize that the musicians are still collecting huge radio royalties. They quickly realized the error of their ways: Two years later, the song was the first music video on MTV. That's called adaptation.
The second misconception has lasted longer. "Automation destroys millions of jobs", scrawled the former GDR monopoly newspaper "Neues Deutschland" on its website a year ago. "Robots in the economy: millions of jobs will be lost", orated the FAZ online three days earlier. Recently, "Die Zeit" took stock on its website: "Unemployment falls to record low". Hm, what now? Has another piece of bad news failed to materialize? What a bummer. Or is it still too early to take stock?
"Since the beginning of industrialization, prosperity and the number of jobs have increased rapidly."
It helps to take a look back in time. Because we're acting as if robots, computers and automation have only been around since someone invented the term Industry 4.0. Sorry, but all of this existed long before that. The fact is that prosperity and the number of jobs have increased rapidly since the beginning of industrialization. What we can do better: Don't take people for fools, don't sugarcoat things. Instead: Talk to people. Explain, involve them, give them arguments. Deal with it. Be open. And above all, don't start wildfires with bad-news-are-good-news headlines.
Exclusively in Material Flow: Intra Logistik writes what it thinks. Tell Intra what you think: [email protected]
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