RE: The Deflationary Nature of Robotics

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RE: The Deflationary Nature of Robotics

aussieninja in LeoFinance • 10 months ago

I think I'm really struggling with this as a concept... and maybe it's product-specific.

Obviously food is way, way, way, way more automated now than in the 1990s, both with fresh produce and processed-food. The economies of scale for farms now in comparison is far more efficient, but you're right, there are a ton of other factors involved in pricing.

Televisions are absolutely cheaper... but mobile phones are harder to compare - we might be spending as much or more on the devices themselves and data... but these devices do so much more than in the 1990s and need way more data.

Again, even though automotive factories are way more automated than in the 90s, cars themselves are still a decent percentage of people's expenses... but again, they are safer, more efficient, etc.

I guess where I'm struggling is if technology is deflationary, and I'm sure you're right that it is, but there are other factors like wages, protections, real estate, etc are not deflationary, then how much is the overall effect will be?

Can robotics cause overall deflation if other factors are too inflationary? I guess the real question is... will robotics positively impact my life?

10 months ago in LeoFinance by aussieninja

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taskmaster4450le 10 months ago

Another way of looking at it, think of this interaction in 1985. How much would it have cost?

If we were communicating, back and forth, it would likely have been by phone. Being in two different cities meant long distance charges. There was a per minute rate within each country domestically. If we were dealing international, it was even higher.

So a "discussion" over 10 minutes cost anywhere from a a buck or two to a ten spot. I recall ads for $1.19 per minute on some international calls.

If we used letters, there was paper, envelops, and postage (all which I am sure went up in cost). Yet, we are interacting with none of those costs, leaving aside the fact it would have been a two week turnaround through the postal systems.

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aussieninja 10 months ago (edited)

Oh absolutely... completely agree with that. Cheaper, more efficient, quicker, all the things.

The wild thing is... we pay $96 for our monthly mobile family phone (& data) bill and another $76 for our internet data... so I'm sure that's more than a average family's telecommunications and home entertainment bill in 1985 (allowing for inflation)... but again... it's not really comparable because we get so much more value... so technically it's amazingly deflationary, but as a percentage of disposable income, maybe not so much... but then maybe we're also not spending as much on drive-ins, bowling, bars, etc as people did in 1985. It's really hard to compare.

It blows my mind that for centuries a son would have a very similar life to his father... and now I can't even compare my life to how it was 2 decades ago.

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