My Thoughts on Automation and the Future of Employment

Automation is something I've thought of for years.  For simplistic purposes I'll just define automation as the replacement of human labor with machines.  This can take the form of a robot in a factory, a kiosk at the airport or a computer answering your call to customer support.  In many ways automation is a good thing, doing dangerous or monotonous jobs while simultaneously lowering price and increasing quality.  However, it can also be a bad thing from an employment perspective.

A lot of the talk this last election was about "bringing manufacturing back".  A lot of the blame of the loss of manufacturing jobs was put on trade agreements, and no doubt they play a part, but automation has been perhaps the more powerful force in eliminating jobs.  Here's the good news and bad news, manufacturing has come back to America, the jobs just haven't followed.

A new factory filled with robots run mostly by Ph.D's from MIT is not what these voters are after.  When people talk about bringing manufacturing back, I think they're really referring to having a pool of good middle class jobs with decent pay and benefits that someone could potentially stay at for their whole career, "the American dream".  Traditional manufacturing is great for workers, but from the employers point of view automation makes a world of sense in that robots work cheap, don't take vacation and don't need a 401K, allowing them to be more competitive and deliver better returns to their shareholders.

“Shouldn’t the ultimate goal of a society be 100% unemployment?” —Doug Stanhope

That's one of my favorite economic quotes and it comes from a comedian.  It's actually kind of deep when you think of it and then think of the worlds Star Trek or the Jetsons presented to us.  Not a lot of manual labor or dirty work going on there.  I also think we overplay the fact that technology will make x,y,z obsolete.  The invention of the computer and the loss of the typewriter didn't make secretaries or paper obsolete.  Similarly, the invention of the tractor and modern farming displaced a lot of jobs, but these jobs were eventually replaced with jobs in fields that didn't exist 20 years earlier.

I think there may be a difference this time around from past advances in automation in that it is happening on multiple fronts instead of just one industry.  It's also being seen worldwide in cheaper labor markets such as China where FoxConn (maker of many of your favorite electronics) has laid off 60,000 workers replaced by machines.  Sure you need people to build and maintain the robots, but a lot of this can be done by robots too!

Examples are all around us.  Self driving cars are just on the horizon and could displace millions of truckers, cab drivers and others.  You can get a virtual financial analyst or have IBM's Watson diagnose your medical condition more accurately than most doctors,  Even the service sector, a place displaced factory workers often landed, is even under pressure with kiosks taking the places of people.  Even when factory workers seem like they are winning the battle they may be losing the war, such as Carrier keeping jobs in Indiana "for now" while simultaneously investing in automation that will likely displace many of them down the road.

There are ways to "create" jobs by using people rather than automation, a sledgehammer to kill a fly approach.  I remember in China seeing a dozen people on a street corner sweeping snow by hand, doing over hours what a single person in a plow could do in seconds.  I could see government doing such things, but could you really legislate private industry to be inefficient?

So is massive automation a bad thing?  I guess time will tell.  It appears there will be a future with less jobs than there are people.  We may have to look at things like earlier retirement or a reduced work week down the road from a financial perspective, but one has to wonder the psychological impacts of not working as well.  I also know the whole world claims to be too busy and we're dying of stress, poor eating and not exercising which we'd theoretically all have more time for if we worked less.  There'd also be more time for family, the arts and creativity.  Lots to think about as we go forward, just wanted to throw it out there to get other peoples thoughts as well.

The Day I Went to a Baseball Game with Craig Sager

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of Craig Sager yesterday.  Having lost my own father to cancer last year I know how cruel the disease can be and feel so much for his family.  Here's my story about the day I met Craig and he took me to a Braves game.

Several years ago I was eating dinner with my buddy Jeff at Jock & Jills Sports Grill at Galleria in Atlanta.  It was my first time there and we picked it for dinner because of its convenient location, but little did we know our night was just getting started.  As we were eating our dinner a guy slid into our booth and just introduced himself as "Craig" (he looked so familiar).  He talked to us for a couple minutes and said he had free tickets to tonight's Braves game if we wanted to go.  We fully expected to just be handed two tickets and hear "have a good time guys, enjoy the company seats."  Instead, he said he had a party bus parked outside and get on ASAP because we were about to leave!

So we got on the bus and so did Craig and off to Turner Field we went with about 6 other people.  Honestly I don't remember much about the game, but I do remember how we sincerely felt like special guests the whole time.  Craig even went to the press box and got us the huge printed data packages they give reporters and broadcasters (which I still have today), but other than that he was just there as a fan that night, sitting in the stands like everyone else.  You normally think of Craig as a basketball guy first (and for his crazy suits, although he was dressed quite normal that night), but he was also huge in baseball.  I didn't know until yesterday he was even reporting on the field the night Hank Aaron broke the home run record.  It was a delightful night that I did nothing to deserve and I had to pinch myself a few times for the dumb luck that found me watching a baseball game with the Craig Sager.

Later we came to find out Jock and Jills was owned by Craig Sager and most of the people with us were his family and/or workers at the bar.  Craig gave us a story and experience I'll remember for the rest of my life, but I guess kindness like this to perfect strangers was totally in line with who he was.  Thanks Craig, may you rest in peace as you make heaven a bit more colorful.

How a Weekend at Bed and Breakfast Almost Turned Awkward

So Pam and I have become big fans of fun weekends away, guess it's the fun of not having kids yet.  Last year I was looking for a place over near Dawsonville, GA and went to my favorite travel site, Kayak.com.   These were the top 3 choices and the 3rd one "Paradise Valley Resort" look really nice complete with a pool and walking trails when you click on the description.  Looks pretty innocent right?

So I was about to call and make a reservation when I thought to Google it.  There you quickly learn, "Paradise Valley Resort & Club is Georgia's Premier Clothing Optional Resort!"  They even have a promotional video and events like a "clothing optional" 5K.  The website and video are pretty tame, but I guess we'll say "viewer discretion advised."

So I guess beware of listings on Kayak, Expedia and the such as evidently "nudist colony" wasn't important enough to make the description.  We ended-up at a nice bed and breakfast down the road, but it sparked some fun conversation with my wife and other couples as to what we would have done had we shown up with a reservation we couldn't cancel.  Stay and lock the doors?  Eat the loss and go down the street to a hotel?  I guess we'll never know what we would have done or the reaction to the surprise we would have had, but still makes for a good story based on this alone!

Marriage Advice From Famous People?

Volleyball Star Gabrielle Reece Ignited Controversy with Marriage Advice Saying Being ‘Submissive’ is a Sign of Strength.  I think many people read these verses wrong thinking this is only the job of the woman.  I even had Starting Point girls say that if they were expected to believe that they were walking.  I think we're all called to be submissive to each other, putting others before ourselves, husbands and wives.  Keep in mind although it doesn't say explicitly, "husbands be submissive to your wives" in the Bible, it does call on them to love their wives like Jesus loved the church.  Keep in mind he was willing to die for it, that's a far cry from woman get me a beer.  I think we're surrounded by selfishness and it's even encouraged in our culture, so anything contrary to it sticks out.  Well it's up to each couple to determine what works for them, but a little less selfishness is probably something we all could benefit from.

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Aaron Rodgers has an amazaing arm, Tom Wrigglesworth not so much...

The NFL schedule came out last night and the NFL draft is only a week away, so even though it's spring, I've got football on the brain.  Aaron Rodgers is a funny man from his photo bombing every captain's picture to his State Farm commercials to his witty tweets.  In one of those commercials you may have caught British comedian Tom Wrigglesworth.  I first saw Tom on the show Outrageous Acts of Science as a comedic scientific expert commentator (yep, he's funny and smart).  It was a few weeks later when some sports radio guys noticed a resemblance to Aaron Rodgers and then it took on a life of it's own when Tom got his own State Farm commercial.  You can see a video below where Tom visits Green Bay and frequently gets mistaken for Aaron.  It also gives you a flavor of the area where I grew up.



So Tom is a funny and smart guy, but I think Mr. Wrigglesworth would struggle to do this!

For Earth Day I'm Turning Over a New Leaf!

OK, I actually bought a new Leaf and I'm very excited!  I needed a new car as my old one was on the verge of needing several multiples in repairs more than what it was worth, so we decided to take the plunge.  I'd like to say it's all "green" thinking, but economics were a huge part with gas savings and the $12,500 in tax credits we'll get.  I've always been OK with owning "different" cars from my 1988 Hyundai Excel (before Hyundai was good) to a Mazda RX-8 with a rotary engine to a VW Jetta diesel, so I'm more excited than worried about owning a bit of an oddity.  The 84 mile range makes you plan a bit more, but the car is a cathedral to technology with all the creature comforts you could want in a commuter car.  I admit I have some initial range anxiety, but a fast charger for home and work with my predictable route should make that go away pretty quick.  I also pass a Nissan dealership going to work and I can always do a 5 minute quick charge there in a pinch.  Sure its a bit inconvenient, but the gas savings in our checking account and the $12,500 in tax credits in January will happily have me put up with a few inconveniences.

Me, Pam and Leafy

Speaking of tax credits, it's sad to see Georgia's $5,000 tax credit probably disappearing July 1st, but what's worse is the new $200 fee on electric vehicles up from $35.  The fee is meant to offset the lost tax from EV owners not buying gas and paying gas tax to fund the transportation budget, but I think the amount is a bit unfair.  $200 is more than the gas taxes paid by an average Georgia resident driving a large SUV getting 15 miles per gallon!  I agree EV owners should have to pay something, but $100 like a standard car seems much more reasonable.  I think the gas tax system worked great for a long time, the more you drove the more you paid toward road upkeep, but alternative fuel vehicles are a huge disruption to this system.  See the chart below to see what you pay in gas tax every year:

http://www.myajc.com/news/annual-gas-tax/

I love my Leaf already, Pam and I call her Leafy.  If you want a great car at a great price the Nissan Leaf is an awesome choice provided you can get over any "range anxiety" issues.  Well my electric car adventure begins, look for updates coming soon!

Who was the real Jesus?

As Easter approaches it's interesting to think of the real historical Jesus really was.  In Western culture he's often depicted as one step removed from a surfer dude, but based on the area of the world he was born in the reality was quite different.  In fact Jesus would probably stand a good chance of being "randomly selected" at airport security or a homeless guy.  So when you picture Jesus what do you see, the guy on the left or the guy on the right?

Of course there are a couple of funny Hollywood takes too:

As Easter approaches it's good to think about who the real Jesus was and maybe it changes how we view those who look a bit different than us.

Is Princess Leia a True Disney Princess?

So with Disney buying Lucas, here's the highly contested question among some of my Upstreet 2nd grade girls and adult girl princess lovers...

Is Leia a real Disney Princess?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

YES?No?

NFL Draft Is Like Christmas and Why I Still Love the XFL

It's like Christmas this weekend with 3 days of the NFL draft to suck me in, much to my wife's dismay.  The NFL is becoming more and more of a year round entertainment beast.  I think rumors of the NFL's looming demise are exaggerated, it may come back to Earth like the NBA did after the Jordan days or golf after Tiger's dominance, but it will be a force for the foreseeable future.  I've always supported the challengers though from NFL Europe to the XFL to Arena football to the UFL (I'm too young for the USFL), competition is good.  It provides the opportunity to try new rules and create a minor league of sorts giving players more opportunities and allows athletes the opportunity to showcase skills without faking interest in academia in the college game (like some high school baseball players going straight to the minor leagues and others to college).  I went to an XFL game and even played in an XFL fantasy league, good quality football can be entertaining no matter the name on the front or back of the jersey if you truly love the game.

Consciousness After Death: Strange Tales From the Frontiers of Resuscitation Medicine - Wired Science

Consciousness After Death: Strange Tales From the Frontiers of Resuscitation Medicine - Wired Science

New book says near death experience essentially universal.  A Hindu describes a Hindu god, an atheist doesn’t see a Hindu god or a Christian god, but some being. Different cultures see the same thing, but their interpretation depends on what they believe.  Overall they have peace and no longer fear death.  Makes you think.

A Welcoming church?

Saw this tweet and picture the other day:
Adrian Bott @Cavalorn
Well, this is a first. A notice on a church door that actually made me want to pay them a visit: pic.twitter.com/bSG0VStRqm

Made me wonder how many churches really feel this way.  I think this was the kind of person Jesus was as they were always hanging around him, but unfortunately not all our churches.  I think a lot of leaders of our modern evangelical churches feel this way, but not all the attenders,  I'm afraid this often leaves those who attend even the best of churches leaving sour.  I guess they say the worst advertisers for Christianity are Christians.  If we aren't the type of people or churches that would make the type of people in the above not feel welcome we should probably look in the mirror as we're not being like Jesus.

The Good American Girl Doll

I have lots of fun with my 1st graders at Buckhead Church UpStreet.  It's fun to see their reactions to the postcards I send them when I travel and to see how they interpret the Bible and the world we live in.  It's also a weekly excuse for me to be silly for an hour.

I try to do "market research" and know what's cool with kids so I can relate to them.  You gotta stay current because fads come and go, but one that seems to have stuck is the American Girl Doll craze.  The kids love it when I make-up stories for them and I usually try to incorporate them as characters and sometimes am even good enough to relate it to the Bible lesson we're doing that week.  I'm nowhere near Orange material, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut once and a while.  This week's Doug made-up story was about Hannah's American Girl Doll named Kit.  As the story goes, Kit was laying on the sidewalk all battered with stuffing coming out everywhere and her head half falling off.  Many people walked by Kit and did nothing.  Mr. Doug saw kit and bandaged her up so she wouldn't lose more stuffing.  He then put Kit in his car and drove her to the American Girl Doll store at Northpoint Mall.  There he gave her to the doll hospital with some money and said that if it wasn't enough, when he returned he would give them more.  The end (of course with some details and fun thrown in).  Yep, the Good Samaritan told about a doll in a way that hopefully a first grade girl won't soon forget what it means to love your neighbor.  It's fun to make this stuff up.

One of the reasons I also love UpStreet are the catchy little songs and phrases we learn that I find myself humming throughout the week.  I remember last month was the "Patience Song" or, as I sang all month, "P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E, you gotta wait for it!"  Although they're meant for kids, I know in my heart that having those refrains coursing through my thoughts is more than healthy.

Well anyway, here's a song from @buckheadkids @buckhead church guaranteed to get stuck in your head "Books of the Bible" from KidStuf!  Click on the pic to go to the video and enjoy!

Shrinking Tumor!!!

Just talked to Dad and his tumor is shrinking rapidly, really rapidly.  He's looking healthy and his numbers across the board are improving.  More later, but feel so blessed right now!

Bible Trivia on Xbox

Pam and I have a few games we play together.  Most of them are on the Wii, but this is the one and only game I can get her to play on XBox.  It has really tough old testament trivia with cool mini-games and an awesome christian soundtrack.  Think some Toby Mac while running through the parting of the Red Sea or some Chris Tomlin while being chased by lions.  We've been known to have a marathon session of this and both have our favorite games.  There's also a "zonk" in each round called the "wrath of God" that makes you lose all your points from that round.  We suck at the trivia, but some of it is really about some really obscure characters in the Old Testament.  I got this game years ago at Best Buy for $5 and was the best entertainment expense I think i ever spent.  Hope they come out with more games like this!

Science and God

I've become a fan of Neil Degrasse Tyson recently.  He has an uncanny ability to take difficult scientific topics and distill them down so that anyone can understand them.  He reminds me of a scientific version of Andy Stanley, well except for the fact that he's an outspoken atheist.  He gave a talk called, "The Perimeter of Ignorance" at a conference that I listened to the other day that really got my wheels spinning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTFwDpr14Bo).  In that conference he mourned that more scientists we're atheists because he saw faith as a hindrance to scientific discovery.  He pointed to prominent example after prominent example from Newton to Einstein where scientists reached a scientific roadblock they couldn't figure something out and they essentially just gave-up, called it miraculous and said it must be God, only to have a future scientist be able to explain the previously explainable.  He said they "basked in the majesty of God" only have their discovery stop and he wondered how much more a Newton or Einstein could have contributed without having the "parachute" of a God hypothesis.

I guess this is my frustration sometimes with science and church.  I believe God and science can coexist and can actually have a synergistic relationship.  What I don't like is when people look at a tough problem and don't even try to solve it because it appears too hard and just fall back on the miraculous.  I believe there are miracles, but I also believe God setup a systems of natural laws, many of which he is eagerly awaiting for us to discover.  In ancient times people got sick from evil spirits, but we now understand germs.  We also now understand gravity, the atom and hundreds of other former mysteries.  I think it's a shame when people use faith as an improper justification of ignorance for themselves or their children.  It's almost like there's a fear that science will minimize God, but what I see is quite the opposite.  All you have to do is look at something like Hubble or the fact that scientist have discovered more stars than there are grains of sand in all the deserts and beaches to see that science can enhance God's majesty, not diminish it!  I think he smiled when we saw these images for the 1st time and probably is saying, "I can't wait until NASA gets more funding and they build a bigger one, it'll blow their mind!"



Neil DeGrasse Tyson did share one quote from Galileo that I love, “The Bible was written to show us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.”  I couldn't agree more.  Let's believe in God, but let's also use the intelligence he's given us for the most good possible.

Extra Mayo

So today and tomorrow my dad is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  They're essentially doing assembly line medicine with my dad spending an hour or two with a list of docs and tests all looking at his case from a different perspective.  It's a bit of a mystery as to why his platelet and red blood cell count hasn't come up yet combined with his blood clot issues along what chemo drugs to look at next since he didn't respond well to this one.  One school of thought with counts this low is to essentially "wait it out" and just use transfusions to bridge the gap.  The trip to Mayo is somewhat of a double check to be sure they're not missing anything else that could be causing it other than his bone marrow being slow to recover.

Tomorrow Pam and I fly to Wisconsin for a nice visit and to support my dad for the FVBTC walk (details below).  It will be great to see my parents and my sister and brother-in-law.  My dad is still all there mentally and loves talking Packers and playing cards, so I'm looking forward to an enjoyable visit.  Keep my dad and the Mayo Clinic doctors in your prayers so that they can find anything there is to be found and that my dad gets the best advice as to how to move forward.

From previous post: On Saturday I'll be running for a different reason up in Wisconsin.  The Fox Valley Brain Tumor Coalition (FVBTC) will be holding their annual race.  The race benefits their work to support the patients of brain tumors and their caregivers.  It's a really cool race in that the patients themselves are encouraged to participate!  Some may only make it 50 feet and others just a step or two, but that's not the point, it's all about support and encouragement for what can be a very depressing disease.  My dad's goal is to make one lap, about a half mile.  I have no clue how far I'll go, but all that matters to me is being there to support my dad.  If you're interested in learning more about the great work of the FVBTC or donating, my dad has setup a race page below:

http://www.fvbtc.org/participant/home.php?pid=137

Government Debt

So one of the huge issues for me in politics is the debt.  I see it as robbing from future generations in order to live beyond our means in the present.  Not only that, it's against Christian values as you can read in so many Bible verses.  In fact many people don't know that the Bible talks about money that almost any other topic!

I was really impacted by Andy Stanley's Recovery Road series.  You can watch/listen to the great messages from it at http://recoveryroad.org/.  In the series Andy encouraged us to let our faith determine what we support politically and be sure what/who we support is aligned with Biblical principles.  It was amazing how much the Bible had to say about today's problems as things weren't much different back then as the quote shows below:

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance." Cicero , 55 BC

Things didn't end well for Cicero.  According to Plutarch, a Roman Centurian slew him, then cut off his head. On Marc Antony's instructions his hands were cut off as well; these were nailed and displayed along with his head in the Forum. Antony's wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin in final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.  Guess some things never change, people never want to hear the difficult truth, even if it leads to the downfall of their society like the Romans.

I was really impacted by the graph below.  Some people say things like "cut welfare" or "tax this group or that group", but you can see by the charts below that if you cut EVERYTHING other than defense, medicare and social security we're still way in the hole.  Also, if you DOUBLE the amount of taxes everyone pays we're still in the red.  It let me know just how dire things were.

So I guess this year I hope the public will be realistic.  If someone promises you lower taxes AND higher spending, no matter the party, beware.  Let's be good Christians and good stewards for both our benefit and future generations.

Learn more about 

us debt.

Running for a good cause

So on Saturday I ran the Roswell 13.1 "alien themed" half marathon.  I missed a critical component of the marathon experience however.......training.  I hadn't run in about 4 weeks with the wedding and honeymoon. It was rough, but I survived.

On September 8th I'll be running for a different reason up in Wisconsin.  The Fox Valley Brain Tumor Coalition (FVBTC) will be holding their annual race.  The race benefits their work to support the patients of brain tumors and their caregivers.  It's a really cool race in that the patients themselves are encouraged to participate!  Some may only make it 50 feet and others just a step or two, but that's not the point, it's all about support and encouragement for what can be a very depressing disease.  My dad's goal is to make one lap, about a half mile.  I have no clue how far I'll go, but all that matters to me is being there to support my dad.  If you're interested in learning more about the great work of the FVBTC or donating, my dad has setup a race page below:

http://www.fvbtc.org/participant/home.php?pid=137

Dad at home!

Dad is improving and is now home! Hope to restart more aggressive tumor treatment (almost forgot about that part) this week. In other news Port Douglas Australia is beautiful! Awesome honeymoon trip.

Good news on Dad

Hi from Sydney! Awesome day yesterday at opera house and zoo! What's more awesome is that dad's white blood cell count is up to 1.3 and he should go home tomorrow and start Cyberknife treatment next week. Although we're already having an awesome time, this lifts some weight and let's us enjoy ourselves just a bit more down here. Well at a McDonalds on free wifi in Sydney on my iPhone, time to go back to being a tourist, but wanted to share the good news!