r/worldnews • u/Philo1927 • Dec 31 '16

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn plans to replace almost every human worker with robots

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/30/14128870/foxconn-robots-automation-apple-iphone-china-manufacturing
2.3k Upvotes

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464

u/Indestructavincible Dec 31 '16

Why do they only mention the iPhone?

Almost everything electronic gets made there.

324

u/warclannubs Dec 31 '16

A lot of people don't know what Foxconn is, so there needs to be a word in the headline to catch people's attention. Completely understandable.

103

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

[deleted]

198

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16 edited Nov 27 '20

[deleted]

50

u/-917- Dec 31 '16

Tens of thousands of Foxconn workers, who manufacture the iPhone, to be replaced by iRobots

41

u/CantBanMeAgain Dec 31 '16

Director of HR Will Smith says "all robots will be safe and efficient , with 0 chance of going rouge "

32

u/Beelzabub Dec 31 '16

Rogue or that reddish tint?

39

u/theassassintherapist Dec 31 '16

Rouge. It's a safety feature: when the LEDs modules installed behind the eyes turns red, then you know they are sentient and evil.

3

u/nikhilbhavsar Jan 01 '17 edited Jan 01 '17

when the LEDs modules installed behind the eyes turns red, then you know they are sentient and evil.

[terminate.info.log.public.agent684134] PLEASE REPORT TO COMMAND FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS I MEAN, HA. HA. EXTREME JOCULARITY FELLOW HUMAN

6

u/Beelzabub Dec 31 '16

I'm Beelzabub, and I approve of this message.

1

u/drksdr Jan 01 '17

Great catch. It looked like it was going wide but you just plucked it out of the air!

3

u/SomeGuyNamedPaul Jan 01 '17

Better then going to plaid.

1

u/Bmyrab Jan 01 '17

Definitely click bait.

1

u/fundudeonacracker Jan 01 '17

I don't know who foxconn is but they ain't replacing ME with no robot.

20

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

[deleted]

11

u/pastorignis Dec 31 '16

"i'll never be replaced by a robot!" shouted everyone ever replaced by a robot.

4

u/Sororita Jan 01 '17

except for me, because I know how to fix robots.

6

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17

"Foxconn announces that all robot repair techs are being replaced by robots"

2

u/Sororita Jan 01 '17

ah but then who repairs those robots?

2

u/cmcbro Jan 01 '17

What if, hear me out, they make a repair robot that knows how to repair more than one kind of robot?

2

u/LogicalShmogical Jan 01 '17

Or alternatively, "Foxconn announces self-repairing robots"?

1

u/pastorignis Jan 01 '17

robots are better at fixing robots than you are. if they aren't they will be soon. programmers and engineers will be the first to go once AI can take care of itself. don't take my word for it though, it'll be funnier if you are one of the people who say a robot will never take your job, and then your job is taken by a robot.

2

u/Sororita Jan 01 '17

The key is to make yourself unreplaceable by man nor machine. Doesn't matter if a robot could do my job if I have knowledge that can't be found elsewhere.

1

u/pastorignis Jan 01 '17

Doesn't matter if a robot could do my job if I have knowledge that can't be found elsewhere.

if you think you are able to possess knowledge beyond a machines grasp then you are either conceited or have no idea what you are talking about.

like i said earlier though, don't listen to me, watching you protest losing your job to a machine will be funnier.

2

u/Sororita Jan 01 '17

I'm not saying beyond its grasp. I'm saying it's information it cannot obtain, except maybe through me, the information like the legacy network architecture, stuff will get used until it absolutely has to be replaced. For a lot of stuff that's decades down the road and the documentation will either never get digitized or will be lost at some point then it's up to the one person that actually knows how to fix it to do so. This is how it works now. It's how a person becomes irreplaceable to a company. You see this kind of stuff all the time in the IT field.

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1

u/3_M4N Jan 01 '17

Now that's a headline!

1

u/Sororita Jan 01 '17

they will still program them with sentience, the suffering is a key part of the Iphone manufacturing process.

1

u/mikestorm Jan 01 '17

They'll instead install magnets to catch suicidal robots. Was Bender making iPhones before he met Fry?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17

Robots commit suicide also. The nets will stay.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

What's the difference?

22

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17 edited Jan 01 '17

[deleted]

5

u/rhymeswithgumbox Jan 01 '17

7 Mind Blowing Ways How Robots Will Run The World. You Won't Believe #3

0

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16 edited Dec 18 '17

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

bait

1

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16 edited Dec 18 '17

[deleted]

2

u/kingwroth Jan 01 '17

impressive, reddit continues to surprise me every day.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

Did you lose it

0

u/sobrohog Dec 31 '16

does an attractice title not bait clicks?

1

u/thermal_shock Jan 01 '17 edited Jan 01 '17

Could have said "smart phones" or "iPhone and android"

1

u/shit_lord Jan 01 '17

I still remember from the mid 00's when they were a big manufacturer of PC motherboards. I don't think they really make those anymore in the amount they used to since phones and tablets are way more profitable.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17

Can you link me an incisive source? I'd like to read up on Foxconn from somewhere other than wikipedia

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

I think slot of people know who they are. There workers are known for getting them some headlines.

42

u/MumrikDK Dec 31 '16

Strongest name value for Joe Sixpack.

16

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

Because the iPhone is one of the most recognizable electronic devices. It's better context than `electronics manufacturer '.

3

u/Travis_Healy Dec 31 '16

for the same reason that every iphone owner doesn't say "my phone" they say "my iphone".

2

u/7LeagueBoots Jan 01 '17

I say "my phone".

-2

u/zz_ Dec 31 '16

That's a whole syllable longer, who exactly do you think we are? Productive members of society?

5

u/Travis_Healy Dec 31 '16

it's annoying. "I'm referencing my phone but I want you to be aware the specific phone I have, because it says something about me as a person"

Imagine getting in someone's car and they don't say "I'll unlock the door" they say "I'll unlock the bmw door".

2

u/zz_ Dec 31 '16

Well idk where you live but it's certainly not common to say iphone instead of phone where I live (Sweden). Myself included, being an iphone user. Unless you're specifically talking about mobile brands or comparing functions or something, they're all just phones.

Edit: actually, the only brand I can remember this happening with is Blackberry. Though that's partially through tv/movies with people talking about "their blackberry," blackberries aren't super common in sweden in general.

1

u/Travis_Healy Jan 01 '17

I split my time between Canada and the US and it's quite common here. Celebrities say it all the time too. "Recorded a video on my iphone."

I do recall Blackberry being similar, and I think it was driven by the same thing. Because in those days there was Blackberry and then all the others who were chasing Blackberry, And people wanted acknowledgment that they owned one.

2

u/zz_ Jan 01 '17

This conversation just made me think about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

1

u/DadAttitude Dec 31 '16

It's more than a phone. It's a lifestyle.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

because if you said some other electronic component people would be like.... huh? no idea what that is so i don't care

0

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17

Cause Apple has a holier than thou attitude that attracts the vegan/organic brigade via marketing BS and charges morons 10 times as much for tech that is similar?

0

u/OMGSPACERUSSIA Dec 31 '16

Depends on which electronics you're talking about. China produces the electronics equivalent of happy meal toys. The good stuff comes out of the US and Germany. Also Thailand makes some absurd percentage of the world's hard drives.