[QUOTE=Emrobu;191801]Once upon a time, in the future, they built a ship which could sail the seven seas, and conduct all her business safely, legaly, and profitably all with only two crewmen: a Chief Engineer and a dog.
Why did it need a Chief? Without the Chief, who would feed the dog?
Why did it need a dog? Without the dog, who would make sure the Chief didn’t touch anything?[/QUOTE]
I have seen a cartoon with that same joke, only the dog was replaced by a parrot. (Can’t find it now)
OK there will be a Captain to watch and take control the last few meters into the ferry dock, as least initially, but auto docking will soon be added.
I don’t know if there will be a Chief Engineer required, since the propulsion will be electric, but maybe an ETO?
Ticketing is already taken care of by using automatic card readers when driving onboard.
A couple of ABs will be needed to direct the cars at each end. Mooring and charger connection is automatic, but they need to be on board on the crossing, just in case. (To assist pax in any emergency situation)
What is most important is catering staff to serve coffee and “svele”, nobody would even dear to automate those:
Positively brilliant writing. I could pick any number of things to quote, but this one is glaringly important to understand.
Technology-generated income inequality is also a threat to our free market economic system because it reduces consumer demand by reducing the number of consumers, principally workers, with the ability to purchase goods.
The economic concept of creative destruction only works, to the extent it can work, when new jobs are created to replace the old jobs lost due to the new, disruptive technology. And those new jobs must be more-or-less comparable, over the long haul, to the jobs they displace in terms of income & benefits, the numbers of people gainfully employed, and their availability to the displaced workers. Anyone who has been paying even a little attention to the last 2-3 (or more) decades should be able to see that this has not been the case. Usually the only people who care are those directly affected by the job loss. Well, the wolf is at the door now for us, too.
You can’t run the world’s present economic model by selling stuff to a shrinking pool of people that still have enough disposable income to float the whole enterprise. There will never be enough über-rich to manage it. So much bullshit arguing over capitalism vs. communism vs. socialism / conservatives vs. liberals, etc. The “ism” that would be the logical end to continuing to put more and more people out of work via the miracles of technology is called feudalism. We’re working slowly but steadily towards it all the while. Anyone here, besides the would-be lords, barons, dukes, etc. want to give that a go?
[QUOTE=captjacksparrow;192077]
You can’t run the world’s present economic model by selling stuff to a shrinking pool of people that still have enough disposable income to float the whole enterprise. There will never be enough über-rich to manage it. So much bullshit arguing over capitalism vs. communism vs. socialism / conservatives vs. liberals, etc. The “ism” that would be the logical end to continuing to put more and more people out of work via the miracles of technology is called feudalism. We’re working slowly but steadily towards it all the while. Anyone here, besides the would-be lords, barons, dukes, etc. want to give that a go?[/QUOTE]
Not exactly. Feudalism is the ruling class acting as parasite to the uneducated, undernourished working class. The rulers depend on working people for everything they have. In the system you’re talking about, the working class becomes obsolete: the rulers have finally freed themselves from needing the masses at all. Its more like a Diamond Age.
In the magical kingdom of Scandiland, we all become the idle rulers. Here in the new world, we can’t imagine the value of a person who doesn’t work. Working class people don’t know who they are, if they don’t have work. You can tell right away when you meet someone from a working class background, because he wants to know “what do you do?” or he wants to tell you about “what he does.” That’s the root of our anxiety about automation, immigration, and trade. If it threatens our jobs, it threatens our identity. Its a deeply rooted feature of our culture.
Originally Posted by ombugge View Post
Not only ships will be automated. Pretty soon you will be able to “print” autonomous ships as well: http://shipbuilder.nl/site/3d-printi…-game-changer/
Initially the Chief Engineer will be printing the spare parts he needs right there and then as he needs them.
No more expensive stock on board, only a hard drive with 3d drawings of every conceivable machinery part needed. (Until Engineers are sent ashore to do their printing there, that is)
Excuse me, but a printer (or in this case sinterer, probably) doesn’t create mass. You still need to carry the stock onboard. On top of that you need to carry all the quality checking instruments for the newly “printed” part, some of which are very costly indeed. It doesn’t make sense for each ship to carry all that you need to check what we now think of as a caste part (like a piston, for example) to make sure it doesn’t have any unwanted voids or other defects. Or something as microscopically perfect as a turbocharger. Add to that that there is no such thing as a vibration free environment on a ship in transit. There’s not much to be won from printing parts onboard, I think, except the oooh cool factor. It is cool, though. Never-mind, lets do it. And don’t expect me for supper: I have some drawings to print.
Never say ‘no’ when they offer you a cool new toy.
Can someone translate that into latin for me? Its going to be my new moto.
[QUOTE=Emrobu;192118]Excuse me, but a printer (or in this case sinterer, probably) doesn’t create mass. You still need to carry the stock onboard. On top of that you need to carry all the quality checking instruments for the newly “printed” part, some of which are very costly indeed. It doesn’t make sense for each ship to carry all that you need to check what we now think of as a caste part (like a piston, for example) to make sure it doesn’t have any unwanted voids or other defects. Or something as microscopically perfect as a turbocharger. Add to that that there is no such thing as a vibration free environment on a ship in transit. There’s not much to be won from printing parts onboard, I think, except the oooh cool factor. It is cool, though. Never-mind, lets do it. And don’t expect me for supper: I have some drawings to print.
Never say ‘no’ when they offer you a cool new toy.
Can someone translate that into latin for me? Its going to be my new moto.[/QUOTE]
I did post this “tong-in-cheek”.
Contrary to popular belief I do not believe everything I find on the internet and do not think that all predictions of how the future will look is correct. The prediction is that of the author CEES VERKERK, not mine.
idioter som deg ser ikke hvorfor ingen av oss er begeistret for denne nyeste størst utvikling som dette vil gjøre 90% av sjøfolk over hele verden foreldet betyr at vi vil alle være ute av en jobb slik som gir dritt om roboships bortsett fra deg
For those who does not understand Norwegian, here is the original text used to google translate from:
“idiots like you do not see why any of us are excited about this latest greatest development as this will make 90% of seafarers worldwide obsolete means we will all be out of a job so that gives shit about roboships except you”
Just my 2 cents. No reason to scared of future ships, it will happen over time at some level? The big players are investing in this shit. You have to figure out a plan to adopt and still make $ if it happens in your working life time. Nobody will be able to slow down technology advancements.
[QUOTE=DeepSeaDiver;192520]Just my 2 cents. No reason to scared of future ships, it will happen over time at some level? The big players are investing in this shit. You have to figure out a plan to adopt and still make $ if it happens in your working life time. Nobody will be able to slow down technology advancements.[/QUOTE]
Take your two cents and invest them with Rolls Royce
I don’t think of any of us doubt this is going to happen. It’s just that most of us aren’t routing for it. Seafaring is a good way of life and how I put food on my family’s table. I hope to keep doing it for the rest of my career. What’s to be gained besides more “efficiency” if we go down this road? A lot of people out of work worldwide. When will it be enough? Technology is an inescapable reality in our lives, but there needs to be a check on how far we go. Otherwise we are going to end up in a world where there are too many people with nothing to contribute besides breathing the air, eating food, and consuming the resources.