Allow me to begin with a simple question: Did humanity build machines to serve humanity, or to replace it? We are currently facing a growing crisis in our nation, a crisis in our ability to earn equity within our own economy. In the past, the labor of the masses has been the primary means both through which we produced the necessities of life, and by which we earned a share of those necessities to sustain our own lives. However, the past is exactly that: The past.

The United States now employs over 7.2 million less people in manufacturing jobs alone since 1979 according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Jeffery, Terence P. "7,231,000 Lost Jobs: Manufacturing Employment Down 37% From 1979 Peak" cnsnews.com May 12, 2015 Web Accessed 31 March, 2018). However, this is not really a good indicator of the extent of what has happened since this merely calculates the raw difference in the number of jobs existing at these two time periods, not potential jobs lost once we account for the job growth which would have come with population growth and increased domestic manufacturing output. For that, a recent study by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University offers a much larger projection, accounting for roughly 8.8 million jobs and potential jobs lost between 2000 and 2010 alone, an additional 1.6 million losses within a mere fraction of the previous timeframe. Further, it goes on to state that 88% of these lost jobs were lost due to increased productivity (Hicks. Michael J. and Devaraj, Srikant. The Myth and the Reality of Manufacturing in America. Ball State University, 2015.). This ties directly into the rise of automation, PLCs, and (increasingly) robotics.

In the past, big economic ideas like these have inevitably created new jobs to replace those lost, thus re-utilizing freed human capital towards new advancements. In the modern era, however, things have changed. Human capital is becoming more and more obsolete, first unskilled capital and now increasing even skilled capital. We are not simply being freed up to do new things as innovations replace the tedium of menial labor with more productive tasks, but rather we are being entirely replaced by technologies which can do everything we can do and even somethings which we simply cannot do at all. Admittedly, some jobs are being created in instrumentation, electrical engineering, industrial maintenance, and programming. However, having three or four new jobs being created to service machines which might have replaced dozens or even hundreds of workers is far from "job creation". Even those who study the economic sector are beginning to take notice of this, and to warn us that replacement jobs are not coming (Sherman, Erik. "Automation Won't Create New Jobs Like Technology Did In The Past" Forbes 17 December, 2016 Web Accessed 31 March 2018). This view is backed by research, such as a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research which found that every robot added to the workforce cost between 3 and 5.6 jobs in the commuting area, and lowered wages between 0.25% and 0.5% per 1,000 workers (Acemoglu, Daron and Restrepo, Pascual. Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets, NBER Working Paper No. 23285. The National Bureau of Economic Research, 2017).

However, this issue is far more extensive than the mere loss of a few million jobs in the past for which we cannot find a replacement. Many experts are predicting that this issue is going to get much bigger in the coming years as technology continues to advance and industry continues to upgrade. In fact, a recent study compiled by the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that the United States alone could lose between 39 and 73 million additional jobs to automation by 2030, and that the global losses could reach as high as 800 million jobs (James Manyika, Susan Lund, Michael Chui, Jacques Bughin, Jonathan Woetzel, Parul Batra, Ryan Ko, and Saurabh Sanghvi. What the future of work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages. McKinsey Global Institute, 2017.). Many industries could become almost completely automated as self-driving vehicles, robotic fast food chefs, and self-checkout lines become the norm rather than novelties. Other industries will be harder to automate with current technology, but will still see some reduction in their need for human capital at a time when more people are looking for work than ever.

While the ARIS-1: Launchpad project will offset these numbers somewhat, the facts remain that 1) they will likely be severely insufficient to cope with the sheer number of job seekers, 2) many of these gains are likely to have a somewhat limited lifespan, and 3) eventually automation will reach a level where even construction trades have reduced or even largely eliminated the need for direct human labor. In short, while the Launchpad project may help to buy us time and open up new opportunities, it is not (and was not intended to be) a solution for the rise of automation. Therefore, additional measures must be enacted now while we still have some time left in order to prepare for this coming age. Further, it is important to understand that even while this new age will offer a multitude of challenges, it will also open up a near infinite number of benefits and opportunities for human enrichment if are wise in it's handling.

Towards this end, we propose the following solution: Institute a federal tax without deduction or credits on mechanical labor which replaces human labor and which can operate autonomously or semi-autonomously starting at a rate of $4.00 per operating hour of replaced human labor for all robots installed after January 1st, 2000, with a suggested division of 40% as non-refundable federal income tax, 25% as FICA-style tax towards Social Security, 6% as FICA-style tax toward Medicare, 22% as FUTA-style tax towards unemployment and the remaining 7% placed towards workers compensation insurance. Again, non of these should have any deduction, refunds, or credits to reduce payment in any way.

First off, this will provide human labor a level playing field in our changing economy by holding robot labor to the same standards to which legal human labor must abide. Robot labor will always hold an advantage in repetitive tasks as it does not take breaks, need lunches, change shifts, get sick, or slack off. However, it also holds an unfair advantage over humans in that it is not mandated to pay into income taxes, FICA (social security and medicare), FUTA and other unemployment taxes, workers compensation insurance, or healthcare. This means that hiring an $8.00 an hour employee is actually more expensive than buying a robot with an operating cost of $8.00 per hour since the robot does not have the additional financial costs of increased taxes and mandated benefits. Increasing the operating cost of robotic labor will buy us time to adjust to the coming new age by making humans comparatively more affordable, at least on the lower income levels. A $25.00/hr welder might just be replaced with a $12.00/hr machine instead of an $8.00/hr machine, but basic service industries might be spared at least temporarily. Combined with the job creation and economic stimulation of the ARIS-1: Launchpad project as well as the ARIS-3: Workfare project, we might be able to smoothly transition through this period with a minimum of human suffering.

Secondly, our government is already suffering from the effects of our increased automation as it's revenues are largely dependent upon income taxes collected from workers. Our government has suffered an increased demand for social programs to combat lost jobs, reduced hours and lower wages at a time when it's potential revenues have been slashed by job losses and economic downturn. Nowhere is this more readily apparent than social security, whose massive surplus has been demolished and is currently running at such a high deficit that it will have run out of funds by 2034, needing to draw further payments from it's revenues alone right after we've just lost another 39 to 73 million jobs to automation. Given that it is funded through taxes on employee incomes, and that social programs like SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid are closely tied to it's existence, this spells disaster. Revitalizing our nation through taxing all labor, rather than just human labor, will both provide a means for funding these necessary programs while reducing the demands thereon.

Third, our future is grander and brighter than any now might dare imagine. We need not hobble ourselves through the backwards thinking of the Luddites, but rather we must embrace the full glory of our grand destiny. By creating the social mechanics for robots to be able to honor their filial piety to their creators through service to mankind, we are able to turn robots from a hostile force of competition against mankind into the protectors and providers they were always meant to be. They did not steal our jobs, but rather freed us from the necessity of our jobs as the sole means of production that we might pursue our dreams. Therefore, let us build a future together where we can see these wondrous machines not as a doomsday threat, but rather for what they truly are: Our friends the robots.