this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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It is always cheaper to use human labor, where a humanoid form is best suited to do it. Automation is best implemented in situations where the human form doesn't work best.
Currently
Yeah, no..."always". Technology like humanoid robots, is never going to get cheap enough to replace low-paid manual labor. That's a marketing lie that tech CEO's like to use, in order to drum up more investment capital.
Considering that humanoid labor often works in tandem with actual automation...the idea of robots using machines to accomplish tasks that a human could just as easily do, with far less overhead..makes no sense.
The only way automation is effective, is when it exceeds the limitations of what the human body can accomplish. Designing it with the same basic limitations doesn't improve on anything.
That's definitely not a rule. Just because so far we managed to keep manual labor dirt cheap doesn't mean it always have to be like that. Tariffs, migration policy, social programs and so on, all affect the cost of labor. Move all the production back to developed countries while limiting immigration and the costs of labor might increase to the point where humanoid robots make sense.
I'm not saying that this will happen, only that we definitely can't say it won't.
The only thing that makes manual labor worth more, is demand. And adding more competition to the market does the opposite of that. If anything, robots will make human labor even cheaper. And that will only get worse, the cheaper the robots get.
Same goes for every other factor you listed. All of those things add cost to a business's bottom line. Where they will inevitably try to claw back some of those losses, are labor costs. "Sorry, but due to overhead constraints, this is the best I can offer you. Take it or leave it". And in an economy that's under pressure, people will take whatever they can get.
Ever heard about supply?
Labor is the supply. Demand determines its value.
...they both contribute.