Stoas full of sensors. Robotic vehicles and excavators. Sensors on the ground surface. And a “control center”, with dozens of operators in front of screens: the old miners could never have imagined that mining would become largely “office work”!
The coal mine of the Xukuang Group Tianshan in the (legendary in the west…) Chinese province of Xinjiang is – as a work/production organization – mainly the work of two companies that have nothing to do with underground tunnels: China Mobile and Huawei. That is, in general terms, one can indeed imagine today an industrial facility that operates largely “automatically.”
Replacement of live labor by fixed capital/machines? Partially yes. More accurately: destruction of specialties, creation of new ones, Industry 4.0… Displacement of the center of gravity of the technical composition of labor towards operators, repairers and programmers. And of course: explosive increase in labor productivity! In mines, ports, factories, transportation; in the crown jewels of the 2nd industrial revolution…