The Assembly Line Is Already Dead — We’re Just Afraid to Admit It

This is going to be an unpopular opinion. And to be fair, I have not fully committed to this idea yet. But it has been stuck in my head since the summer after visiting the Ford F-150 plant in Dearborn, Michigan. What I saw there forced me to confront something I think a lot of people, especially Democrats, are afraid to talk about honestly.

We always hear politicians talk about the dignity of work. Sherrod Brown talks about it all the time. And the dignity of work is real. But job protectionism, the kind that keeps certain jobs alive long after technology can replace them, is not dignity. It actually strips dignity away. It creates unrealistic expectations. And it forces workers to fight a losing battle against the very future that is already here.

Now, that is where people flip out and think I hate workers or manufacturing or the American labor movement. That is not true at all. In fact, this entire idea only exists because I care deeply about workers and their future. So let me explain what I saw.

What I Saw in Dearborn Changed Everything

At the Ford plant, I watched a man on the assembly line installing some sort of power converter in the back of the F-150. It was repetitive. It was slow. And it was obvious that a machine could do it faster, with fewer errors, and without taking breaks. Between installing each part, the guy would check his phone. Scroll. Look at Instagram. AirPods in, listening to music, responding to messages, then casually going back to the task.

Two things hit me immediately. First, I could not believe that phones were allowed on the floor. Second, I realized why that job still existed. It existed because the union negotiated to keep it from being automated. Not because the job, I assume, required human talent. Not because it required craftsmanship. But because union negotiations protected certain tasks from being handed over to automation.

And that is when I asked myself the real question.

Can you have dignity in work if the only reason your job exists is because a machine is being forced and told to stand down?

If you know a robot hanging over your head can do everything you do, faster, better, more consistently, what does that do to your sense of pride? Your sense of purpose? Your dignity?

We do not like to think about that. But it is happening already.

Denial Is The Enemy.

Jobs have dignity when they require skill. When they require talent. When people walk into a plant and know that only Mike or Sam can perform a certain task with precision. When a new hire takes months or years to get good enough to match them.

That was dignity.

But when a job becomes something a robot could master and the only reason humans still do it is because the contract said so, that pride disappears. It transforms into something else. Something uncomfortable. Something we do not want to admit.

There are factories in the world right now called dark factories. They are literally dark because no humans work inside them. No lighting required. No heating. No safety routines. No breaks. No sick days. No HR mediations. Machines build products twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

And those factories will produce goods faster, cheaper, and more consistently than any fully human assembly line.

That is the future. Like it or not.

Protectionism Does Not Equal Dignity

Protecting a job does not create pride. It does not create dignity. It does not give a worker a sense of accomplishment. What gives dignity in work is knowing that you are needed. That your skill matters. That your craft exists because you can do something uniquely valuable.

Mere job security is not dignity.
Protection from automation is not dignity.

It is simply delaying the inevitable.

This is not an attack on unions. Unions are vital. They have saved lives. They have raised wages. They have fought for workers’ rights. But when negotiations become solely about preventing innovation instead of preparing workers for the next wave of work, that is not protecting the future.

The Real Question Is Not How We Protect Jobs. It Is How We Protect People.

This is where we need to shift the conversation.

The future is automation. Every country knows it. Every company knows it. Every economist knows it. The question is how society adapts.

Do we allow automation to lower the cost of goods so significantly that abundance becomes normal? Do we use technological progress to give people lives with more time, more freedom, and more opportunity to pursue what genuinely gives them pride?

Or do we keep fighting a losing battle to protect tasks instead of uplifting people?

Because at the end of the day, what gives people pride and dignity is not screwing a part onto a truck all day while checking Instagram.

It is being valuable.
It is being needed.
It is doing something only they can do.
It is having purpose.
And when automation makes certain jobs obsolete, that purpose cannot come from fighting robots. It has to come from building a society where people have the freedom to pursue their real talents, ambitions, and contributions.

p.s. Watch this now 👇🏽

A Hard Truth We Cannot Ignore

Dignity does not come from being protected from change.
Dignity comes from having a meaningful place in a changing world.

And if we do not face this honestly, we will lose more than jobs. We will lose purpose. We will lose unity. We will lose the chance to build a society where humans do what humans are meant to do.

This is not about killing jobs. It is about redefining dignity.
It is about asking better questions. And it is about being brave enough to imagine a future where work evolves, but people do not get left behind.

Controversial or not, this conversation is coming. I am just choosing to have it before the robots force us to.

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Keep and eye out for my thoughts on UBI and The Union Method