Amazon’s aggressive pivot to automation, as revealed in a leaked internal plan, is set to obliterate 600,000 U.S. jobs by replacing workers with robots to shave a mere 30 cents per item off operational costs. This isn’t innovation—it’s engineered obsolescence, prioritizing profit over people in a calculated move to gut the American workforce. The company’s current automation push, targeting 75% of its operations, will eliminate 160,000 roles by 2027, a mere three years away, leaving warehouse workers, drivers, and support staff in the dust. Amazon’s scale—handling billions of orders annually—means this shift could ripple through the economy, hollowing out communities that rely on these jobs while offering little in the way of retraining or replacement opportunities.
The company is cloaking this job massacre in the glossy veneer of “advanced technology,” a cynical rebranding to dodge public backlash and mask the human toll. This isn’t about progress; it’s about rendering entire workforces redundant under the guise of efficiency. Amazon’s robots don’t unionize, don’t demand breaks, and don’t cost healthcare, making them the perfect corporate slaves in a system that values cost-cutting over human dignity. The public is fed a narrative of inevitable technological advancement, but the reality is a deliberate choice to prioritize shareholder value over the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, many of whom are low-skill workers with few alternatives in an increasingly automated economy.
This brings us to a profound irony: the modern world, with Amazon at its forefront, has built the most prosperous slave-based society in history, where machines are the slaves and humans are discarded as collateral damage. Unlike historical slavery, these mechanical servants require no food or shelter, only maintenance, making them exponentially more profitable for corporations. Yet, this prosperity concentrates wealth in fewer hands while leaving workers to scramble for scraps in a job market gutted by automation. Amazon’s plan exposes a grim truth: the tech-driven economy isn’t lifting all boats—it’s sinking the ones carrying the most vulnerable, all while we’re told to celebrate the “future.” If this isn’t a wake-up call to rethink unchecked automation, nothing is.