Machines are similar to land

A common theory is, that machines can do work so they are equal to the production factor labor. Another assumption is that machines are equal to capital which is often described in economy books. The only theory not mentioned frequently is that machines are equal to land.

The production factor land consists of raw material like rice, buildings, and the machines in the buildings as well. All these elements are static and they are asking for labor otherwise the land is useless. Suppose there is a potato field and a harvesting machine. What is missing is human labor which utilizes the work environment in a productive way.

The relationship between labor and land is called man machine interaction. The machine is a ressource and the employee is doing something with it. Machines can’t replace humans because both are located in different categories. Humans are labor and machines are land. This definition works for simple machines like a stone which is used as a hammer and it works for more complex technology like cars and even robots. Even if the term robot is translated to worker, the robot is located in the land category as well. He is not able to work by it’s own but he needs a human worker. A good example is a robot arm which is installed on the assembly line. The robot arm is similar to other machines a work environment in which humans have to run a task. The interesting situation is that machines are not able to reduce the workload but they are increasing it. For example, if the robot arm is able to pick&place 100 boxes each hour, somebody else has to load the boxes on a truck.