This message brought to you by the space Pope.
Posted on 04/10/2015 4:34:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Great Robot Freakout of 2015 has begun, and it looks a lot like the robot freakouts that came before it.
In a new survey by CNBC, Americans were asked how concerned they were, if at all, that their jobs could be replaced by technology in the next five years. The level of automation angst was astonishing: About 1 in 8 workers indicated was worried about being displaced. Among those earning less than $30,000, it was a whopping 1 in 4.
No doubt these workers have seen travel agents, bank tellers, typists, mid-skilled manufacturing workers and other occupations of yore dissolve into a pixelation of zeroes and ones, causing them to worry about their own livelihoods. Media fear-mongering about the rise of our robot overlords feeds the anxiety. But there are reasons to be optimistic about the role that technological progress will play in our economy and in helping our workforce, provided policymakers get their acts together.
Droid dread is nothing new. It goes back hundreds, arguably thousands, of years. Sometimes it has manifested itself in science fiction and other narrative lore, such as Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian 1952 novel “Player Piano” or the 16th-century legend of the Golem of Prague. Often it has been voiced by workers and their intellectual champions. During the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes fretted about the possibility of “technological unemployment.”
Nineteenth-century textile workers and farmers, including the original “Luddites,” smashed the power looms and threshing machines that stole their jobs during the Industrial Revolution. Even Aristotle mused that if “the shuttle would weave and the plectrum touch the lyre without a hand to guide them, chief workmen would not want servants, nor masters slaves.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
yes they are... I can push a picture of a hamburger on my own
Robots and robotics are changing and have changed everything for the worker, and not necessarily for the better. The future is “Skynet” ... :-) ...
MSM anchors could easily be replaced by bots.
Well now... if it’s in the Washington Post I definitely need to be afraid. Those guys are so wrong on so many levels. This looks like just another one of them.
If your job does not require you to THINK, a robot can do it. In fact some robotics CAN “think” and just may wind up being your new boss. Consider ordering a hamburger at McD’s drive up window. You call in (voice recognition) your order into the computer, the computer recalls your order and finds your premade selection, sends it to the pickup window, you slide in your credit card and there is your food. (Ever actually watch a McD’s kitchen operation? Most of it is “premade”) There are MANY jobs that can and will be automated and eventually replaced by robots. In my earlier life, I actually designed and built automated equipment, with today’s technology it will only be much easier.
This week’s diversion from reality...
I was at a Sheetz store last Sunday and I started punching all the screen options to order a sandwich... but it was ridiculous with how the computer was trying to convince you to add another slice of cheese for an extra dollar, and if you wanted gluten free bread or 6 grain whole wheat or 7 grain whole wheat. When I got to the part asking if I wanted the bread toasted alone or the whole sandwich... AND I HAD NOT EVEN DECIDED WHAT SORT OF SANDWICH I WANTED YET... I just hit the back button 14 times to the main menu and walked away.
I avoid self-checkouts too... part of a sales transaction is the experience of dealing with a human being.
This week’s diversion from reality...
Its fascinating, and a little scary, watching a automated facility do its thing. The robots would load the machine, box the product, seal the box, load the boxes on a pallet, shrink wrap the pallet and have a automated fork lift stack the pallets.
Heh, it’s like the WaPo is asking the LIV’s not to be upset and revolt. Not that many LIV’s read the WaPo. Or, read...
You mean they’re actually people NOW ? Every once in a while, I thought I saw the camera get a glimmer off one of the strings. .. (grin)
“I avoid self-checkouts too... part of a sales transaction is the experience of dealing with a human being.”
Sure, but that is a case of all things being equal.
What if you want a burger, and McDonalds has robots, and burgers for $2, while Burger King has humans, and burgers for $8? Which do you think people would choose then?
There are a lot of jobs machines cannot yet do, and there are a lot of jobs we won’t WANT machines to do.
The Great Shift Toward Automation and the Future of Employment
http://tamarawilhite.hubpages.com/hub/The-Great-Shift-and-the-Future-of-Employment
I always wind up in the line with the 19 year-old green-eyed blonde cashier at my local McD. Her name is Jessica. Funny how that works out.
This message brought to you by the space Pope.
I'm concerned about my hobbies, though. I'm going to be pretty depressed when they come up with a robot that can drink beer and kill commies better than I can.
I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.
That's what Starbucks is for...
Yeah, well, I really don't think we have time for a hand job, Joe.
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