Posted on 03/12/2014 1:57:02 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Mobile robots and "smart" computers are threatening to replace up to half the U.S. workforce within the next decade or two, according to a Bloomberg report.
The report cites an Oxford University study that identified more than 700 occupations at risk of computer automation.
Here are the jobs that are most at risk, based on the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I find it hard to believe that paralegals and legal assistants are going to be replaced by robots, as this article says.
If they can replace Loan Officers, then couldn’t they replace most government employees with robots?
While technology has its uses I have never understood the drive to eliminate people from the workforce. What are all these displaced people going to do? Be programmers or engineers, I doubt. We will create an atmosphere where 2/3 of our society cannot find a job. There is no useful purpose behind being an actor or philosopher. Somebody has to make stuff.
I for one like doing all my business with people not machines. I don’t want people out of the loop making decision and other critical paths like airline pilots (not in article but coming) or security personnel
I find it hard to believe that lawyer’s won’t.
Legal forms are being automated (templates) and what isn’t being automated is being outsourced to India.
Wish Lawyers was at the top of that list instead of the bottom.
I hope it mentions toll booth operators.
It appears to me that many of them exist just to take in enough tolls to support their salary and benefits.
Have you heard of E-Z-Pass?
RE: If they can replace Loan Officers, then couldn’t they replace most government employees with robots?
How are Loan Officers like government employees?
Seriesly?
Are we back in the 70’s “crisis mode”; DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!
What’s next; “Will your job will be outsouced to an off-shore 3rd-world contry?”
Reality sux.
Musicians and singers? Haven’t they heard that some people prefer “live” music?
The form itself is just a template. A paralegal often has to collect information, organize it and put it into the template, such as an estate’s assets and debts (probate) or medical costs (accident claims). This requires a sentient being who can make judgments about the quality of the information and who knows enough to ask the lawyer when something doesn’t look right. I agree that certain data input chores are being done in India, but only in civil litigation cases involving massive numbers of documents.
“Toll booth operators”
I’m guess they are govt employees? Unionized?
And voting Democrat?
Sounds like rock solid job security to me....
RE: The form itself is just a template. A paralegal often has to collect information, organize it and put it into the template, such as an estate’s assets and debts (probate) or medical costs (accident claims).
But that is also true for Loan Officers and Loan Administrators...
From society’s perspective, you are IMO absolutely correct.
From an employer’s perspective, they are likely to have no choice. If a competitor can switch to robots and undercut your price 20%, you either switch to robots yourself or go out of business, in which case your employees are out of a job anyway.
IMO this is the biggest problem of our society, and almost nobody is talking about it. It is the real driver behind the global increase in income inequality liberals love to talk about. More and more of our population is going to be falling out the bottom of the job market. There will simply be no economic demand for anything they are capable of doing or of learning to do. What are these people going to do with their lives?
It is indisputable that industrialism, technology and the free market have for the last several centuries been the drivers behind the greatest expansion of human potential, wealth and freedom in history.
While wealth will continue to expand, there is IMO no guarantee that the free market, which will drive this switch to tech instead of people, will continue to be a benefit for most people and for society as a whole.
Past performance does not guarantee future performance.
I think conservatives need to start thinking about what we can base our ideology on IF the free market goes south on us.
Ever been to a government office? Half the people do nothing all day long. You could replace them with potted plants and get the same amount of production from them.
RE: What are these people going to do with their lives?
Learn to make and program Robots I guess... until the Robots learn to make and program other Robots...
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