Google robot is 'the end of manual labor': VC

cnbc.com ^ | February 24, 2016 | Fred Imbert

[grundle]

Boston Dynamics' new "Atlas" robot is a game changer, not just for companies, but for society, Insider.com CEO Jason Calacanis said Wednesday.

"This is really the end of manual labor. When you watch this video, he's walking through the snow; he's wobbly, but he gets back up," the tech investor told CNBC's "Squawk Alley."

[ETL]

TAKE MY JOB, WILL YA!

[grey_whiskers]

Then what in the world do we need unskilled immigrants for?

Democrat votes, and "muscle" for the next Professor Click.

[dainbramaged]

“They decided our fate in a nanosecond.” (The guy from the future in Terminator)

[ETL]

[BitWielder1]

Salesman: This machine will do half your work.
Customer: Good, I'll take two.

[grey_whiskers]

Yes, but can it core a apple?

No, but neither can the FBI.

You win the thread!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

And the human population has been exploding to where it's almost a vertical line now on a graph. So we are going to have billions and billions and billions and billions of unemployed people. That's going to be interesting to see how that works out because say you own a company that makes cars, and you have zero employees. Everything is done by robots. Who is going to buy the cars? Matter of fact if every company used robots, who buys their product if the majority of people are unemployed? Will a new system be instituted where everything is free and nobody works like that movie "Wall-E"? That could happen I guess, but I really think it depends upon this upcoming election. If Hillary becomes next President, humans are doomed. We'll be lucky if mankind lasts even 15 years, I really believe that. She becomes POTUS without question WW3 nuke style will kick off. Obama is already setting up the pieces.

[posterchild]

What? No more Massachusetts toll takers getting retirement pensions after 10 years on the job?

[edh]

“Look at all the square sheets with large bar codes.”

Those are basically placeholders for a rather advanced image processing algorithm :-). For demos, you can cheat (as you observed) and put robot friendly labels on objects they are to interact with.

Image processing requires quite a bit of computing power. It requires some custom hardware to keep power consumption under control. That still needs a year or two additional development, but it’s coming very, very soon :-).

[PeteePie]

Robot voice: “DOYOUWANTFRIESWITHTHAT?”

[ETL]

[PGR88]

When does he come back and beat the crap out of the guy with the hockey stick?

[shibumi]

"Then what in the world do we need unskilled immigrants for?"

Unskilled immigrants will be needed for the task of making irrelevant lists of things and performing obsessive compulsive tasks deemed too stressful for the average blogger.

[piytar]

Once they are granted/attain even a minimal level of self awareness, humans are obsolete. Doubt they’ll “terminate” us. More likely they’ll keep us around kind of like pets.

Of course, God might have some input here. As in some of the stuff in Revelations is happening, and God holds all the trump cards...

[ETL]

OK so in the future when people want to go for a walk in the woods, they'll send one of these instead.

Yes. They come equipped with a video camera, microphone, and smell detector, all of which feeds to your smartphone. So soon you'll be able to experience the great outdoors from anywhere, even in the john.

[catbertz]

Why do I suspect that the elites are just waiting for that moment to unleash some super-duper virus to kill 95% of the earths population. They dream of living like gods in their very own paradise, without all the rabble.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

What is the purpose of life? To me, this question is at the core of any philosophical discussion about the potential effects of technology on human life, and this specific issue of robotics. I have my own opinion, incomplete as it is, and at its core is spirituality.

How do we use the time that we might save by being freed from manual labor? What do we want to be as human beings? I see more hatred and cynicism in the world today than I have for much of my life, and lots and lots of ignorance, despite the fact that ‘smart’ phones are ubiquitous and we have the greatest capacity to disseminate information that has ever existed in human history to date. What is progress, exactly? I personally think that progress is measured more meaningfully by the depth of our souls, than by whether or not we have a machine that can work for us. Using that yardstick, sometimes I feel that we are progressing. Sometimes I don’t. I guess it makes it harder to get excited about a robot..

But interesting post nonetheless..

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“Why do I suspect that the elites are just waiting for that moment to unleash some super-duper virus to kill 95% of the earths population. They dream of living like gods in their very own paradise, without all the rabble.”

Wouldn't work, because most of those we classify as ‘elites’ wouldn't be smart enough to maintain a robotic society.

[tumblindice]

Orwell said the definition of “power” was the ability to make others suffer. If the power elite killed-off all of us, they would have to inflict pain upon the robots.

[catnipman]

What could possibly go wrong?