Robotic Nation Evidence: Robots taking jobs

From a long hiatus, Marshall Field has resumed his Robotic Nation Evidence Blog. For those who don't know, Marshall Field is keeper of the How Stuff Works website but in recent years has focused on the looming threat that robotics are to jobs. I strongly recommend that anybody thinking about distributism but remains on the fence due to the fact that he/she has a good job take a look. Mr. Field's premise that there isn't a job, except one, in the economy that somebody isn't looking to put a robot to do a human's work. That one job that remains is the owner of the robot. Mr. Field is not a distributist but he does warn that if something isn't done soon (maybe in the next 30-40) years we will wake up to a future where there are very little jobs for us humans. If you think, ah we will just rise up at that point and just through the machines in the garbage realize the most sophisticated work being done is in military and police robots. Anyhow here is a good introductory article Robotic Nation Evidence: Robots taking jobs.

When science fiction is done right it can correctly warn us of dangers that current technology can have on our future. I strongly recommend his online science-fiction novella Manna. It is thought provoking.

2 comments:

Anonymous,  Sunday, March 6, 2005 at 10:43:00 AM CST  

Although I agree the issue of robots taking jobs is a real one, I find that this website is hardly helpful. First off, the person takes official statements far too seriously, and overblows the issue. It's been shown repeatedly by researchers that robots often have difficulty in doing even simple activities. Artificial intelligence is to intelligence as artificial flowers are to flowers. They may look similar from afar, but are significantly different when up close. The only way this person and others backs up their assertions on robotics taking jobs in the future is through pure speculation, not actual facts. In relation to the military use of robots, this article is helpful titled "Robot dream, Robot reality" http://www.defensetech.org/archives/000822.html

It certainly helps debunk much of the nonsense put forth by corporations and the Pentagon on future use of robots, and how the dream and the reality are so far off!

Let's address issues with intelligence and not overblown speculation!

Anonymous,  Wednesday, September 7, 2005 at 8:48:00 PM CDT  

You didn't read the story.

You just plain, didn't, read, the story. And then you told us that it was invalid.

Know then, that Manna predicts robots replacing humans in 2030!

2030! That's a long time for robotics technology to develop! Where did computers go in 25 years, between 1975, and 2000? (How far would they have gone, in that time, if there were computers around to assist in the production of computers?) Did you even work with computers in 1975?

Read Manna. With your eyes. The first things he "predicts" are a head-based system for directing employees. And I put predicts in quotes, because there are already at least 3 such systems in use today.

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