How Robots Will Steal Your Job
from the dystopian-futures dept
Last week we posted a story about robotic burger flippers at McDonald's, and joked about how all those who are worried about jobs moving to India might be better off worrying about whether there will be any human jobs left at all. What I didn't realize was that this is exactly the future that Marshall Brain, the creator of HowStuffWorks.com and the author of the McDonald's kiosk story we linked to, believes is going to happen. It turns out that the story he wrote isn't so much a random story, but a part of a large marketing campaign to sell some novel he's written about just such a future. He's also (get this) filed for a patent on an "automated system for managing humans and machines in the retail and fast-food businesses". Of course, just like any other story about lost jobs, this one assumes a static world where having such a situation doesn't go on to create other jobs and other opportunities. Really, this is just a repeat of the fear from a few decades back about how robots were going to take over auto-plants and how Honda would only need to employ five people to manage the robots, and Ford would need to fire everyone. That didn't exactly happen. Just like with outsourcing, a shift to more efficient means of productions tends to open up new opportunities for those w ho are willing to go after them.
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Think of it this way. Someone has to maintain the robots, right? Even if you could get the robots to maintain themselves, someone has to build them. Even if you could get them to build themselves, someone has to build that system. Even if you could get someone to build that system, someone has to build the system that builds that. And someone has to write the software to do all of it. Even in the ford motor plant, what do you think tells those robots to bolt a door to the side of the car and not the floor? Software, simple, custom software. The advent of robots everywhere would be a boom for software engineers. Well, as silly as I think it is. Especailly huminoid robots like this guy is talking about. There's a reason the robots at ford and GM are not humanoid.
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Vonnegut
except that it was his first. I imagine that an update of the book could be pretty cool, though.
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Re: Vonnegut
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Even this is better than outsourcing
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Re: Even this is better than outsourcing
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Regaqrding Mr Brain' s story
I have read the story that Mr Brain has written and I bellive it will happen. I dont know will it take 20, 30 or 60 years but it will definetlly happen. Robots are the future abd Mr Brain has explained it really well. Robotic Technology is improving everyday who knows what will happen in the next 10 years or so.
My point is robots will replace humans when we can only guess.
Regards,
Zoran
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poo
from your loving wife
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