Prospero
28th October 2003, 09:59 AM
So, I was on SciScoop, which is a pretty good source of current popular science articles and found this editorial piece (http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2003/10/28/73914/275) talking about the creation of a Robot Nation in the next 50 or so years.
Long story short, 50% unemployment as anthropomorphic robots take over for humans in menial labor jobs. This is obviously a problem (seeing as the Great Depression only hit 25% unemployment and that was enough unpleasantness to assure that we'll avoid that kind of situation at all costs in the future) and the editorial is presented in a food-for-thought manner with the open-ended question of "What should we do about this?
Personally, I'm just glad my career is highly specialized. I really don't see robots replacing researchers, which might be my answer to the question. A generation or two will go through hell trying to create a balance and the end result will probably be something consisting of humans performing all jobs that require creativity and ingenuity while robots handle all other tasks. Education will suddenly become a lot more valuable and standards will ride, making the situation more akin to the make-it-or-break-it schooling Japan currently has. Really, though, I'll be sad when some computer programmers finally succeed at writing some algorithms for creating music that's indistinguishable from human invention. I hope sosciety has the foresight to keep artists around. Any other thoughts?
Long story short, 50% unemployment as anthropomorphic robots take over for humans in menial labor jobs. This is obviously a problem (seeing as the Great Depression only hit 25% unemployment and that was enough unpleasantness to assure that we'll avoid that kind of situation at all costs in the future) and the editorial is presented in a food-for-thought manner with the open-ended question of "What should we do about this?
Personally, I'm just glad my career is highly specialized. I really don't see robots replacing researchers, which might be my answer to the question. A generation or two will go through hell trying to create a balance and the end result will probably be something consisting of humans performing all jobs that require creativity and ingenuity while robots handle all other tasks. Education will suddenly become a lot more valuable and standards will ride, making the situation more akin to the make-it-or-break-it schooling Japan currently has. Really, though, I'll be sad when some computer programmers finally succeed at writing some algorithms for creating music that's indistinguishable from human invention. I hope sosciety has the foresight to keep artists around. Any other thoughts?