

Robots Could Do Work Of 3.5 Million People By 2025 - dpapathanasiou
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20080404a3.html

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slapshot
I feel like this story was also run in 1920 with the invention of the steam-
shovel. There was once a time when ditches were dug by hand, and the steam-
shovel displaced thousands of jobs.

This was a major fear at the time -- look at some of the popular literature
that's survived: The story of John Henry (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_>(folklore) ) is nothing more than a
fight between man and machine.

Technology always displaces labor. There might be some new or interesting
reason why this time is different, but the concept is not new.

~~~
cadalac
As a society, weather we consciously realize it or not, we use progress not as
a way to work less but to think less. Example: the expiry dates on milk and
stuff. Instead of letting people decide for themselves when the product goes
bad we tell them the exact date that it goes bad. More quick examples? Here:
Calculators, Fancy medical instruments, air guitars, spell checkers etc. All
of these deaden our sense of observation and awareness and dull our minds.

So we have a choice: Do we make an effort to train our brains our do we let
our technology do all the thinking for us? Well, why go through all the effort
to train our brains when we don't have to?

~~~
ericwaller
What requires more thought, farming or computer programming? coal mining or
accounting? I would argue that today we engage our minds more than any other
society before us.

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wallflower
"The questions that we are raising here are profound. How do we prevent this
downward spiral from happening? Are we smart enough to see the robotic
revolution that is coming and plan for it prior to the crisis? Can we redesign
the economy so that we enter the new era of robots smoothly? With robots doing
most of the work, can we actually create a society that takes advantage of the
leisure that robots can provide? Or will the tens of millions of people
displaced by the robots end up being homeless and destitute, living in
government welfare dormatories?"

From: <http://marshallbrain.com/robots-in-2015.htm>

~~~
wanorris
This isn't all that different from the transition from a manufacturing economy
to an information economy that's been going on for a long time. It hurt the
economy a hell of a lot worse to lose middle class manufacturing job than it's
going to hurt losing lowest-common-denominator fast food jobs, which are the
jobs at the most risk.

The more a job requires actual judgement, the less at risk it is. And indeed,
I expect there will be plenty of supervision and maintenance jobs in the
workplaces that transition to automation -- people will be much better at
exception handling than machine systems for the foreseeable future.

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tom_rath
Reminds me of a Toles cartoon I saw during the early 90s recession, with two
labour-types sitting at a bar:

"Remember how we were told that, in the future, machines would do all the work
and we'd have tons of leisure time?"

"Yup."

"W-why'd we think we'd still be gettin' paid?"

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icky
In the Distant Future, the Year Two-Thousand, robotic beings rule the world:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64&fmt=16](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64&fmt=16)

~~~
yan
(didn't check the video yet, but..) the humans are dead. we poisoned their
asses, with poisonous gases; the humans are dead.

~~~
icky
"Actually, their lungs."

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jcl
I think The Onion said it best:

<http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33648>

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mynameishere
Pshaw. We have 35 million illegals doing the work of 35 million people. Much
better system. (So I'm told.)

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yan
Of course an article coming out of Japan would site a future filled with
robots...

~~~
jcl
Especially a future filled with robots caring for old people. As I understand
it, Japan's declining birth rate has been part of the zeitgeist for a while
now. I recall there was an feature-length anime film in the early 90s --
"Roujin Z" -- about an experimental robotic hospital bed that is developed
because there aren't enough nurses.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roujin_Z>

