Free Republic

They are yet to hit the shelves, but activists are already campaigning against the sale of so-called sex robots, which may be "harmful and contribute to inequalities in society." Several companies are developing robots that can be used as sexual substitutes for humans, leading to the launch of the "Campaign against sex robots" on Tuesday to highlight the potential dangers.

Robots have taken up residence at some small- and medium-sized dairy farms across the country, providing reliable and more efficient labor and helping the businesses remain viable. Plus, farmers say, the milking technology makes for happier, more productive cows. Dairy operations here and abroad have used robotic milkers for more than a decade. But with more manufacturers and dealerships emerging the U.S., the number of smaller farms in Iowa with the technology has doubled over the last two years, from roughly 20 to more than 40, and family farms in the Northeast also are plugging in. The cost of not...

[Luddites and people with Marxist premises are wrong again.] The Robots of Labor DayEdward Hudgins Fear of robots has been rising: not just fear of the sci-fi killer kind but also fear that robots will take our jobs. But this Labor Day we should celebrate the fact that robots free us from the need to perform certain tasks, make our labor more valuable, and could usher in new age of prosperity and human flourishing. Robots are machinesRobots are special types of machines. They’re programmed electro-mechanical devices that perform various physical functions, ideally better than humans. They range from the types...

Is the world we live in a computer simulation in the minds of Robotic Overlords who are using humanity as playthings? This is the "scientific" theory put forward by a number of physicists and Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom.(1) Bostrom is one of the founders of the World Transhumanist Association. Transhumanism is a blend of revitalized Gnostic pagan and Eastern occult pantheist elements and magic science undergirded by a strong Darwinian impulse. Thus it subscribes to the modern myth of a coming Superman that is actually a counterfeit of the Christian vision of a new and perfected human race spiritually...

So question du jour (and I'm asking it in several places today: it was set off by the attached link and its' discussion here on FR. . ) Replacing low-skilled workers with automation, and now robots, has been an accellerating trend for over a century now, and really looks like we're soon going to hit the point where the curve goes hyperbolic. (especially with the push for $15/hour for minimum wage. . .) Given that, as more and more skilled jobs are automated out of existence. . . .what do we do about the now-unemployed, and likely permanently unemployable? So...

Take a tour of an Amazon fulfillment center and see how our Associates Works.

The Supreme Court’s recent 5–4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage across the United States has already spawned speculation about “what will be next” in expanding marital rights. As the Supreme Court noted, “[t]he history of marriage is one of both continuity and change. That institution … has evolved over time.” Interracial marriage, equality between husband and wife, and same-sex marriage were all excluded for long periods of time under our Constitution but now have been sanctioned and protected by the courts. While these changes have come slowly, and courts are unlikely to take the next step in...

"I believe that anyone who has a job and works full time, they should be able to pay the things that sustain life: food, shelter and clothing. I can't even do that."That rather depressing quote is from 61-year old Rebecca Cornick. She’s a grandmother and a 9-year Wendy’s veteran who spoke to CBS News. Rebecca makes $9 an hour and her plight is representative of fast food workers across the country who are campaigning for higher pay. The fast food worker pay debate is part of a larger discussion as "states and cities across the country [wrestle] with the idea of...

A Chinese firm specialising in precision technology has set up the first unmanned factory at Dongguan city where all the processes are operated by robots, regarded as futuristic solution to tide over China's looming demographic crisis and dependence on manual workers. In the plant, all the processes are operated by computer- controlled robots, computer numerical control machining equipment, unmanned transport trucks and automated warehouse equipment. The technical staff just sits at the computer and monitors through a central control system. At the workshop of Changying Precision Technology Company in Dongguan, known as the "world factory", which manufactures cell phone modules,...

New technologies fascinate us – from the precision of robotic surgery to the potential of Amazon dropping packages on our doorsteps via drone. But at the same time, there is anxiety over robots and artificial intelligence making human labor unnecessary and, ultimately, replacing us. Fear of the changes innovation brings is nothing new, and the reality is that robots will eventually replace us in many or most of today’s jobs and that’s, in fact, a glorious thing. Yes, jobs will be destroyed by innovation, as they’ve always been, but it doesn’t mean we’ll run out of jobs. New ones will...

Hardly a day goes by without some new article describing the very rapid advance of automation in our lives. As it is right now, more and more manufacturing is done using computer-controlled machining and robots doing the assembling and even testing. We can’t call for customer assistance anymore without going through a battery of mechanical voices asking us which option we want while directing us away from any hope of human interaction. Machines are accurate, dependable and they never sleep. They don’t belong to unions and they never complain about working conditions and best of all for the Captains of...

Ever heard of the Luddites, who took their name from Ned Ludd? They were English textile workers who protested, from 1811 to 1816, against the development and implementation of labor-saving technologies....... .... Robots are causing a new Industrial Revolution..... [SNIP] ....Liberals are even proposing the regulation of technological advancement..... .........One aspect of the massive agrarian job loss in America was that the unemployed farm workers did not sit idle. Instead of lamenting their fate, waiting for government to do something and/or take care of them, they took advantage of the fact that new technology created hundreds of millions of jobs...

The contest is a battle of robots on an obstacle course meant to simulate conditions similar to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Team Kaist's DRC-Hubo humanoid robot defeated 22 others to win the top $2m prize from the US Department of Defense's Darpa research unit. The robots had an hour to complete a series of tasks, such as a driving a car and walking up steps. The challenge involved a series of tasks for the robots to complete, somewhat autonomously, with intermittent connectivity with their operators to simulate real disaster conditions. The challenge was the first where robots performed...

The elephants in the room lumber about, undisturbed by politicians or people of vision. The hard issues of the economy are well known. Politicians, bureaucracies, CEOs and trade union leaders have dealt the the issues of productivity, unemployment, competition from east and west, the collapse of industries through the decades of the 20th, and now the 21st, centuries. Yet these are harder now. Intelligent systems, robotic manufacturing, driverless vehicles, online services, all carve deep into established trades. In the post-war decades, every time a new technology came along, the feared bonfire of jobs didn’t happen — or only briefly and...

I have seen many grim predictions regarding robots taking away human jobs, but one of the most dire predictions comes from a study commissioned by ING-Diba. The study claims that 59 percent of Germany's work force could be replaced by machines and software in the coming decades. The Local asks Robots About to Take Away 18 Million Jobs? The results of the [ING-Diba] study paint an almost doomsday-esque scenario for Germany. Almost two thirds of its workforce will be unemployed. Of the 30.9 million people currently in full or part-time employment in Germany, 18 million will be made redundant...

Report: Robots replacing human workers at faster pace Robots aren't just for corporate Goliaths -- now even the little guy on Main Street is adopting them. The goal: to boost sales and productivity. But at what cost? Take Sam Kraus, a Hungarian immigrant who founded what became Skyline Windows in 1921. In the early days, the tinsmith traveled around with a small cart to do his roofing and waterproofing work by hand. Fast-forward to today, and the fourth-generation business based in New York City's South Bronx has left the pushcart era far behind. Skyline, which has evolved into a custom...

Taking a page out of Volvo’s playbook, Honda has set a handful of lofty goals for the next 35 years – including eliminating the possibility of its cars crashing. Speaking to Car and Driver last week at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, Honda Americas R&D president Frank Paluch dished detains on a new set of core goals the Japanese automaker hopes to achieve by 2040, but they won’t be happening all at once. The first step in Honda’s goal will come in 2020, where Paluch says Honda vehicles will be connected one another and to infrastructure, lending to...

China faces rising labor costs and a shortage of workers. But a government project called “replacing humans with robots” is trying to change the face of the work force in Guangdong Province.

OXNARD, Calif.—A 14-arm, automated harvester recently wheeled through rows of strawberry plants here, illustrating an emerging solution to one of the produce industry’s most pressing problems: a shortfall of farmhands. Harnessing high-powered computing, color sensors and small metal baskets attached to the robotic arms, the machine gently plucked ripe strawberries from below deep-green leaves, while mostly ignoring unripe fruit nearby. Such tasks have long required the trained discernment and backbreaking effort of tens of thousands of relatively low-paid workers. But technological advances are making it possible for robots to handle the job, just as a shrinking supply of available fruit...

The Great Robot Freakout of 2015 has begun, and it looks a lot like the robot freakouts that came before it. In a new survey by CNBC, Americans were asked how concerned they were, if at all, that their jobs could be replaced by technology in the next five years. The level of automation angst was astonishing: About 1 in 8 workers indicated was worried about being displaced. Among those earning less than $30,000, it was a whopping 1 in 4. No doubt these workers have seen travel agents, bank tellers, typists, mid-skilled manufacturing workers and other occupations of yore...