Posted on 01/28/2019 9:58:13 AM PST by C19fan
They’ll never admit it in public, but many of your bosses want machines to replace you as soon as possible.
I know this because, for the past week, I’ve been mingling with corporate executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. And I’ve noticed that their answers to questions about automation depend very much on who is listening.
In public, many executives wring their hands over the negative consequences that artificial intelligence and automation could have for workers. They take part in panel discussions about building “human-centered A.I.” for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” — Davos-speak for the corporate adoption of machine learning and other advanced technology — and talk about the need to provide a safety net for people who lose their jobs as a result of automation.
But in private settings, including meetings with the leaders of the many consulting and technology firms whose pop-up storefronts line the Davos Promenade, these executives tell a different story: They are racing to automate their own work forces to stay ahead of the competition, with little regard for the impact on workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Well, considering quite a few of these people reputedly want to radically reduce world population, you might have your answer there.
This isn't new, but technology makes it shiny and pretty.
Will the robots be considered legal or illegal? And will they be able to vote? I’m sure that the democraps probably already have robots voting.
Great post!
That was an excellent article.
Didn’t Isaac Asimov write a book or two about this? (And I’m not referring to Daneel, but rather, I think it was Foundation and Earth.
(spoiler alert: Agents of the Foundation return to the solar system and it’s nearby stars only to discover that the nearby planets were ruled by few, or singular humans who were serviced by robots, and lived as emperors in their sterile fiefdoms. Could this be the future that ‘our betters’ desire for us? For themselves???)
Robots = no payroll taxes, nogender law suits, no human resources department. No coffee breaks, no labor union, parking lots can be made into productive property. ... Etc etc etc
It would be easier to replace Bosses with computers
On the flip side is Frank Herbert's "Dune" series in which humans (long, long ago) waged a "Butlerian Jihad" and eliminated all thinking machines, all computers and all robots. because they saw them as a danger to human life.
Yea, much less of the human costs, behaviors and smells to deal with. AI/mechatronic worker bees that will work 24/7/365 and never complain.
The next logical workplace revolution. Get ready. Hey, Alexa...
But - Will lawyers and politicians be replaced by AI? They’re easy for AI.
Lots of people are going to learn the old computing saw the hard way: “To err is human; to really f*** things up takes a computer.”
- signed, someone who will never step foot into a fully automated vehicle
An associate of mine in human resources management has a quote he likes to use: "Robots don't replace humans. Robots replace robots."
When you think about it, it makes sense. Automation replaces repetitive human functions that are most similar to what a robot (or computer) would perform. Interestingly, this presents a serious obstacle in something like a "self-driving" car ... because a computer can replicate human functions, but it cannot replicate human judgment.
Don’t worry, There will always be work for straw man erectors.
What were the displaced workers called in Vonnegut’s “Player Piano”- Reeks and Wrecks?
Most humans were out of work because robots took over all production. There were managers and engineers running everything, and everyone else was unemployed.
Yar, but unlike Herbert, I’d suspect the problem isn’t so much the ‘thinking machines’ as the people who programmed them in the first place. Garbage in, genocide out.
Nice to see the NY Slimes join the ranks of the paranoid.
The only sustainability is found in surplus. Five year plans and central gubmint management results in less productivity, which means fewer jobs -- unless it is the phony policy of the gubmint to guarantee employment ("Right to Employment" is found in a number of socialist "constitutions"), in which case overall productivity declines, creating an unsustainable condition. That's one of the basic reasons for the failure and implosion of the USSR.
The USSR's industrial productivity always lagged, product quality always lagged, there were always long lines at the stores (those in the know would get in any long line they saw, buy some of whatever was being sold, and not even look to see what they'd bought until they got home) -- and that was how their big fist regime wanted it.
We're seeing continued innovation, new products, new product categories, cleaner air, more of everything, low inflation, plentiful employment -- even with millions of illegals -- inexpensive and highly diverse food supplies, and an effective safety net.
Years ago, my original physician surprised me after he'd retired, when he said, "anyone can make one mistake -- after that it's more water in the soup.". And as the late Sam Kinison said in his act, people can eat better from dumpsters in this country than they can in 90 percent of the rest of the world. If you can't live well here, where (redacted) do you expect to go to make a life for yourself?
3D printers are going to lead to many, many new small businesses which will act as manufacturers in their own right, or as parts suppliers to larger entities and each other. More generally, productivity increases lead to more production, lower costs, and seemingly paradoxically, more jobs, and even more kinds of jobs. Redistribution does the opposite.
But try to imagine just how hard it would be to live in a society where there automation is arbitrarily restricted by policy and yet there is comprehensive redistribution, which is really just a euphemism for the reduction of the 99 percent to serfdom. Our ancestors tried that, didn't care for it much.
Gubmint, I guess, and then it will distribute the products to us peons as it sees fit.
Automation is a good thing.
90% of dangerous or unhealthy auto manufacturing is automated.
100% of the Semiconductor manufacturing and testing is automated.
Crop harvesting could easily be automated if the RATS didn’t need this as a excuse for open borders.
bkmk
The same concerns existed when machines started making shoes... and streaming replaced vinyl records, and cars replaces horses and washing machines replaced domestic help and and and and...
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