To ask your opinion about where we are headed as a society with regards to robots and job obsolescence?

[Calltheguards]

Not sure if this is on anyone else's radar but it seems like artificial intelligence and robotics are going to keep improving until all jobs are programmed and automated in to non existence? This appears to be happening at a quicker pace than we currently recognise.

This could lead the future to a robot revolution of sorts and the end of work as we know it.

Of course some jobs in automation engineering and robot maintenance will be created, but these will be far fewer than the current number of jobs that society has available. The majority of the public will be rendered jobless eventually.

Now what path do you think people will go down. Will we just let things happen as they happen? Will we turn towards more socialism? I don't think socialism is bad by the way, the NHS is socialism but it seems that many disagree with this.

I would like a civil discussion if possible, I really wonder what people's thoughts are in regards to this particular predicament we will find our selves in.

The high street is dying. I can’t see many companies willing to invest potentially billions in full automation anytime soon. Even the Amazons etc are somewhat restricted in their investment due to tiny product profit margins and shareholder pressure for returns.

Generally I think most people who run and fund businesses are too short sighted, and they pressure they are under too short/ medium term for this to kick off seriously for a long time.

Well there’s the industrial revolution which took a lot of manual jobs. There also car factories and the like almost fully automated and the loss of printers since desk top publishing. But somehow we have the lowest unemployment rate since 1975. And if you go back 100 years it’s less than 1% difference. While I agree a lot of jobs will be going, a lot of new jobs will be created.

This! The employment market will evolve, just as it has many times before.

New jobs will be created but most people will not have the intelligence or aptitude to be engineers, scientists etc.

Well I bet 99% of the ex mill workers, car production line staff, agricultural labourers didn't have the ability to become engineers or scientists! They didn't disappear nor did they all starve to death.

We log ourselves in for appointments at our new hospital. Appt letter has barcode. Then follow signs for department. So that's done away with several admin staff. Some volunteers help the confused. Likewise banking- take a photo of your cheque and deposit the money from home. Self check outs at supermarkets. Using your key pad to select things when you phone so less call centre staff. There's less shops so not many shop assistants -if we order our food to be delivered instead of eating out that makes waiters unnecessary.

We will become a nation of “gig economy” workers for minimum wage. No job stability, sick pay, or pensions.

Apparently, admin jobs have 250 odd applicants.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/03/record-job-figures-hide-true-story-of-uk-economy

“Two-thirds of the jobs boom has also come from growth in atypical work, such as self-employment, work on zero-hours contracts and agency work, according to analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. Atypical work has plateaued in recent years but nonetheless remains elevated versus pre-crisis levels.

Food bank usage has soared while there are growing numbers of people trapped by in-work poverty. Around 6m UK jobs pay below the “real living wage” of £9 an hour across the country and £10.55 in London, with as many as a fifth in the public sector.”

I fondly believe that it won't become an all or nothing situation. Hopefully it will create more choice.

Like the example above - eating out. More automation around food ordering and delivery - ok. But eating out in a 'proper' restaurant will never cease to be popular altogether. I really can't see my great grandkids sitting at my knee and saying ''what were 'resterornts' like great gran''.

BMW6

Do you believe that technology will not evolve to a point where it will not need humans any longer? I agree that in the past humans were still needed but the tech was still in its infancy, but it's not going to need as many people pretty soon.

Well who are the robots doing it for though? It’s the humans who buy cars. The humans who need hospital appointments the humans who eat restaurant food. Therefore it follows without humans to pay for the goods and services, they wouldn’t exist anyway

Perhaps the owners of production will keep themselves in their own utopian bubble while the rest of the public is left behind?

I keep reading online that the master plan is for the 1% to live in luxury in gated communities. They’ll be a population cull - war, famine, disease and the survivors will be living like medieval peasants.

Happy days!

I think AI will lead us to the point where we're forced to think about population control and how to bring the birth rate down to a sustainable level.

Now i've got the Terminator music as an ear worm ...

#dun un dun de'dun ...

Well "Skynet" is already here. Google Post Office and Horizon.

Hah Laiste and i on same page In more ways than one.

AI has no bias
I believe that this has been shown to be not the case. AI has to be programmed by someone and inevitably that someone will have a certain level of bias - whether conscious or unconscious. That is then programmed into the AI.
See this article for example www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/28/big-tech-ai-ethics-boards-prejudice

As so many have already given you examples of - factories, and automated production lines, computers, etc - were all forecast to put people out of work and crate mass unemployment, but it hasn't happened. The work place evolves. Think of all people now employed in the leisure industry that just didn't exist (except for the Council baths) 40 ears ago. Think of all the data, stats, etc that we didn't used to have. Think of all the places you can 'eat out' now (or have delivered to you) compared with 40 years ago when you were lucky if you went out for a meal once a year. Think of the entertainment industry, the beauty industry, developing and manufacturing all the phones, tablets, iPads, laptops, computers, TVs, X-boxes, playstations, games designers, vloggers, Instagramers etc etc etc that are jobs that didn't exist 25 years ago.
I'm pretty sure there are hundreds of other things I can't think of at the moment, but you get the gist.

My OH runs robots that make different type of products, but there are many processes that either cant be done by the robot or are not financially efficient..

I am also working temporarily for the same firm and they do have to employ people to stick labels on pack etc

Oh not another thread about socialism. First your idea to tax landlords, now this. Give it a rest JC.

Treacletoots - nobody is making you read the posts are they? Other people seem to be contributing and finding it interesting.

AI and automation will change things like never before.

In the next decade, driving jobs will begin to disappear.

Admin jobs, warehouse jobs, unskillled jobs will be hugely at risk.

At some point, highly skilled jobs like medicine will also be threatened.

"some point, highly skilled jobs like medicine will also be threatened"

its only then that fucks will be given.

What quality will these new jobs be though?
Will they ever pay enough for one parent to work and support a family, doubtful.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/25/automation-threatens-15-million-workers-britain-says-ons

I dunno. I’m fine with AI in medicine.

I’m a doctor by the way.

A huge a lot of medicine is driven by algorithms, protocols, data collection, comparison etc. Not to mention image and pattern recognition.

Right now I struggle to imagine an AI that can physically examine a patient though. Perhaps my imagination is lacking.

AI could do an excellent job at screening for disease and at triaging cases.

Such a great thread! I think AI risks deepening existing inequalities. I don't agree with @MrHaroldFry that it is unbiased (a lot of AI now, particularly in HR but also in things like predictive policing, is machine learning trained on historic data sets that are riddled with human bias). I also think that unless we get our politics right, increased automation will consign more and more of us to penury. The idea of UBI is exciting, I hope we get there.