Robots replacing humans in jobs

[StLucieBengal]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-33160688

Bit of a large topic of discussion in the UK now with the start of the show Humans and the movie Ex Machina being out .... But as far as a political factor ..... What are we going to do when they replace humans because robots don't strike and will never stop working. ... Higher min wage will only push this sooner rather than later.

Are we going to be set up for insane taxes and and everyone just living off the gov? We have way too many now......

What will be done to the unskilled or low skilled labour? Are the non wealthy just looking for a lifetime of gov benefits?

[Yojimbo]

These questions and fights have been going on since the Luddites. Every time a company does this, they promise it will lead to lower cost products, so people won't need as much money. All it leads too is more profits for executives to pocket.

Two possible end game outcomes, utopia and dystopia. If robots are doing all the jobs, then people just get to relax and have free stuff or robots do all the jobs and people are left in third world poverty rummaging through landfills to survive.

[fredtoast]

If robots are cheaper than human labor then prices will go down. That is good for everyone.

[StLucieBengal]

(06-17-2015, 10:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If robots are cheaper than human labor then prices will go down.  That is good for everyone.

In theory yes... But more will be living off the government which creates more of a need to raise taxes... Which raises prices.

[StLucieBengal]

(06-17-2015, 10:02 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: These questions and fights have been going on since the Luddites. Every time a company does this, they promise it will lead to lower cost products, so people won't need as much money. All it leads too is more profits for executives to pocket.

Two possible end game outcomes, utopia and dystopia. If robots are doing all the jobs, then people just get to relax and have free stuff or robots do all the jobs and people are left in third world poverty rummaging through landfills to survive.

Yeah I don't like the idea people have "free" time. They will just find some other nonsense to get into because they won't be working.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Then again, robots taking unskilled jobs may lead to innovation and advanced technologies that we have never seen or even dreamed of.

I'm not for raising the minimum wage, I think entry level jobs such as fast food workers, should make entry level money. Even if the minimum wage is raised, those making minimum wage are still at the bottom of the ladder plus it puts a whole bunch of other people on that first rung as well.

What is the percentage of the workforce that makes up to $15.00 an hour? Businesses aren't going to raise the wages of those already making $15.00 an hour to whatever minimum wage was raised to, so what about those people?

[Bilbo Saggins]

Agree with what Yojimbo said. Automation will force society into reorganizing its priorities or it will lead to some level of disaster. Universal basic income for peaceful members of society, government funded think tank types of jobs, and communities shifting power away from corporations back to the community as a whole may be necessary in the not so distant future.

[Ben Richards]

If you have never heard of DPU, you might want to familiarize yourself with the term.  Anyhow, technology will continue to grow at an exponential rate and jobs once done by humans: Cab drivers, factory, construction, security guards, custodians, (some) farmers...etc.  These will eventually disappear as well.

Toss in things like postal workers, nurses, retail staff, journalists, even artists, and you have an entire other sector that will be replaced once robots can do those jobs as well.

This isn't just me guessing what the future holds.  These are the ideas of the top scientists in the field.  Jobs are NEVER coming back.  Do you understand?  So any politician campaigning on jobs jobs jobs is full of shit.  

It doesn't get better for dumb people.  It will become dire for them.  Think about the exponential function.  Now transfer that to our technology boom.  Scientists like Nick Bostrom are saying that within this century our tech will progress at a rate of 1000 years within a short period of time.  This is where DPU comes into play.

So computers are beginning to catch up to basic animals in intelligence, and once they pass the animals it's on to the next level of intelligence... the dumb human.  The dumb human and Einstein level intelligence are not that far apart.... when sentient robots pass dumb human, Einstein level intelligence gets passed quickly after that.

[Benton]

(06-17-2015, 10:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If robots are cheaper than human labor then prices will go down.  That is good for everyone.

Automated assembly lines (robots) and moving to countries with lax labor laws has resulted in plummeting car prices these last 40 years.

[BmorePat87]

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[Stewy]

(06-17-2015, 10:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If robots are cheaper than human labor then prices will go down.  That is good for everyone.

That's right.  More people on welfare, which means more gov't gifting and buying votes by paying them not to work.  Great for everyone!

[*Nately120*]

(06-18-2015, 02:59 PM)Stewy Wrote: That's right.  More people on welfare, which means more gov't gifting and buying votes by paying them not to work.  Great for everyone!

Yea but every 5-10 years when you buy a new car you'll save like $1,000.

[BoomerFan]

Automation has been happening for 115 years and there are still plenty of jobs. And MW has been going up all the time (though not fast enough).

[BoomerFan]

Strong AI is a whole other beast. Maybe we get it, maybe even somewhere in the next 30 years, but it has a whole other bunch of questions.

Or maybe it never happens. And dumb humans are forever smarter than AI. Which is also why the whole smart car revolution is probably not going to everywhere the way people think. And what happens when a smart car decides a drivers life is worth less than, say, two pedestrians?

[StLucieBengal]

(06-18-2015, 07:43 PM)BoomerFan Wrote: Automation has been happening for 115 years and there are still plenty of jobs. And MW has been going up all the time (though not fast enough).

Min. Wage is nothing but a union payoff. It's such a sham.... No way we should have one...