I, Robot
I recall many years ago when the news of the first robots being used by the auto industry was all the talk…..of course the pro side was that they would do hazardous work and thus would cut down on injuries and days lost…the co side pointed out that these machines were replacing good paying jobs for workers….
Since those early days the debate has continued to rage on and on….who benefits from all the automation?
We are at a crossroads that will determine our economic future. There is hope, but also the possibility of a turn into a state of oligarchical barbarism, Frase postulates. The following is an excerpt from the introduction to Four Futures.
Why, the reader might ask, is it even necessary to write another book about automation and the postwork future? The topic has become an entire subgenre in recent years; Brynjolfsson and McAfee are just one example. Others include Ford’s Rise of the Robots and articles from the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson, Slate’s Farhad Manjoo, and Mother Jones’s Kevin Drum. Each insists that technology is rapidly making work obsolete, but they flail vainly at an answer to the problem of making sure that technology leads to shared prosperity rather than increasing inequality. At best, like Brynjolfsson and McAfee, they fall back on familiar liberal bromides: entrepreneurship and education will allow us all to thrive even if all of our current work is automated away.
Source: Will Automation Benefit Humanity and the Planet, or a Tiny Elite?
And the debate will continue……..
My day is done……I pass on to a more restful stage…..be well, be safe….I shall see everyone tomorrow.
LOL… Took me a while, but, finally realized… Not only this, but, there are now 3 billion people on the planet voluntarily carrying a robot around in their pocket. These ‘bots don’t have any hands, or feet, but, they don’t need them, as they serve quite nicely as a training tool for simple minded apes, most of whom now have no clue they are being trained to be their own prison guard, and feel naked without their little “smart phone” to “keep them connected”…. The phones, and those who promote their use, are, indeed, smarter than those who carry them around… Some might be a little nervous about the simple fact they are always on, or can be turned on remotely, for they are programmed & hardwired to do so, but, they just think , “oh, that’s okay; they wouldn’t do that to me. I’m not a criminal or terrorist….”, & go merrily on their way, slavishly getting a charge when their text notification or personalized ring tone sounds, thus proving their addiction….
Whoops.
gigoid, the dubious
I use mine to make calls…there is nothing on there that can be used….chuq
I do the same, with the occasional text, though I don’t like to text…. But, it still has power. For example, it’s a GPS locator, & tells whomever looks exactly where you are. It can also be remotely used to both take pictures, and to listen to all it can hear in the vicinity, all without you knowing… Google has admitted to tracking people for advertising data, just recently…. If you want to go off grid, you can’t carry one, at all…
gigoid
That is why mine spends lots of time off and in a box until needed….chuq
Good policy & habit….
Perhaps we need the return of the Luddites? Smash the robots, and go back to ‘human error’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
Best wishes, Pete.
I would support that move….I hate to see workers displaced by a damn machine…chuq