How Robots Will Steal Your Job
from the dystopian-futures dept
Last week we posted a story about robotic burger flippers at McDonald’s, and joked about how all those who are worried about jobs moving to India might be better off worrying about whether there will be any human jobs left at all. What I didn’t realize was that this is exactly the future that Marshall Brain, the creator of HowStuffWorks.com and the author of the McDonald’s kiosk story we linked to, believes is going to happen. It turns out that the story he wrote isn’t so much a random story, but a part of a large marketing campaign to sell some novel he’s written about just such a future. He’s also (get this) filed for a patent on an “automated system for managing humans and machines in the retail and fast-food businesses”. Of course, just like any other story about lost jobs, this one assumes a static world where having such a situation doesn’t go on to create other jobs and other opportunities. Really, this is just a repeat of the fear from a few decades back about how robots were going to take over auto-plants and how Honda would only need to employ five people to manage the robots, and Ford would need to fire everyone. That didn’t exactly happen. Just like with outsourcing, a shift to more efficient means of productions tends to open up new opportunities for those w ho are willing to go after them.
Comments on “How Robots Will Steal Your Job”
No Subject Given
Absolutely right.
Think of it this way. Someone has to maintain the robots, right? Even if you could get the robots to maintain themselves, someone has to build them. Even if you could get them to build themselves, someone has to build that system. Even if you could get someone to build that system, someone has to build the system that builds that. And someone has to write the software to do all of it. Even in the ford motor plant, what do you think tells those robots to bolt a door to the side of the car and not the floor? Software, simple, custom software. The advent of robots everywhere would be a boom for software engineers. Well, as silly as I think it is. Especailly huminoid robots like this guy is talking about. There’s a reason the robots at ford and GM are not humanoid.
Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut wrote a very similar story 50 or so years ago. I forget the name of the novel,
except that it was his first. I imagine that an update of the book could be pretty cool, though.
Re: Vonnegut
The book name is Player Piano. It was the book that got me thinking about the greater ramifications of technology and my responsibility as an engineer to consider them.
Even this is better than outsourcing
jobs to China and India. Having robots take the place of workers is no problem as long as those that maintain and create them are americans. It’s A-OK with me. And anyways having robots do everything will not creat a great UTOPIA that some would think. Only the rich make the profits.
Re: Even this is better than outsourcing
we can’t buy it ITT
Regaqrding Mr Brain' s story
Hi,
I have read the story that Mr Brain has written and I bellive it will happen. I dont know will it take 20, 30 or 60 years but it will definetlly happen. Robots are the future abd Mr Brain has explained it really well. Robotic Technology is improving everyday who knows what will happen in the next 10 years or so.
My point is robots will replace humans when we can only guess.
Regards,
Zoran
poo
u suck i hate your stinkin guts i hope u die smelly balls
from your loving wife