Is your job at risk from A.I. ?

[Atomic12C]

There are a lot of news feeds relating to Artificial Intelligence replacing jobs in the near future, with even Elon Musk stating something along the lines that many jobs will be lost to automation by the year 2050.

BUT, the problem I see with this is that if companies are to replace people with machines, then people are not able to earn.
Which means people are then not able to buy company's products or services.

So it would seem to be a move to shoot one's self in the foot for companies to replace people with machines at the promise of "profit increase".


Would others agree?

[Atomic12C]

I think this is where Trump is on the ball with outsourcing jobs to the lowest cost.
Some say he's as pro-business as it gets, possibly yes, but at the same time he seems to state that his legacy is going to be about bringing jobs back from the lowest bidder (ie China) back to the USA.

So if the same can be done with AI ? (in some form or other)


I guess this may need global level trade regulations that also apply at the domestic level to protect jobs from company profit margins.
(if that is possible)

But I think the 'driving' factor is that some companies can automate whilst others can not (yet). So there is the competitive edge that is creating this desire for automation. As like I said in my first post, if all companies were to automate, then there would be no people earning money to spend. Rendering companies useless, and also cause the falling of how an economy operates.
So a global regulation would bring all companies to the same level and thus remove the competitive edge on automation.

[Atomic12C]

sherman said:

Why do people go to the pub now and not just buy from a supermarket and stay at home all the time?

They do, I think its only in city centres these days where you see people out and about on 'nights out' these days.
Many towns and out of city centre areas are 'dead', as people choose to drink cheap alcohol from supermarkets and have friends round their home as an alternative.
Also compounding this is that people used to gather at weekends to catch up on each other's lives, this is now the job of facebook which gives details of what people are doing to the minute.

[Atomic12C]

Fastdruid said:

Find a new career. Same as farriers, horse holders, coopers, chimney sweeps, night soil men etc had to when their careers were killed off.

Notice you didn't throw 'miners' in to the mix, probably as most of them are still on the dole


I think the point I would come back with on this is that it is the rate of change that will leave people with no alternative.
Remember that society exists on a very thin veneer of social order. I don't think it would take much at all for people to lose all hope for the future if too many are not able to make a living. (A living that include constant increase of quality - anything less is generally not accepted).

[Atomic12C]

RizzoTheRat said:

There's a big difference between artificial intelligence and the robotics needed to carry out various jobs.

For example an AI might be able to look at at a load of test results and tell you what's wrong with your car, but developing a robotic system that can change the oil on any car you give it, and replace a drop link and change the radiator is a long way away. Machines that can out think us or out perform us in specific tasks are already here, ones that can out think us and out perform us in multiple areas will be a long time coming.

Until of course 'things' are designed for robotic maintenance and robotic interaction instead of human.

[Atomic12C]

Looking ahead in terms of cars specifically, I can see a time whereby car ownership is a thing of the past.
With driverless cars, why would you want to own it?
You'd just call one up via the internet and it will arrive for you to step in.

As such the operation and maintenance would likely be fully automated, as the car will drive itself to the 'garage' when it flags up it need maintenance.
There would likely not be local garages but a number of national centres whereby a full engine drop and replacement would likely be done within minutes.
Given that cars are also likely to be very good on mpg with mainly battery powered powerplants (it therefore would be much less cost in asking that vehicle to travel to a maintenance centre a good number of miles away).

Some say the future is bright - but I can see a storm coming

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zTzh8uhnlqc/hqdefault.jpg