Should we fear the rise of the robots?

Quote:
If you’re paid less than £30,000 a year then it might be time to start looking nervously over your shoulder, because according to a new report out this week you could soon be replaced by a robot.
The research, carried out by Deloitte and the university of Oxford, warns that one in three existing UK jobs are at risk of replacement by technology in the next 20 years.
Endquote
Even in my own group we have been accelerating the use of robots for routine mechanical operations. The writing seems to be on the wall.
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Replies

  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    I believe that the robots will kill us once they're intelligent enough. They've already began snatching jobs. So yes, we should fear the rise of robots.
  • Shreyas Sule
    Shreyas Sule
    It is true that manufacturing plants and industries employ less people to do the same job as compared to previous years. But rather than seeing this as the only mechanism for mass unemployment, I see this as an advantage for the workers on the ground as of now. Rather than spending their time in doing a mundane job in a physically and mentally demanding environment, they can now divert their attention to more creative and productive things. These may be attaining more skills, learning new things, experimenting, developing their role in decision making, study of historical data and understanding trends or learning how to operate and control new robots installed at their workplace! Yes I think today's workforce is has more managerial and engineering skills and opportunities for the same. But is it good or bad?

    There some jobs that are entirely replaced by robots (welding, assembly line tasks, etc). Also, there are others that were supposed to be irreplaceable in near future such as waiters, janitors and even stage actors are now in threat. This particular video about robots performing on stage is creepy:

    Currently we are at a stage where the humans are "assisted" by the robots and automation technologies which is good. But as mentioned in the above article that humans will be "replaced" by the robots is going to be true in some cases. One more detailed analysis: #-Link-Snipped-#

    The question are: What can we do about it? Or do we really have a choice other than accepting robots as an integral part of human culture in future? Personally, I think we don't have one. Can we create new jobs that could have been impossible without evolution of robots in the first place?

    Off topic, few Science fiction topics that came to my mind:
    1. Till now most of the debate has been about Robots vs Humans. What if we have a clash between e.g. German robots vs Japanese robots and the American robots being neutral!? What we will do at that time?
    2. Robots that support humans vs Robots that believe in the futility of humans.
    3. Rise of different ideologically based robot cultures and its impact on humans globally and locally.

    If someone knows some good books/ stories/articles on the same, please let me know 😀
  • Ramani Aswath
    Ramani Aswath
    Shreyas Sule
    German robots vs Japanese robots and the American robots being neutral!? What we will do at that time?
    Issac Asimov wrote a story about this. There is some problem in a far off planet which humans have occupied run entirly by humanoid robots. Some of the robots are black and others white. The white robots were segregating the others and treating them as lower. A space ship arrives from the earth. The astronaut , who is inside a space suit all the time studies the situation and solves it to end this roboracism and returns deep in space the astronaut removes the helmet to wipe away the sweat of anxiety. Only then the reader realises that it is a negro inside!

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