Re: Robotic nation

From: Giu1i0 Pri5c0 (gpmap@runbox.com)
Date: Thu Jul 24 2003 - 09:58:12 MDT

  • Next message: Robert J. Bradbury: "RE: Global Carbon Cycle [was RE: Number of carbon atoms in the Earth's biomass]"

    I think the most likely scenario is one where "pure" robots do very
    repetitive jobs that do not even require conscious thought, and real AI-like
    advances are used to augment human capabilities. This merge of humans and
    machines (one of the central thesis of Kurzweil) is completely ignored in
    the article quoted. The answer to those who fear that robots will steal the
    jobs of their grandchildren, is that their grandchildren will BE
    human/robotic blends, and that they will LIKE it.

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Alfio Puglisi" <puglisi@arcetri.astro.it>
    To: "Extropy mailing list" <extropians@extropy.org>
    Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 4:46 PM
    Subject: Robotic nation

    >
    > http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
    >
    > Some Kurzweil-like estimates, and an article entirely dedicated to the
    > jobs that will be lost to "robots"...
    >
    >
    > "... If you add that all up, it's over 50 million jobs lost to robots.
    > That is a conservative estimate. By 2050 or so, it is very likely that
    > over half the jobs in the United States will be held by robots.
    >
    > All the people who are holding jobs like those today will be unemployed.
    >
    > American society has no way to deal with a situation where half of the
    > workers are unemployed. During the Great Depression at its very worst, 25%
    > of the population was unemployed. The robotic future will be twice as bad,
    > and it will be permanent."
    >
    > Ciao,
    > Alfio



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Jul 24 2003 - 10:09:31 MDT