Since computers became visible in the common workplace in the 1960s and robots appeared as human assembly line worker autonomous “replacements” in factories and in popular science fiction humanoid robot themed movies, there is a pervasive belief among us that humans will be replaced by robots.
What are your thoughts and experiences about this topic?
Here is a reposting from a USA Today Tech News Commentary:
So let me begin with this: Robots are not here to steal our jobs, nor are we at risk of any other en masse robotic movement reliant upon self-determined mechanized cognizance.
In fact, nearly 100% of contemporary robotic technologies are dependent on human interaction and maintenance to function. Technically speaking, today’s robots are semi-autonomous at best – interactive tools existing within a fixed environment, capable of processing only basic sensory details and acting in binaries (think Part A affixed to Component B).
“We are becoming more familiar with robots, but their sophistication has not changed much,” assures U.S. robotics law and policy expert Ryan Calo. In fact, since the original coinage of the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ more than 60 years ago, robotics technologies have progressed at a snail’s pace; “Today, robots are about as smart as insects,” confides Calo. The vision of a fully automated, autonomous manufacturing facility, while perpetuated with assurance by some, is little more than today’s flying car.
And he would know. As a leading voice in the University of Washington School of Law, co-chair of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence committee of the American Bar Association, and a contributor in the movement to develop a Federal Robotics Commission, Calo’s day-to-day is peppered with discussions on emerging technologies and the impact of the advancement of robotics on the lives of Americans.
USA TODAY: Commentary: Robots are not here to take your jobs
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2014/10/13/robots-are-not-here-to-steal-your-jobs/16552869/
BUT not everyone agrees …
One in three jobs will be taken by software or robots by 2025
Gartner sees things like robots and drones replacing a third of all workers by 2025, and whether you want to believe it or not, is entirely your business. This is Gartner being provocative, as it typically is, at the start of its major U.S. conference, the Symposium/ITxpo.
“Drones are just one of many kinds of emerging technologies that extend well beyond the traditional information technology world — these are smart machines,” said Sondergaard.
Smart machines are an emerging “super class” of technologies that perform a wide variety of work, both the physical and the intellectual kind, said Sondergaard. Machines, for instance, have been grading multiple choice for years, but now they are grading essays and unstructured text.
This cognitive capability in software will extend to other areas, including financial analysis, medical diagnostics and data analytic jobs of all sorts, says Gartner.
“Knowledge work will be automated,” said Sondergaard, as will physical jobs with the arrival of smart robots.
“Gartner predicts one in three jobs will be converted to software, robots and smart machines by 2025,” said Sondergaard. “New digital businesses require less labor; machines will be make sense of data faster than humans can.”
ComuterWorld: One in three jobs will be taken by software or robots by 2025
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2691607/one-in-three-jobs-will-be-taken-by-software-or-robots-by-2025.html