Flow My Thoughts, The IT Professor Said

With Folded Hands

http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm

In the very near future, based on Moore's Law, robots will be able to do such difficult jobs as flipping burgers and driving buses [if the jobs were not so difficult, they would have been automated by now]. The author raises some alarm about the consequences of this -- what will our economy be like when unemployment rates reach 50%?

There are a number of hands to be on about this, not least that we have been here before [see, for example, Herbert A. Simon: The Shape of Automation for Man and Management]. This has the potential to be a Real Big Deal; at the same time, there are lots of points at which this argument can be pulled apart.

I, for one, am not particularly optimistic about this, because if you seek to know the future, determine what will happen with the least effort. Not only is this likely to be what in fact does happen, it is also likely to be the outcome which is most offensive to human dignity, decency, and comfort.

Where is the Terminator when we need him?