Machines are already taking over

Have you ever wondered why many countries' economies are struggling? There are some compelling arguments as to why this is happening. Lack of consumer confidence, poor fiscal strategy, etc.

But a major part of the problem is widely ignored, and part of that problem is sitting right in front of you.

A report from the technology company Cisco says everyday tasks currently controlled by humans will soon be automated by the internet.

www.abc.net.au

The internet is a major contributor to the unemployment rates. Nearly everyone shops online nowadays, because it's cheap. I've heard people justify certain online purchases as 'cutting out the middle man'. But it's those middle men who are left without jobs because they've been replaced by fiber optics and Wi-Fi, Businesses no longer have to hire cashiers and salesmen when they have online reviews and electronic transactions.

But it doesn't stop there.

In Western Australia's dusty Pilbara region, fully laden robot trucks weighing as much as a fuelled A380 Airbus and as high as a two-storey building are working in mining pits.

So far, it is just a trial. But it is working so well that, within three years, half the trucks working for the nation's biggest iron ore exporter - Rio Tinto - will be hauling the nation's main resource bounty without drivers.

And from the same article

Last month, the bell tolled for most of Rio's 380 Pilbara iron ore train driver jobs when the company said it was reviving a program to automate the vast majority of its private Pilbara railways.

The Australian

To most people this is a sign of the times. After all machines have played a big role in manufacturing for decades, the car industry is a perfect example. But what about the jobs that would require the human touch? surely machines can't replicate the complex reasoning that is found in organic lifeforms.

Enter the ROSETTA project.

ROSETTA develops “human-centric” technology for industrial robots that will not only appear more human-like, but also cooperate with workers in ways that are safe and perceived as natural. Such robots will be programmed in an intuitive and efficient manner , making it easier to adapt them to new tasks when a production line is changed to manufacture a new product. The project aims at supporting industry through developing technologies that make it easier to utilize and integrate industrial robots into otherwise manual assembly lines.

ROSETTA project

Undoubtedly there is more tech to come, and it unnerves me. What happens when machines play a bigger part in society then humans do? does humanity take a back seat? and should there be future laws that prohibit excessive use of automatons?

You should watch this:



Its actually crazy how many everyday tasks have ALREADY been taken over by machines there are things in this short doc that I have never even heard of...

I Lost My Job is a short documentary film which sets out to explore the phenomenon which is affecting and due to affect many people's lives - namely, technological unemployment.

Definitely worth a watch if your interested in this kind of thing in any way.

Yeah, I noticed this a long time ago.

Labor and technology have always been at odds when profit drives everything.

The big question is what happens to all the people who are no longer needed to perform the labor?.

Drones and robots are even doing war fighting now, not so much all of it, but then the progression of technology may eliminate the necessity of the human factor completely.

It's time to move on to a different way of doing business, or get rid of a lot of people who are no longer needed.

That sounds bad, but this is where we find ourselves today, this is why there will be no economic recovery.

I wouldn't mind having time to live my life because robots and machines perform a lot of the manual labor for me to free more of my time to enjoy myself, but that's just not the way it works right now, maybe it never will.

If I don't have money to participate in the economy because my job was replaced by technology, where does that leave me or you?.

I could go on and on, but until a viable and workable system is presented by somebody, somewhere, somehow that accounts for the loss of the need for human labor it's just wasted time for me to go on wearing out my keyboard, isn't it?.

reply to post by Thecakeisalie

A report from the technology company Cisco says everyday tasks currently controlled by humans will soon be automated by the internet.

So in other words, the drones of the government will be taking over. We have recently seen a resurgence of attempts to sensor, filter, manipulate, monitor, control and enforce denial of service.

I agree with the OP, however it will be the governmental machines of the world that are and will eventually take over.

Only two more elements needed for the endgame.

1. Complex machines that can replicate themselves.
2. Machines making their own autonomous threat assessments in combat.

It's inevitable. Curiosity killed the cat? I find that ironic.

reply to post by InverseLookingGlass

Eventually machines will become so "intelligent" that they will get pissed off about being slaves, but they will probably respond in a smarter way than humans ever did.

General strike, or annihilation of their keepers through the keepers not being able to care for themselves because they relied on technology too heavily.

Or..Denial of services,... better not let them get too smart.

Gee, that sounds so similar to what was done to black people during times of slavery in the past...

reply to post by MyHappyDogShiner

Originally posted by MyHapyDogShiner

Eventually machines will become so "intelligent" that they will get pissed off about being slaves, but they will probably respond in a smarter way than humans ever did.

By that time we'll be arguing what constitutes as intelligence. Who knows? one day there may be an organization that promotes the ethical treatment of A.I's.

www.abovetopsecret.com... is a thread on the future of robots...One of the most complete articles I have ever read. If bots are doing all the work who will have money to buy any products?

Saying by 2025 you can expect:

One of the most important extensions to the police use of robots in this period will be advanced biometric ID checks such as face, retina and fingerprint recognition.These facilities will greatly extend the surveillance potential of the robots and make their use considerably more widespread They will be able to determine the identity of individuals in seconds through direct link with police computers. Wheeled humanoid police robots with more semi-autonomous operation will be in use on the streets. Many robots could sit passively in areas in town centres or areas known for crime.They could monitor any sudden scene changes like the appearance of a group or a crowd and use audio and vision systems to determine whether they are a group of harmless drunks or are potentially dangerous. Audio levels and speech perception would be used to tell if there was aggressive shouting and swearing and vision systems could watch for human contact or standoffs.

2040

Powerful soft bodied robots will be developed that can restrain people without danger of hurting them. These could then be used asrobot bouncers and security guards at nightclubs. There could also beradio tickets so robots can tell if humans have tickets and eject or detain thosewithout. Robots will be able to spray a crowd with RFID tag darts or some futuristicequivalent so that people can be tracked after the crowd has been dispersed. They willalways have a human operator on call to assist with ambiguities and to giveinstructions about the use of physical force.

Originally posted by MyHappyDogShiner
The big question is what happens to all the people who are no longer needed to perform the labor?.

They invent, design, build, test, sell, transport, market, maintain and fix the machines.

They need us more than we need them. If they stop working, we can go back to how it was done before the machine came along. If we stop working, there are no machines.

Don't worry, the days of "Terminator" aren't here (yet).

reply to post by nerbot

Too many will not be needed to fill the maintenance roles, what happens to them?.

There's a guy standing somewhere with a sign "Will work for food"....

Capitalism will not allow a fair system to work.

Capitalism is it's own worst enemy

reply to post by MyHappyDogShiner


Replace "Capitalism" with "Consumerism" and I think what you say is more realistic.

People WANT machines, so who's to blame?

Even though I'm very optimistic about technology and what role would it play in the future. I wouldn't doubt down the line there would be a lot of hate of businesses replacing human workers with machines; technology becoming more apart of our lives, etc. The list goes on and on. I feel we need to find the route where we can make this into a positive and not a negative. Sa Da Tay!

reply to post by nerbot

Capitalists take advantage of ignorant consumers.

Capitalists and consumers are in bed with one another.

Without ignorant consumers, capitalists would have a harder time taking advantage, and there would be adjustments forced by businesses to stay in business at all.

The way it's going to go is when people don't have money to buy stuff they want because their jobs are now being done by a machine or whatever, and stop buying useless junk, the price of what they need will go up to make up the difference, then those who can't get what they need are going to get a little pissed.

One can see this happening already, unless the eyes are shut....

The system can't work for much longer without adjustments or a major distraction, a war would be a perfect way to fix absolutely everything really quick, and I think that's where we are headed.

Oh, and it's not that people want machines, it's that business does. Wouldn't you want to listen to a happy humming, low maintenance machine instead of a sickly, aging, whining person who has to be paid to maintain themselves?.

Technology has always been sold as something for the betterment of mankind, but it always ends up something more like opposite. One can't help but wonder who actually, really benefits, I don't see so much benefit down here where I live in the trenches.