Four-legged robots

   / Four-legged robots
  • Thread Starter
#21  
There was a recent PBS show concerning the "automation" of the retail space. One of the things emphasized was what it was going to do to jobs.
None of the promoters of robots would be interviewed concerning what it's going to do to the job market in major cities.

I think that 10% unemployment will be a fond memory. If an employee costs $60K per year with overhead and benefits it won't take much to have a robot do many essential tasks and reap a big cost savings. Have you ever heard of a robot suing for sexual discrimination?

Why employ people if robots can do their tasks?

There will be a new paradigm developed on what it means to be "gainfully employed".

I'm thinking that will play a large role in the future. The odds of resisting that outcome for the general or common good of people are slim to none IMO.

Automation is already cutting into jobs. Take a simple thing like SS payments: direct deposit, we do the data entry supplying the routing and account numbers, the computers crank out millions of EFT's untouched by human hands.

Go back 25 years: paper making for checks and envelopes, printers to print checks, bursting machines to separate the checks, envelope stuffing machines, someone to harvest trees and tend all that stuff, mailmen to deliver the checks, bank tellers to deposit/cash checks. I've left a lot of jobs out of that stream but you get the idea.

Looking ahead, that may be why people talk about things like a universal living "wage." Basically if you are drawing breath, you get a living stipend. There are some existing models similar to that such as Alaska's oil payments to all residents.
 
   / Four-legged robots #22  
I know it is silly but because the 'bots look and move at least marginally like a familiar life form, I find myself attaching "feelings" to them.

I did too . I found myself feelin ' sorry for the dang thing when someone kicked it from the side .
 
   / Four-legged robots
  • Thread Starter
#23  
I did too . I found myself feelin ' sorry for the dang thing when someone kicked it from the side .

Exactly. It just seems wrong to treat the "dog" that way. :) In the part of the video where the 'bot is on a slippery surface and the guy gives it a good shove with his foot, the scrambling to regain balance actions of the legs are amazing. I know it's just executing an algorithm ... but I'm cheering for it to stay upright at the same time. Weird.
 

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