Is roboticisation of jobs ethical ?

[aneeshm]

There is an issue that I have thought may be important in future .

Methods and AI are evolving to a point where we may have humaniform robots capable of doing most manual labour and repetitive jobs within the next 20 to 30 years . The processing power required will have arrived by then , and the prototypes for neural networks capable of learning and evolving are already here .

If more is spent on this technology , robots will become capable of replacing unskilled and semi-skilled manual labour ( one where no deep analytical thinking is involved , and where the variations ae few ) . We will also have robots capable of adapting and learning from past problems , as neural nets are already doing . Thus , a robots imprinted with oly the basic ability to learn , and apply that learning willl be in priduction not too far off . THey will also be vastly cheaper than an average worker .

Is it ethical , then , for employers to completely replace low and semi-skilled human labour ( cashiers , receptionists , manual labourers , waiters , secretaries , etc. ) with robot labour as soon as it becomes available ? This will be accomplished within five to ten years , will lead to a collapse of social security , even if full severance benifits are given to said workers .

I say it is perfectly fine to replace humans when possible/necessary/benificial . What do you say ?

[Ted Striker]

This has been happening since the late 19th century when the industrial revolution was in full force and manufacturing and farm machinery took over for field labor.

It's an ongoing issue for many many years. They will do it.


Most of the grocery stores around here now have an autocheckout feature, so there is no cashiere involved in the process.

They will do it whether or not it is ethical.

A cold blooded heartless capitalist like yourself will welcome this change, citing cost savings that are passed on to the consumer, and also allowing the business to use its human resources for other jobs.

This SHOULD be an ethical model, since the cost savings are SUPPOSED to be passed on to consumers, the business, and the stockholders, but this is not the case anymore, when CEO salaries are skyrocketing, being 300 times more than the average line worker.

[Az]

AI

other robotification

[Combat Ingrid]

People are idiots.
We have all those machines that work for us and make our life easier and more comfortable, and still we work and stress so much we get sick from it

(of course, this is necessary to keep our economy growing; which is by far the most important thing in life)

[Flandrien]

Re: Is roboticisation of jobs ethical ?

Originally posted by aneeshm
... replace low and semi-skilled human labour ( cashiers , ...

Like Ted already said, cashiers are already being replaced at this moment.

lnk

[aneeshm]

My dear Ted , I am not cold-blooded by any standard . Indeed , it is my belief that the business that passes the benifits on to its customers is one who will survive , because it offers better things for a lower price - rule of the market . I have seen it happening in my country . I have seen how the telecom giants of India bought the mobile phone within reach of some of poorest .

And another thing - won't human jobs just be shifted up the value chain , as has been happening till now ?

[Flandrien]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
People are idiots.
We have all those machines that work for us and make our life easier and more comfortable, and still we work and stress so much we get sick from it

(of course, this is necessary to keep our economy growing; which is by far the most important thing in life)

The problem is that all this technology allows us to work less. But in stead of working less, we have fewer people working even harder, in fear of losing their job, like all the rest of their former colleagues.

[aneeshm]

If that were true , then the only safe job in the world would be the analytical mathematician behind robot design .

[Urban Ranger]

This is inevitable - automations (robotics and other means) has been replacing unskilled human labour. On one hand, this increases productivity for each individual, unfortunately employers can fire workers while maintaining an increase in output.

[Starchild]

Human jobs will either get increasingly specialised or service based or we'll finally have to rid ourselves of this silly notion of people needing to work

[Flandrien]

I think there will always be human bartenders

[Provost Harrison]

No problem with that, if it takes people away from the more mundane, demoralising jobs, it is a good thing. However I have very little faith in the present system to use this effectively. In reality it should be used to allow humans to pursue far more important and creative tasks and occupations. In reality it will just be used to cut costs and throw people on the scrapheap.

We come back to that old dilemma, it's not the technology itself, but it's application...

[RGBVideo]

Knee-jerk pseudo-intellectual communists who oppose this 'roboticisation', as you call it, need to look at the big bicture: in the society as a whole, people need to do less work for the same results.

Apart from possible further dependancy from fossil fuels, I can't even imagine any rational negative aspects of this process.

[Provost Harrison]

I don't think the problem is with communists but with how capitalism will use it. More done for less effort is always It can be used to raise productivity or give people more time to themselves. However in the current order the former is the case and only that.

[RGBVideo]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
I don't think the problem is with communists

I agree, there is no real problem IMO.

It can be used to raise productivity or give people more time to themselves. However in the current order the former is the case and only that.

I'm sorry, this is not true. It does both.