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When posed with the topic “Will Smart Machines Take our Jobs” I really had to think hard. I took into consideration how things are done today, and the other ways things are done by Dr. Richards in the lecture video. For me, I came to the conclusion that not everyone would agree with. In theory most of these advancements could be great for people, but in reality, only a handful of them are going to be good for society.
Going into the lecture I had never really put any thought into this topic. I soon learned from Dr. Richards that there are two main categories in which people fall into based on what they believe if smart machines were to take over our jobs. The first were Distopians, this is where someone believes that in the next 10-20 years jobs will become obsolete due to robotics, automation, and the use of artificial intelligence. This group believes that we the people will need a UBI to receive a form of monetary value to live on. The other group is the Utopians, they also believe that in the next 10-20 years that jobs are going to become obsolete to computers, artificial intelligence, and robotics. However, they look at it in a sense that it will be awesome, and a person will not have to work, and they will be able to party all the time. Where does the average person fall. I believe that the average person falls into the dystopian group because they are worried that they will wake up one morning to no jobs due to automation. They are worrying that will not be able to survive. I personally wouldn’t say that I belong to either group. I feel as if we have more time before everything becomes automated. While we do not know for sure how long we have, there is some evidence that Dr. Jay Richards presented. During the lecture video he talked about how in 1965 a scientist wrote a letter to President Lyndon B Johnson that he needed to prepare the country for what was to come. Now we are in 2025, and we still have people working their jobs without being ran by full automation.
Dr. Richards talked about some companies that have been in the process of making self-driving cars. Google, Uber, and Microsoft are all racing to develop a self-driving car (kind of like America racing to be the first country to the Moon) this will put more people out of a job so that they can make more money. Rightfully so for them, but with people finding out about these advancements they are trying to make I feel as if it is scaring people that one day they will wake up to a completely automated world. I personally feel as if these companies will profit from scaring people into believing this. My belief is that people will start to come to terms with their ideas of change and they will also start adapting by purchasing more of their products to use in their daily lives such as Alexas and Roomba vacuums. During the lecture Dr. Richards stated “autonomous cars do not have to be perfect. Just as good as the average drive.” I feel the complete opposite way. If we are going to continue to see these cars on the roads I feel as if they need to be better, than your average driver. This leads me to my next point; how many people would trust a self-driving car? To answer that question I am unsure, I know that I personally would not and would rather call a cab or traditional uber. Will this be a short-term obsession by the people? I feel as if it will be. After one bad accident with another car or pedestrian I feel as people will start to navigate back to regular Ubers. If there is a bad wreck who will be held responsible? Will it Uber, Microsoft, or Google?
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In today’s world in large fulfillment centers we are more likely to see a more automated system. For example, Amazon houses robots that replaced forklifts and their drivers. This is a more efficient system for the company. They are used to move pallets and lift them. In this case I feel like it is a great option. The robots are more efficient, safer, and more reliable. However, Amazon is not able to become a fully automated company. They still require humans as robots cannot do complex tasks. The robots are unable to be programmed to box and unbox items, or sort items. However, Dr. Richards believes that in the next 5-10 years that they will have this solved. The lecture was filmed in 2021, it has been 4 years and so far, nothing has come. I feel as if we will see this be further out then what he thinks.
Dr. Richards brought up farming. The example he gave was “Larger operations have tractors with auto steer.” He said that he believes in 10 years that tractors will be ran by farmers from their living rooms. As a farmer myself I completely disagree. While the farming industry has made some great improvements in technology making things more automated and even a self-driving tractor. Farmers for one do not like this technology as they are unable to be in full control, and with all the complex jobs that they do in a day I do not feel as if they will be able to make a technology to completely automate it.
As you can see there are many worries for people that one day when they wake up their jobs will gone. I do not feel as if this is the case. People speculated for years that by the year 2020 we would have flying cars, but we have just barely begun to come out with many self-driving cars. I feel as if we have more time than what is being speculated before the world is all automated.