Robots/A.I.

[Tonto_]

Amazon Go stores are going to be opening up across the country. They are stores without cashiers. Big chains already have killed some cashier jobs by replacing them with self checkout lanes. Truck drivers may lose their jobs in the foreseeable future to automated driving vehicles.

As preppers, this should frighten all of us. Can you imagine the landscape of this country when hundreds of millions of people lose their jobs over the next 10 years?

 

[DrHenley]

In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you

 

[Skeeter]

I would hope they pass the savings on to the people who lose their jobs. If they don't, we will most definitely see mass homelessness and ultimately the end of democracy.

 

[jontte]

Doc, I was actually humming when I read that...

 

[lonewolf]

"Terminator"/"Skylab" wars here we come!

 

[Psalm7]

I don't like the lost job concept. But I spend much of My time at work dealing eith Our Employees so the idea of having robots that don't have accidents , workmans comp , get into arguments , harass Others , drama , call out of work sick , work slow (sand bag) , and any other crap sounds good . Some analysts say its only profitable for certain companies and the jobs lost would be offset by business growth and tech jobs created.

 

[Kevin L]

This situation has happened before.

When I was in high school, I took typing, filing, and other office courses (there were lots of girls in these classes--including my high-school sweetheart, Brenda).

Almost all of these skills are obsolete. I took a course on using a printing press in shop class, and now typesetting doesn't exist.

When I worked as a paramedic years ago, we had to navigate with a mapbook, and now GPS has made map-reading obsolete.

We had to manage a radio to call the hospital to tell them what we're bringing in, and now paramedics shoot off an encrypted email right from the truck.

Lastly, I went to a lot of trouble to learn Spanish because I worked in Miami. Now, Alexa and Suri can translate almost any language in real time, so me--proud of my Spanish--is rendered obsolete by a 20-something punk-ass kid that can use his smart phone to effectively (and accurately) translate 30 languages...including Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, Creole, etc. in real time.

I'm only 51 and in excellent health, but these realities made me feel very old.

 

[Tonto_]

This situation has happened before.

When I was in high school, I took typing, filing, and other office courses (there were lots of girls in these classes--including my high-school sweetheart, Brenda).

Almost all of these skills are obsolete. I took a course on using a printing press in shop class, and now typesetting doesn't exist.

When I worked as a paramedic years ago, we had to navigate with a mapbook, and now GPS has made map-reading obsolete.

We had to manage a radio to call the hospital to tell them what we're bringing in, and now paramedics shoot off an encrypted email right from the truck.

Lastly, I went to a lot of trouble to learn Spanish because I worked in Miami. Now, Alexa and Suri can translate almost any language in real time, so me--proud of my Spanish--is rendered obsolete by a 20-something punk-ass kid that can use his smart phone to effectively (and accurately) translate 30 languages...including Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, Creole, etc. in real time.

I'm only 51 and in excellent health, but these realities made me feel very old.

this is true it has happened, but on a much smaller scale. The new technology could put 3/4 of Americans out of work.

 

[Kevin L]

I don't 100% disagree with you.

Retail has been hard hit by Amazon, and Sears (along with Kmart) is, quite likely, going to go out of business and put many, many thousands of people out of work.

I'm just as guilty. I use ebay and Amazon for quite a bit of my shopping.

If this trend continues, we may have a whole class of unemployed people who have out of date job skills.

This situation was partially forseen by Alvin Toffler in the 70s when he wrote a book called Future Shock Syndrome.

It's well-worth reading.