Just wait till Amazon takes over grocery stores. They are launching an idea where there are no check outs and you use your phone to pay for everything.
Ahhhh I see :) but I like the chit chat with the person ringing me in .... And my day job is to get people day jobs.... So NO ! To computers taking over for people :)
I'm so tired and pissed at the moment and I' m tired of technology going bonkers in to ALL facets of ALL life (yes, I say that as I sit at my computer -- I realize the irony)
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at December 8, 2016 9:42 PM MST
The bitter- sweet irony ... Aye ? We are slaves to that that will be our undoing .... That's kinda whack :/
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 8, 2016 8:29 PM MST
I boycott Amazon. It uses monopolistic practices to edge out competitors, buys copyrights to suppress controversial books, uses every loophole available to abuse corporate power. There are plenty of other providers who offer same items with better service, prices, and postage.
I admit that I like using them. I like to categorize my items and bag together and if the store has no paper bags, I tie each plastic bag (and I double the plastic one 100% of the time). I can be as slow as I want to at the auto check out. The store here started out with about 10 auto checkouts but reduced it to six because of theft. People steal. Such a shame. They went up 5% across the board on prices when they installed them and they were still losing money. So, they might not completely take over supermarket cashier jobs.
Then they'll create the repair robot. Then you'll only "need" one person to repair 1,000 repair robots which can then go out an repair 10,000,000 robot cashiers.
SHOULD they? Hell, no, Boring. But will it happen? Oh, yeah. Depend on it. So what shall we do with all the humans who are made redundant by technology?
David Lagerkrantz (in The Girl in the Spider's Web) raised the problem of computers becoming so smart that they would take over the functions of humans. Scary stuff. When they evolve a little further they'll start working out what's best or us and take that function out of our hands. Then, a step further, they'll just work out what's best and won't include us in the mix at all.
We were all bananas about this back in the 80s. We lost some jobs to automation. Lost customer service altogether because all of a sudden no one could answer the phone anymore. Now every two-bit business has a call screener which I truly still hate. But now, with outrageous minimum wages being pushed down the throats of employers of nonskilled labor it is no wonder. If I owned any kind of store I would replace a cashier with a machine in a heartbeat. Those things work 24/7 and no regulation about hours or what "benefits" I must provide. That is really a shame, but it is the truth.
This post was edited by Thriftymaid at December 8, 2016 9:41 PM MST
We humans have messed up this planet badly - and its natural balance could and would survive and rebalance much better without us.
But while we are still around, I prefer less automation: more of humans serving one another to the best of our abilities.
Yes, there are roles for sensitive and intelligent robots... for instance, they could give temporary relief to carers so they don't burn out. But imagine how awful it would be for old and disabled people if suddenly they had no one to care for them except robots? No human touch or relationship. OK, maybe some might prefer it that way. In some cases, a robot might be preferable to a relative or carer who is abusive. And maybe some forms of dementia are a serious danger to living carers. And maybe it seems too far off and expensive to be real.
But what I observe is that as services become automated, the customer is always less well served. I am already boycotting many things like automated checkouts in favour of human services. I do not wish to see a society in which there are no jobs left and no one talks or interacts with others in real life anymore.
Read Asimov's "I Robot" and Foundation series. They give a seriously good idea of the problems involved with automated intelligent service. Steven Hawkin has warned us that human beings evolve far too slowly to be able to keep up with the rate that intelligent technology could evolve - we would soon become obsolete. So far, there has been no technology invented by humans which has not been abused - meaning used to cause harm to people, animals and the natural ecosystems of the planet. It is already too late to integrate the kinds of controls suggested by Asimov. It will not be possible to prevent people from abusing artificial intelligence. It is already used for fraud, organised crime, criminal pornography, personal attacks and centralised organisation of terrorism. The more power of intelligence it is given, the worse it will become. When the time comes - I will disconnect. I already do not own a mobile phone and am building a collection of enough books to last me a lifetime. I will revert to pen, print, and paper.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 9, 2016 11:47 AM MST
Benedict Arnold 