Automation and the Future
-- posted February 2015 --
This is a 15:00 minutes video (or a short documentary, to be more precise) about the automation in the future and the advent of intelligent machines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU
On one hand, I liked the video because it presents some of the most important technological advancements that are currently under development. On the other hand, I didn’t like that the video is sort of gloomy and paints a dark image of the future.
The video projects an intimidating message about the replacement of human workers with robotic technology in the future. If we think about it, the first type of jobs that are going to be automated and replaced by machines are indeed the low-skilled jobs. However, the majority of this type of jobs have been off-shored anyway, since it is almost impossible to compete with the low-cost labor of the developing countries. The emergence of the new generation of intelligent robots will provide an opportunity for the developed countries to replace the low-skilled jobs with robotic technology, and it will allow them to manufacture products at competitive prices on the global markets. The manufacturing will be brought back to the developed countries, they will need workers to install and program robots in the automated factories, and therefore the number of jobs will in fact increase.
In the long term, the number of jobs will decrease. At the present time it is difficult to predict whether this will lead to a future that is dystopian – a society with large unemployment and social protests, or utopian – with an abundance of free products and services, where everyone can work as much as they want, and will spend time on traveling, games, art, and intellectual cultivation.
So far, technological progress has immensely benefited our society. It constantly created new types of jobs and professions that didn’t exist before, allowing the economies to grow. I believe that this time it won’t be an exception, and that the intelligent machines will greatly improve the standards of living and the quality of our lives.
Image source: https://hbr.org/2015/06/beyond-automation