Robots taking over - who will be future consumers ?

[unclebulgaria67]

There was a BBC2 programme on last night, now available on i player, showing the BMW Mini production plant, where they have over 1000 robots involved in production. They also employ 4000 people as well, to do the tasks that robots cannot currently perform.

 

The question is who will be the future consumers buying products made mostly by robots. With humans being made redundant by robots, there will come a time when there are insufficient people with enough money to buy the products. The companies investing in too much robot technology to replace humans will also reduce the size of the market they can sell to.

 

Within 10 years there will be the AI technology that can replace many call centre and customer service type jobs. You will be able to talk to a computerised call centre agent, who will probably tell you that your complaint is outside of its parameters and was there anything else they could help you with.

[Mr.P]

When robots have taken over completely, the answer would be obvious in my mind: Get rid of the organic systems or use them as a fuel source.

[unclebulgaria67]

When robots have taken over completely, the answer would be obvious in my mind: Get rid of the organic systems or use them as a fuel source.

 

Within 50 years you will have robots that can design and build other robots. There is techology in early stages of development where robots can become intelligent.

 

I should imagine that at some point governments will have to think about this or as you say humans become a fuel source.

 

Imagine robot wars started by countries against each other, where the robots decide that only destruction occurs with nothing gained, so they give up.

[think about it]

I think there's a bit of a gulf between the existence of the technology and the desire for its use.

 

Look back at the fanciful images from the 1950's proclaiming the future of personal transport, the flying cars and hovering motorbikes. Does the technology exist now? Yes, of course - but the desire to utilise it in that manner is limited. There's a point of diminishing return where the cost to fully develop an automation outweighs the money saved by automating the process.

 

There's the Back to the Future 'anniversary' today which is all over the news, have we fully lived up to the imaginations of the writers back in 1985? In some ways yes, but largely through a desire to refine and simplify the user interface rather than to re-invent.

 

Farming is the interesting comparator. It's developed to remove the requirement for hundreds of farm-hands to a single operator in a tractor. It's forced a change in the way that farming is carried out but also enabled a massive increase in productivity to meet current needs. I'd suggest for now at least that automation will continue to serve that simplification rather than a Cyberdyne Systems / Matrix type dystopia.

[obiter dictum]

Me i am just a simple "Luddite"

 

An individual is judged on the fruits of his labour, not what a machine throws out

 

To me that film "Modern Times" 1936 by Charles Chaplin still holds true to this day

 

 

 

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights.

 

Abraham Lincoln 1861

[SabreSheep]

There was a BBC2 programme on last night, now available on i player, showing the BMW Mini production plant, where they have over 1000 robots involved in production. They also employ 4000 people as well, to do the tasks that robots cannot currently perform.

 

The question is who will be the future consumers buying products made mostly by robots. With humans being made redundant by robots, there will come a time when there are insufficient people with enough money to buy the products. The companies investing in too much robot technology to replace humans will also reduce the size of the market they can sell to.

 

Within 10 years there will be the AI technology that can replace many call centre and customer service type jobs. You will be able to talk to a computerised call centre agent, who will probably tell you that your complaint is outside of its parameters and was there anything else they could help you with.

 

 

State supported citizens income

[Consumer dude]

I want to smash my smart phone up..

[unclebulgaria67]

State supported citizens income

 

They would have to do that, because there would not be enough human tasks for 5 billion + people to do. Part of the responsiblity of any government is to equip the country to be able to prosper whatever happens. The education in schools needs to be relevant to the skills needed over the next 20 years or more.

[think about it]

Me i am just a simple "Luddite"

 

An individual is judged on the fruits of his labour, not what a machine throws out

 

To me that film "Modern Times" 1936 by Charles Chaplin still holds true to this day

 

 

 

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights.

 

Abraham Lincoln 1861

 

Raises the question how so we judge the individual(s) whose labour (I deeply dislike the simplification of 'American' English, even if it was Lincoln) creates the robots that save the effort of others. Likewise those with the specialist skills to operate the robots. We can only judge the robots on their ability to carry out the instructions of the individuals and therefore that which is created is by the hands of the operator. Only in true AI circumstances can you remove responsibility from, surely?

 

The concept of the fruits of our labour is skewed, after all the 'robot' I hold in my hand is only doing my bidding as I type. So, is this written 'work' mine or the output of a robot which, in turn needs another robot to take to code these words are actually written in and display them to you in a comprehensible manner?