leaking pen <itsat...@gmail.com> wrote: Because a lot of things still require the human touch and cant be replaced > by a robot. >
Correct. Plus, many "unskilled" jobs still require basic skills that computers and robots have not yet fully mastered, such as driving automobiles and stocking shelves in ordinary grocery stores. Strictly speaking, some robots can do these jobs, but those robots are still in the development stage. For example, the ones that can drive cars do an excellent job and they are probably safer than human drivers. But they are still experimental, expensive, and they have not yet been approved for stand-alone use. So far, they are only allowed with a human driver present, which defeats the purpose. It is a sensible precaution at this stage, but it takes away the economic incentive to use such cars. So you cannot yet have a robot delivery truck or taxi cab. I think it is inevitable that they will eventually be marketed, and sooner or later a human driver will no longer be needed. The laws will be changed to allow self driving automobiles without human drivers. At that point a large fraction of jobs will be lost. I cannot predict whether that will be 20 years in the future or 50 years in the future but I am certain it will happen. The only thing preventing it will be custom and law and the fact that people are afraid of new technology. Once it becomes legal to ride in a taxi cab without a licensed human driver, many people will forego getting a drivers license. Even those who get drivers licenses will go for months or years without actually driving a car. Their skill will atrophy. There will be accidents caused by people who have not driven in a long time. Sooner or later law will be changed to ban the use of human-driven automobiles on public roads. They will only be allowed on private property and in special areas such as old highways reserved for driving enthusiasts. I would never think of driving if I could avoid it, and neither would my daughter, she told me the other day. I could an international driver's license from the AAA for a few dollars, but I have never driven in Japan because it is rather difficult with the narrow roads. I would never think of driving in Italy, Korea or India because many drivers in these countries ignore traffic laws. They ignore stop signs, red lights and crosswalks. The only "rule" is whoever races to the intersection fastest and does not slow down gets to lean on his horn and barrel through without stopping. It is a game of chicken. Pedestrian crosswalks are meaningless. If you are a pedestrian and a car is heading for you, you must leap out of the way. Much of the world is like this, which is why we need robot automobiles. Robots can easily stock shelves in places like warehouses, and robots are used exclusively in the Amazon.com warehouses. But cheap robots capable of stocking ordinary grocery shelves in buildings designed for humans have not yet been developed. I am certain they will be within a few years. - Jed
