Tuesday, November 12, 2013

"Are droids taking our jobs ? " by Andrew McAfee


I have chosen to reflect on Andrew McAfee lecture on "Are droids taking our jobs ? "

I believe that all development has both advantages and disadvantages.
Different industries are affected by this in various ways. If you nowadays go to a grocery store and want to pay for your groceries you can do it yourself without a cashiers help. One advantage is that it will be more effective but the downside is
that the cashiers will be unusable in the end. There is no need for a librarian to assist at a library, you can search for your book on the computer and it indicates the position. If we take SL public transportation as an example. A while ago you had an inspector who stamped your ticket. The development is on its way to the stage that
inspectors will not be needed.

The main issue with this is that the people that will be most effected by the unemployment will be people without a higher education, and people that have a physical job like for example cashiers and inspectors. They will be replaced with computers and other technologies.  

A robot is incapable to think for itself and need to be monitored, developed and repaired by a human. That is one of the reasons that people with a higher education, and people that work in for example the computer and IT industry will always be needed.

To sum it all together. The goal with development is that it strives to facilitate humanity, reduce cost and efficiency, which is positive. The development has both advantages and disadvantages. It is good that technology is being used on nuclear and other dangerous workplaces but at the same time a lot of people are being replaced and we need to create new opportunities for them. 

3 comments:

  1. Hello Emina,

    Firstly, I have enjoyed a lot reading your opinion and I have to say that I am according to you in everything.

    It is totally true that nowadays we are living in an innovation world, where droids are doing human works. In some areas, like dangerous or hard jobs, to have a droid doing these kinds of works is very positive.

    But, as you said, if a droid does the librarian’s job or the cashier’s job, what happen with these people? They need a job.

    So, to conclude my opinion, I think that droids must be used only in necessary areas, and if the employer substitutes one human for one droid, he or she should have the duty of look for another job for that employee.

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  2. Hi Emina,

    Good post. It was actually quite similar to mine. I also believe that the technological advancements on our time have their benefits and their disadvantages, but there will also be a necessity for the human hand. I liked it!

    Paulina

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  3. Hi Emina,

    I agree with you that, over time, more and more manual labour will be "outsourced" to robots. I also think that, in time, more and more "intellectual" work will also be performed by robots.

    At a first glance, this might seem bad for people. With less work available, people will make less money. Yes, that is true. But prices will also drop, as processes become more effective. So in the end, I believe we will probably have the same buying power, while not having to work as hard. :)

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