Sunday, January 17, 2010

METAL COMMUNISTS: The Robot and YOU

I fear robots.

This is not an uncommon fear, but I don't fear them for the same reason as other people (being unstoppable bloodthirsty killing machines).



On its way to a loved one near you.

The reason that I'm afraid of robots is because of their inevitable upheaval of society, thanks to the wonders that their existence can bring about. In all honesty, the only reason that this hasn't happened is that anyone in the power to do so knows the chaos that would ensue as a result of introducing robots into every element that they are capable of overtaking.

We have robots in manufacturing divisions building our products, we have self check out booths at grocers and some chain department stores instead of cashiers, we have roombas to clean our houses so we don't need to do it or need to hire a maid, and phones capable of controlling everything from the temperature and lighting in the house to a replacement for your remote. Technology is making leaps and bounds in all directions and it's really only a matter of time before, say, it is capable of replacing everyone in the public sector.

There are plenty of things that we've developed that simply aren't in practice because it would put so many people out of jobs. Vertical farming , for example, would eradicate the need for the huge farms in the country, and with them the farmers. RFID tags could be implemented into all products (as is wanted for consumer reports and predicted by some people) which would eliminate the need for cashiers altogether as the store could just charge you altogether for everything on your person when you leave the store as it scans you at the security gate on the way out. And using those tags, robots could theoretically stock the shelves in addition to that, or taking it one step further could even retrieve items for a customer and bring it to the front order desk instead of you even needing to retrieve items yourself. Because obviously you'd be exhausted from driving there yourself in your Fully Autonomous Vehicle. For you kids keeping track at home, that is a self-driving car.


Hasselhoff's greatest dream is a reality.

These all sound like great advancements in technology, until you realize that each of these investments is a step toward the robotic communist agenda. It's only a matter of time until scientists and businessmen alike say "screw it" and toss robots into every aspect of the public sector.

You may be thinking "sure, when this happens I'll just get a job repairing the robots like in that new Willy Wonka movie!" That is until you realize that there is no reason we couldn't just make more robots that repair other robots. That is until you then realize that scientists are working on robots that can repair themselves. So there goes that option.

"Well," you say to yourself, "that sucks but I never wanted to work those jobs anyways. I'm more of an idea guy." But therein lies the deeper problem. Now that all of the physical labor jobs are gone, everyone is an idea guy. Because there are no other jobs. But that's not the only problem. Now that robots are doing everything from growing our crops to selling us our questionable dvds, what do we even need money for? It's not like there can be a shortage of products now that everything is autonomous, right? So everything will be free thanks to the glorious robot revolution!

Not quite. We'll still need money if for other, larger purchases such as real estate, but now how do we earn money? It's quite right that public sector work is all but taken over in the physical sector, but what about desk jobs? Oh, you mean calculating, that thing that robots and computers are designed to do? No reason that they can't do that. So the only thing left now is abstract ideas, higher thinking and mathematics, and simple inventing. But these aren't things that everyone can do, or at least not that everyone can do well. So how is it fair to have the entirety of the job market based on this?

It's not. But as I've already said, there needs to still be money involved in our day to day lives. The other aspect of this is that without incentive, technology would reach this point and then stagnate. New discoveries would be made primarily by people who were willing to do it pro-bono, and as many people as there are that enjoy knowledge for the pursuit of knowledge, funding is definitely a catalyst toward advancements. There would definitely still be things coming out without anyone needing to worry about funding, but there would be less moves toward stress testing new products, customer service representation, and various other public relations. After all, if anyone could just go out and replace something whenever they felt like it, why would the mass producing industries care how long it lasted?

But maybe it's not all bad. It would be horrible at first, but there are the benefits of proper needs being available to anyone and everyone. The end of hunger and homelessness, and possibly unemployment might be worth the horribly unstable period of time until the transfer to the new system is established.

And after all, robots are supposed to be smarter than us within the next 40 years, so they can probably take over for all the higher thinking inventing and such anyways.

Robo-utopia, here we come!

If that apocalypse thing doesn't happen instead, that is.


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