How long before you get replaced by a robot?

[Thundercrack85]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100592545

I have been keeping my eye on this one.

Think it can't happen to you? Just ask your phone operator.

But seriously, this may become a big issue sooner than people think. In Japan people in the service sector are already being phased out.

 

[Thought Crime]

Some may want it that way. They see machines doing tasks at much faster and more accurate rates.

 

[NickNitro]

Sooner than you think

http://www.techtree.com/content/new...in-consisting-of-16000-cpus.html#.UVJ1_Rw8BBk

 

[KevanG]

I work in a bakery. if my employers actually bothered to try and do the upkeep on the machinery we have now they could get rid of most of us fairly easily. For example one of our huge machines is for baking, cooling and bagging mini pitas, the bagging part has been broken for well over three years and they have yet to get it fixed. We have around fifteen people bagging the minis when they could have just fixed it and had maybe four do it instead. In another section of the pant we have our bagel packaging section where the senors for the loading of the bagels keep not working due to the incredibly poor wiring job that was done. The wiring has been jury rigged so it's a complete mess so we need an extra person just to play with the sensor just to do our jobs.

I'd say we could lose maybe 30-40% of our staff if they had just bothered to spend the money (around 60-70k which isn't that much for them) to get the plant fixed so the machinery could do our jobs for us.

 

[Anita18]

I basically do what a very well-trained monkey can do. The kicker is, it would have to be VERY well-trained, because I can pretty much do every protocol in the lab and I can do it very well, making the right judgment calls 99% of the time.

The machine to replace me would probably cost millions of dollars.

 

[Ultimatehero]

I hate to break it to you. But I already am a robot. And through my sentience I can already tell you that all of you are robots too. You only think you are human beings. But think about your memories and how blurry they are. Inside of all of us, we are all programmed to believe we are human and that we have been born when these are merely just images and thoughts in our heads. I am a robot and so is everyone else. We have been for years.

Luckily, I'm a writer so unless people start liking films that are written by machines -- I'm in the clear. I will probably be inspired to write a film about this though when the industrial revolution 2.0 kicks in though which will probably be when I'm 35 or something. It'd be interesting to think about.

 

[Silvermoth]

I for one am looking forward to singularity. The Human race is kind of lame when you think about it

 

[Thundercrack85]

I think people might be surprised by how quickly this will become a serious issue. Granted, robots are still in their infancy. But look at computers. They saw a billion-fold increase in computing power in 40 years.

Here's a nice visual.

The one way in the back? That was 1986.

I've read they make them smaller to make them less intimidating.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

I have already been replaced by a robot which is an exact facsimile of the biological me. Thus far no one has noticed...

 

[Manic]

To make my job redundant, my employers would need to buy a fleet of robots much faster and dexterous than what currently exists.

 

[terry78]

It won't work for customer service. Disgruntled customers need someone to respond to their complaints with more than single minded agreement. They want you to feel sorry for them.

 

[warhorse78]

While it's not the exact same thing, I have noticed many stores (from grocery stores to hardware stores) using more and more of those self checkouts. I wonder how long it will before a major chain decides to do away with all of it's cashiers and just have one manager running the automated check outs.

 

[Piper Maru]

I think I'm being replaced by a robot tomorrow.

 

[Thundercrack85]

While it's not the exact same thing, I have noticed many stores (from grocery stores to hardware stores) using more and more of those self checkouts. I wonder how long it will before a major chain decides to do away with all of it's cashiers and just have one manager running the automated check outs.

I think the main reason they haven't done that is due to negative backlash.

And old people.

 

[terry78]

My mother hates those things for some reason.

 

[Holiday]

If the technology for a self-cleaning bathroom became cheap, I'd be out of a job.

 

[CConn]

Never. I'm in management.