How will automation shape our future?

[DriveClub]

From the looks of it most of the Industrial Age jobs that the world economy has been built around are vulnerable to automation in the next 50-100 years. If most of the people don't have jobs how will the society function in future? I'm really sceptical about the traditional economic concept of new jobs will be created or re-train them in to different career paths. Automation by nature will create less jobs.

 

[NZTailender]

People should work less and have the money generated by machines distributed equally amongst the populace.

Will never happen tho

 

[Uppercut]

I mean it’s been going on for 200 years and has never permanently increased unemployment before. I’ve never heard a convincing argument for why this time will be different.

 

[cpr]

There's always going to be jobs that humans can do but 'bots are completely incapable of


Simming cricket leagues, for instance

 

[sledger]

Automation's impact on employment is genuinely one of its least troubling aspects.

Automated decision-making is absolutely ****ing dangerous and should be banned.

 

[honestbharani]

Any level of automated decision making still involves some human pulling some strings. Now, we will just know even less of the strings and how they are pulled. Its bound to be an absolute nightmare.

 

[sledger]

Any level of automated decision making still involves some human pulling some strings. Now, we will just know even less of the strings and how they are pulled. Its bound to be an absolute nightmare.

Well, it does and it doesn't.

Most algorithmic profiling, for instance, is done completely independently of any human input. And algorithms and AIs and whatever develop autonomously a lot of the time.

The problem is, that they start off from a point where, in the design stage, they inherit the prejudices of their designers (who for the most part will be wealthy white dudes), and it's downhill from here.

 

[honestbharani]

Well, it does and it doesn't.

Most algorithmic profiling, for instance, is done completely independently of any human input. And algorithms and AIs and whatever develop autonomously a lot of the time.

The problem is, that they start off from a point where, in the design stage, they inherit the prejudices of their designers (who for the most part will be wealthy white dudes), and it's downhill from here.

Yep. And those are the strings I am talking about. Anything that is developed will always inherit things from the developers. There is a whole bloody point to letting human beings make decisions. Bots don't have the necessity of societal approval, the whole fame/notoriety thing, any kind of conscience etc. Some scary science fiction stories are gonna come to life if we let AIs make the decisions.

One of my favorite movie scenes in recent times is the one in Iron Man 1 where Terrence Howard is lecturing the pilots about decision making and the need to have an human controlling the jets. Captures my feeling on the matter pretty well.

 

[sledger]

It's been happening for a long time now.

 

[honestbharani]

I know.. Some of my consulting work actually involves discussions on automation and how much is the optimum etc. Whenever it is up to me, I make it perfectly clear where I stand. But its like any other invention really. In the hands of good people and when used for good purposes, it can be great. There will always be those who can figure out how to use those destructively, though. And those numbers seem to be on the rise worldwide.

 

[honestbharani]

The clip, for those who may not have watched that movie...

 

[sledger]

In the hands of good people and when used for good purposes, it can be great.

hmm

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Name some important decisions which are best left to algorithms.

 

[honestbharani]

Figuring out noise from actual statistical inputs, for instance. You can train algorithms to do stuff like Managing traffic lights with inputs from previous ones and so on. Managing a building. Load balancing grids via machine learning. Heck, I know of trials where cars and bikes can caution drivers based on driving patterns.

But when I did become the pro guy in this argument? I am against it, lol.

EDIT: It comes back to the earlier point. The guys who are doing the developing. When done in right earnest and in the right spirit with the right checks and balances applied, almost every invention can be put to good use. After all, most of them are born out of some form of necessity, right?

 

[srbhkshk]

Name some important decisions which are best left to algorithms.

Which move to make next in a chess game.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Figuring out noise from actual statistical inputs, for instance. You can train algorithms to do stuff like Managing traffic lights with inputs from previous ones and so on. Managing a building. Load balancing grids via machine learning. Heck, I know of trials where cars and bikes can caution drivers based on driving patterns.

But when I did become the pro guy in this argument? I am against it, lol.

EDIT: It comes back to the earlier point. The guys who are doing the developing. When done in right earnest and in the right spirit with the right checks and balances applied, almost every invention can be put to good use. After all, most of them are born out of some form of necessity, right?

https://twitter.com/cat_beltane/status/797139642076237824

 

[sledger]

ftr, when I said automated decision-making, I meant decisions that are made about people, rather than inanimate things (though these are increasingly becoming difficult to distinguish in a lot of situations)

 

[StephenZA]

Most of the major problems with automation and AI is the propagation of already existing problems, not the creation of new problems.

I personally think the biggest problem with automation is going to be the further divide between the haves and have not's. Automation tends to work from the bottom up, taking over the least complex of jobs. This requires the up-skill of people to survive and many are not actually capable of those higher skills. Added to that, the speed that automation is increasing and will continue to increase. This is likely to just push a greater divide. The human race as a group is highly adaptable, individuals struggle to adapt quickly.

 

[honestbharani]

https://twitter.com/cat_beltane/status/797139642076237824

And its a response to my point, how?

 

[honestbharani]

ftr, when I said automated decision-making, I meant decisions that are made about people, rather than inanimate things (though these are increasingly becoming difficult to distinguish in a lot of situations)

I am against those too. And that is what I meant by the need of people who have things that AI will never really have, do the decision making.