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How will AI shape the workforce of the future?

How will AI shape the workforce of the future?

Will artificial intelligence bring a utopia of plenty? Or a dystopic hellscape? Will we, jobless and destitute, scavenge for scraps outside the walls of a few techno-trillionaires? Or will we work alongside machines, achieving new levels of productivity and fulfillment? The tech world has no lack of prognosticators: Bill Gates and Elon Musk, for example, see in AI an existential threat to the human species, while Ray Kurzweil thinks it can’t come soon enough.

Silicon Slopes and big data

In fact, artificial intelligence is already here, and has been for some time. While many mistakenly equate AI with consciousness—Hollywood […]

Taking a Look at the Operational Data for FalconStor Software, Inc. (FALC)

FalconStor Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:FALC)’s interesting series of developments are underway around the US stock market these days. Now trading with a market value of 13.28M, the company has a mix of catalysts and obstacles that spring from the nature of its operations. Everyone seems to have their own opinion of this stock. But what do the numbers really say? We think it’s a great time to take a fresh look.

FalconStor Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:FALC) Fundamentals That Matter

It’s generally a good idea to start with the most fundamental piece of the picture: the balance sheet. The balance sheet health […]

The Siren Allure of a Universal Basic Income

The Siren Allure of a Universal Basic Income

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Associated Press Silicon Valley is correct in advocating for a universal basic income (UBI) as a solution, but it is fighting the wrong problem (“ Why a Universal Basic Income Would Be a Calamity ,” By Dan Nidess, op-ed, Aug. 11). The biggest threat to the future of productive employment is the growth of government, not automation. If unconstrained by the tentacles of government, human ambition and incentive will find a way to handle a surplus of labor. This has always been the case since the Luddites.

We already live in a country where there […]

PHU 2016: by the numbers

PHU 2016: by the numbers

TIMMINS – The Porcupine Health Unit has had a busy year.

The 2016 annual report was released this month, with a detailed list of programs, successes and expenses.

“These are just a few highlights of the extensive work done to protect and promote the optimal health and well-being of our communities,” wrote Lianne Catton, medical officer of health. “Much of the work of public health is unseen, and yet so integral to the health and safety of our population.”Catton joined the PHU team and Board of Health a year ago.“My year began with a multi-province Hepatitis A outbreak linked to frozen […]

Canada pays OAS to seniors with over $100K in income. It shouldn’t, economists say

Canada pays OAS to seniors with over $100K in income. It shouldn’t, economists say

Canada’s government pension program is wasting precious resources on seniors who don’t need financial help, some economists argue. The cost of Old Age Security (OAS), Canada’s largest seniors benefit program, is about to skyrocket, according to the latest review by the country’s chief actuary. Recent changes to the Canada Pension Plan introduced by the Liberal government will help curb those expenses a bit – but not by much, said the report.

Total annual OAS expenditures are projected to grow from $49 billion in 2016 to an eye-popping $247 billion by 2060.

READ MORE: Rising old age security spending curtailed by […]

World faces many problems that need solutions

The following are very serious problems of our world today. They are not only serious now, but threatening to be very much worse if nothing is done to address them.

Overpopulation: It’s not as big of a threat in the U.S. as it is in Africa, India and other places, but it’s threatening to become very much worse. The greater population problems are elsewhere, the more appealing our still open spaces become to an overcrowded world. In spite of religious doctrine, we need to reduce pregnancies by making birth control easier and abortions less onerous.

Technologies, mechanization, including artificial intelligence, has […]

History offers a reassuring message on automation

History offers a reassuring message on automation

I am often asked to opine about whether automation will destroy all the jobs. Yes, we talk about tractors, which brought farm employment from something like 70 percent in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century to about 3 percent today. And about cars, which put the horse drivers out of business. And about trains, which put the canal boats out of business.

A more recent case has occurred to me, however. It’s the one represented by the photo at the top of this page. It may look unfamiliar to some today, but this is what offices […]

Luke Kingma (for Futurism): “Universal Basic Income – the answer to automation?”

Luke Kingma (for Futurism): “Universal Basic Income – the answer to automation?”

Futurism reported on automation, robots, and universal basic income through the provision of a chart-article . Some of the information summarized by the chart includes that fact that as there are 4.73 robots working per 100 human workers in South Korea. The global average is 0.66 per 100 workers. That ratio is reported to be rising rapidly throughout the world . Also, with more robots, they become cheaper to implement. Workers in the developing world are most at risk of losing jobs due to automation.

The problem is not limited manufacturing, however. It includes diverse areas such as farm labor, […]

Higher Minimum Wages Will Give High Tech a Boost

Higher Minimum Wages Will Give High Tech a Boost

David Neumark, an economist at the University of California-Irvine, could safely be called a minimum-wage skeptic . Neumark has written a number of papers on the topic , all of which have found that minimum wages reduce employment by substantial amounts. This makes him a bit of an outlier in terms of the overall research consensus , which tends to find modest or no employment effects.

But unlike many researchers, who maintain a laser-like focus on the question of whether minimum wage cuts jobs in the short term, Neumark has examined the policy from many angles. A recent paper of […]

It is ingrained in people that you should be able to make ends meet if you’re working. But we’re seeing a shift to the idea that being able to meet your basic needs is a right.

Daily Government Quotes

Jim Pugh, a co-founder of the Universal Income Project, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for universal basic income, the idea that giving everyone cash — regardless of their level of employment or pay — without strings attached will help reduce income inequality and poverty. MORE FROM Daily Government Quotes

All sides need to agree that there is no room for suggestions of political violence in America — and the Missouri Democratic Party will absolutely not tolerate calls for the assassination of the president. I believe she should resign. Stephen Webber, chairman of the […]