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How The Coming Wave Of Job Automation Will Affect You

How The Coming Wave Of Job Automation Will Affect You

Submitted by David Galland via The Passing Parade

One of the more interesting mental exercises related to predicting the future involves trying to fathom the impact the rise of robots will have on humanity.

We can be quite sure that in the proverbial blink, robots will be doing all the war fighting . After that, what’s the point? But does that then lead to the sort of robotic apocalypse so well envisioned in Terminator ?I also suspect it’s only a matter of time before the idea of sex bots goes from being an “eew” sort of thing to a […]

Robots can’t solve the crisis in the NHS – we still need workers with empathy

Robots can't solve the crisis in the NHS – we still need workers with empathy

Nurses on the frontline of the health service have empathy with patients. Could ‘chatbots’ really replace them? Images of trolleys laden with suffering people in corridors, old people hooked up to drips on beds in cupboards – not pictures emerging from Syria, but the latest crisis to hit the NHS .

Waiting times in A&E are unacceptable, with hospitals operating at full capacity; dozens of beds are occupied by people who have nowhere else to go. When even the Health Minister – the normally unflappable Mr Positive, Jeremy Hunt – admits things are problematic, it’s probably not the best time […]

Technobabble: Automation and the modern worker

Technobabble: Automation and the modern worker

Technobabble is our look at the weird, wonderful and wildly creative aspects of technology and the tech industry. If you have any babble, feel free to email directly or reach out on Twitter .

For decades, pundits have discussed the plight of the American worker. Without fail, as technology has advanced and become more automated, some workers have been displaced.

Take the assembly line, for example. Workers en masse were employed to ensure every part of the manufacturing process kept up with industry standards. But as machines entered into the assembly line, work became automated and fewer employees were required, […]

How Robots Helped Create 100,000 Jobs at Amazon

How Robots Helped Create 100,000 Jobs at Amazon

amazon robots Accelerating technology has been creating a lot of worry over job loss to automation, especially as machines become capable of doing things they never could in the past. A recent report released by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that 49 percent of job activities could currently be fully automated —that equates to 1.1 billion workers globally.

What gets less buzz is the other side of the coin: automation helping to create jobs. Believe it or not, it does happen, and we can look at one of the world’s largest retailers to see that.

Thanks in part to more robots […]

Tech Tent: Robots, radio and Indian phones

Tech Tent: Robots, radio and Indian phones

Stream the latest Tech Tent episode on the BBC website This week we roam far and wide in our search the top trends in tech, from the history of robots, to a huge battle for dominance in the Indian mobile phone market, and an innovative way of interacting with your radio. The exhibition shows off both old and new robots Robots and jobs

This week a major exhibition on the history of robots opened at London’s Science Museum. It tracks our relationship with humanoid devices form the 16th century right up to the present day, where robots embedded with […]

eBay Founder Begins Funding Universal Basic Income Program

eBay Founder Begins Funding Universal Basic Income Program

The founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, has pledged nearly $500,000 to a program that will provide a basic income to 6,000 people over the next 12 years, according to a recent report by the International Business Times‘ AJ Dellinger. The program, which is called GiveDirectly, plans to use the data it collects on the 6,000 people receiving the basic income over the next 12 years to further research into the more widespread viability of a universal basic income (UBI), which is also referred to as a basic income guarantee or several other names from organization to organization and country […]

The buzz over universal basic income

The buzz over universal basic income

NewsWrap » PolitEco A Deputy Editor with BusinessLine who loves economics, football, cricket, films, reading and long-distance running! Given the huge outgo, a universal income scheme may inevitably become a targeted exercise

The concept of universal basic income has been grabbing a great deal of attention of late. The 2016-17 Economic Survey has a 30-page chapter on this topic. This isn’t surprising, given that the author of the Survey, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, is a big supporter of it.

There can be no denying that assuring people a minimum income every month will make a dent on poverty, provide a […]

UK: Labour Party sets up working group to investigate UBI

UK: Labour Party sets up working group to investigate UBI

John McDonnell, Labour MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, has revealed that the Labour Party has established a working group to investigate universal basic income. Guy Standing, cofounder of BIEN, will play a key role in drafting their report.

Speaking directly to Basic Income News, Standing explains: “I have been invited to become an economic adviser to the Labour Party, and in particular to John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor (effectively, the Opposition finance minister). He has asked me to help prepare a detailed strategy report for framing a basic income and enabling the Labour leadership to […]

Finland’s biggest trade union says a universal basic income is ‘useless’

Finland's biggest trade union says a universal basic income is 'useless'

Helsinki, Finland Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock LONDON — Finland’s experiment with a universal basic income is unworkable and unaffordable, according to the country’s biggest trade union.

Since January, Finland’s government has paid a group of 2,000 unemployed Finns aged between 25 and 58 with a monthly stipend of £480 ($600), as it considers a radical new welfare system.

"We think it takes social policy in the wrong direction," Ilkka Kaukoranta, chief economist of trade union group SAK told Bloomberg . The group has one million members in a country of 5.4 million people.Advocates say rolling out the system would provide a vital safety […]

Activists launch project for a global Basic Income for Refugees

Activists launch project for a global Basic Income for Refugees

The Brazilian non-profit organization ReCivitas , known in basic income circles for its ongoing pilot in the village of Quatinga Velho, has launched a new initiative: the pursuit of a basic income for refugees as the first step toward a global basic income (“Toward a ‘Worldwide’ Universal Basic Income – First Target: Refugees”).

In collaboration with members of the humanitarian network Algosphere Alliance , ReCivitas has added the project to the World Social Forum’s database of initiatives.

The initiative would provide a basic income to all refugees who are recognized by UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency‎ ( 21.3 million […]