Tag: Technical

Smart Machines Will Eat Jobs–Except Where Smart People Create Them

Smart Machines Will Eat Jobs--Except Where Smart People Create Them

Automation will eat employment. That warning has been issued at every turn in history, with the printing press, the advent of electricity, and the rise of robotics. Phases of automation, and the new trade patterns and agreements that accompany them, destroy jobs that involve repetitive tasks while creating new jobs.

“No office job is safe,” said Sebastian Thrun , Stanford CS professor and MOOC pioneer. “Lots of lawyers, accountants, even surgeons will be automated away. Having spent my career watching the long, slow carnage of my own industry, I have some insight into how that will feel, and how to […]

Robot replaces man: Made in China 2025

Robot replaces man: Made in China 2025

by Boy Lüthje

China has become an important testing ground for an emerging paradigm of capitalist production that has been promoted under catchwords like intelligent manufacturing, digital production or industry 4.0. In 2015, the government presented a masterplan for China’s future manufacturing entitled “Made in China 2025”. Germany’s Industrie 4.0 strategy serves as a prominent point of reference. China’s plan proposes advanced automation, digital systems of factory management and large-scale deployment of robots, along with the development of an indigenous industry for advanced manufacturing equipment. There seem to be golden growth potentials for providers of robots, 3D printing, and […]

Vardi: Does automation doom the future of work?

Two schools of economists haggle over the ultimate impact of automation on employment.

The Neoclassicals soothe us with human resilience: jobs lost will eventually be balanced by new jobs found. The Neo-Luddites reply that technological advances have changed the rules, and many jobs will be lost forever.

“So, who is right? Nobody knows,” said Moshe Y. Vardi, the Karen Ostrum George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering at Rice University, who suggests we examine the past and present before drawing grand conclusions about the future.Vardi’s lecture, “Humans, Machines and Work: The Future is Now,” was sponsored by the Ken Kennedy Institute […]

Automation, the hitch in vows to bring back manufacturing?

Automation, the hitch in vows to bring back manufacturing?

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — In the 1960s, Lehigh Valley high school graduates had a lot of options.

Manufacturers such as Air Products, Ingersoll Rand and Bethlehem Steel offered well-paying jobs that promised a route to the middle class.

"You would expect to go get a job, get married, have kids, get a pension one day and everyone would be fat, dumb and happy," said Frank Behum, who worked at Bethlehem Steel for more than three decades before retiring in 1997, months before the company went under.Nothing really replaced those jobs. They required hard work under sometimes grueling conditions, but they paid […]

This Is What’s Next Now That the Gig Economy Has Changed Everything

This Is What's Next Now That the Gig Economy Has Changed Everything

Greater change is coming and new emerging platforms are changing markets in multiple industries.

The rise of the freelancer: some estimates are that over 54 million Americans are now taking contractual gigs rather than steady employment. After the recession, some temporary gigs were necessary — but the experiments in Mechanical Turk and Uber driving gigs that sprouted up seemingly over night took hold. Contractors and freelancers are the norm, now.

But perhaps not for long — freelancers may turn out to be temps, after all, if technology keeps moving at the blistering pace we’ve seen. That’s just the beginning […]

Automation, the hitch in Trump and Clinton’s plans to bring back manufacturing?

Automation, the hitch in Trump and Clinton's plans to bring back manufacturing?

American manufacturing jobs are unlikely to be as numerous as in the 1970s because automation has replaced the need for many workers. Here, Rick Ring (left) and Corinne Schmitt-Bries attach a panel at John Deere Dubuque Works in Dubuque, Iowa, last year. (Jessica Reilly/Telegraph Herald via AP) In the 1960s, Lehigh Valley high school graduates had a lot of options.

Manufacturers such as Air Products, Ingersoll Rand and Bethlehem Steel offered well-paying jobs that promised a route to the middle class.

"You would expect to go get a job, get married, have kids, get a pension one day and everyone would […]

Should we really be concerned with automation overtaking human jobs?

Should we really be concerned with automation overtaking human jobs?

The Henn-na hotel opened its doors to the public last year, and is yet to pay its receptionist staff a single penny in salary. How have they gotten away with this? Well, as it turns out, velociraptors dressed in bow ties and bellhop hats will work for you for free. More accurately, though, it’s because 90 percent of the hotel staff are robots.

As automation technology continues to proliferate almost all areas of work, concerns have begun to surface over the security of human jobs. The Henn-na hotel is a prime example of this — rooms cost just £36 per […]

Don’t blame the robots! An interview on manufacturing, automation, and globalization with Susan Houseman.

Don’t blame the robots! An interview on manufacturing, automation, and globalization with Susan Houseman.

(iStock)

Susan Houseman is a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute in Michigan. I’ve followed her work on employment trends, especially in manufacturing, for years, and wanted to share some of her recent findings that struck me as particularly germane at this point in time. Susan Houseman JB: This election has clearly elevated the view that our manufacturing sector, and the families and communities that have historically depended on it, has been hurt by trade. A countervailing view says it’s not trade, it’s automation that’s responsible for large-scale job losses. You’ve recently updated your very important work on this question. […]

Will the ‘Rise of the Machines’ Require a Unique Human Response?

Will the ‘Rise of the Machines’ Require a Unique Human Response?

Automation anxieties have accelerated in recent years, as our increasingly smart machines are now being applied to activities requiring cognitive, physical and social capabilities that not long ago were viewed as the exclusive domain of humans. Concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its long-term impact may well be in a class by themselves. Like no other technology, AI forces us to explore the very boundaries between machines and humans.

Few topics are as important as the future of work in our 21st century digital economy, given our justifiable anxieties about technological unemployment . “The economic challenge of the future will […]

Players For Hire: Games and the Future of Low-Skill Work

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. Summary

In this whitepaper I will use trends from automation and video game revenue models to make the following predictions about the future of low-skill work.
> Within five years, some game companies will be paying players in some way to play their games. This will be in the form of small points-based incentives that can be liquidated in the form of purchasing power. Within […]