Don't Feed the Robots

Submitted by Big Al on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 10:22pm

The human race has problems up the kazoo, but here's a real major one hardly anyone is talking about.

Robots.

"Sarah Connor: Reese. Why me? Why does it want me?

Kyle Reese: There was a nuclear war. A few years from now, all this, this whole place, everything, it's gone. Just gone. There were survivors. Here, there. Nobody even knew who started it. It was the machines, Sarah.

Sarah Connor: I don't understand.

Kyle Reese: Defense network computers. New... powerful... hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination."

Donald Trump wants to seal the border and ship millions here illegally back to where they came from so his redneck and American first followers can have the jobs they've taken from them. Like the fruit picking and mowing lawns and housecleaning jobs those here without permission are so lucky to get. But what if the Trump followers knew there was a more serious threat to their career aspirations.

"The major force impacting our society is the spectacular advance of technologies —robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The dizzying pace of change is only going to accelerate: a chain reaction as we hurtle to warp speed.

Estimates are that close to half the jobs in the United States are likely to be wiped out or seriously diminished by technological change within the near future. These are not just factory workers, receptionists, secretaries, telephone operators and bank tellers. Sophisticated algorithms will soon replace some 140 million full-time “knowledge workers” worldwide. Those threatened range from computer programmers, to graphic artists to lawyers, to financial analysts and journalists."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/02/its-the-robots-stupid-the-fundame...

We've seen the movies, but really, how bad could it be?

"Indeed, there are serious people who believe that such phenomenal change will not only ravish our workplaces but ultimately challenge the future existence of our species.

Because, I would argue, the technological revolution is progressing faster than our specie’s ability to deal with it. Which might be a good indication that we’re already on the way to extinction. The questions this revolution highlights are just too complex for us to handle; the answers too mind-bending."

No doubt, my mind hurts just thinking about it. Here we are worrying about climate change and nuclear war and economic disaster while the robots are sneaking up to bite us in the ass. We the Serfs anyway. Those who own the robots will make a killing. Until the robots get them too.

Now all we need is an alien invasion and we're all set.

Tags:

Robots

Artificial Intelligence

employment

extinction

Vote

Comments

Submitted by WindDancer13 on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 10:46pm

Suggestion for Trump's deportation program:

Trump says I have these 10 illegal immigrants ready to deport, but someone needs to do the work they were doing. Until we have people to replace them, we cannot send them back. Applications are available at....

Watch the heads spin then.

It seems to me that financial manager/Wall St types would be easy to replace with robots.

Aliens are avoiding us.

—

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Submitted by Big Al on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 10:52pm

If I was an alien, I'd avoid us too.

Ya, lost in the discussion is who's gonna do those jobs. Remember McCain saying Americans wouldn't pick fruit even if they were offered 30 bucks an hour. The left pounced on that but there was a bit of truth in it.
Hell, soon robots will be picking fruit anyway, probably already are.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 11:08pm

Automated Intelligence

and robots are the wave of the future Big Al. Get with it you puny human inferior non binary being who thinks and loves rather then computes. No alien with non automated intelligence would touch this mad planet with a zillion mile pole. Good thing we they are so far away. Meanwhile here on planet earth the ultimate solution seems to be robot's. Eliminates the tricky problem of providing a place that humans and nature can live on, enjoy progress, be nurtured and function the way this earth is/was designed to be and shine.

Submitted by Big Al on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 11:55pm

I think it all boils down to

we're not as smart as we think.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:19pm

We already have one robot primed to take over

Fortunately a concussion wiped out her memory chip. I would prefer R2D2 actually because its emitted sounds are weirdly pleasing.

Submitted by Meteor Man on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 11:39pm

If Robots Have All The Jobs

What are they goin to manufacture/produce for people who have no jobs or money?

—

"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Submitted by Timmethy2.0 on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 12:26am

Humans will cease to have a logical function

They will be voided.

—

Beware the bullshit factories.

Submitted by Meteor Man on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 12:43am

We're on target for self extinction.

So voiding small pockets of resistance should be easy. Ooops! Forgot about Sarah Connor.

—

"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Submitted by fred_mertz on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 8:32am

good thing

robots don't eat at Mcdonalds or shop at Walmart.

That's what will save us.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:22pm

Au, contraire, Fred

We would be fortunate if robots ate at McDonalds so the lipids would mess up their circuitry.

As far as Walmart, remember you risk your life when you go there--I doubt robots would fare much better if they tried to butt in line.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 11:50pm

I just read about how Lowes is going to start using robots

To help people find things in their vast warehouse store which will free up a person to cut wood planks, ect.
And the people in the comments wrote that many of the restaurants they go to are using robots.
My doctor's office has been using a computer voice to call and remind me of my appointment.
Then there are the self checkouts that stores have used for years.
I think what we need to do before it's too late is boycott any place that uses robots.
Hopefully if enough people refuse to be serviced by robots the powers that be will get the message.
Unless we are going to move to the guaranteed income, but the odds of congress allowing that seems slim to me.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Big Al on Fri, 09/02/2016 - 11:59pm

It's going to come to that, refusing patronage

and other actions. The article from Counterpunch suggests some options, but it may be something that will happen whether we like it or not. Another thing requiring an organized effort to address.

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 7:38am

Lowebots "linear path to doom"

http://www.lowesinnovationlabs.com/
There is a TEDx Talk right there on their site:

I couldn't finish it, can anyone? Who buys that brainwashing b.s. anymore? I can't imagine. ~shrug~

Peace

Submitted by k9disc on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 9:33am

Super Interesting Talk. I Feel You on the Hyperbolic Synergism,

had flashbacks of my cubicle and weekly meeting...

That said, there was some very interesting stuff that this piece brought to mind.

The Linear Path to Doom™ is an interesting concept. When it comes to profits and corporate freedom, the reality is and should be exponential, but when it comes to systemic change and human freedom, the reality is decidedly linear.

Big Corporate & the Oligarchs are holding on to the Linear Path of Doom with neoliberalism. Reality is skywriting away, and our plane is just going straight as an arrow on the linear path to doom.

The reason for this is simple. The exponential path is extremely unpredictable, as the presenter mentioned. Insane math and "insane" CT or SciFi narrative is required to stay on the ride. Given the number of variables and their complex relationship, it's a non-starter from an accounting or business standpoint -- too much risk, unclear and unpredictable rewards.

You notice that Lowes is dancing around the outside of their business with the Holoroom and the Oshbot. That's not core stuff, that's bolt on, aftermarket crap. Back in my day that was a "value add". It's the toy in the cereal box, or the toy in the Happy Meal.

Core business competencies cannot run on, or depend on the exponential curve. They run, completely, on the Linear Path to Doom. Blockbuster got it's ass handed to it, because they could not get their core business off the Linear Path to Doom -- to do so was to reduce profits, to support their competitors idea with a marketshare reduction, and that shit does not sit well with Big Business.

Ancillary services, regulatory methodology, and creative financialization are where the exponential curve are in today's business reality. Core business practices and the Human Agenda are strictly on the Linear Path to Doom.

This reminds me of David Graber's Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit. To ride the exponential curve for core business practices and for the future of humanity is too disruptive. It's like a flying car.

But simulating core business changes, or simulating the support of a Human Agenda, we can totally do that. "How about a flying car movie or video game? We can do a VR flying car too -- it really puts you there."

Look at this new or improved ancillary service we are providing. I mean it cost us so much money, how can you say it's a sell-out or the wrong direction (ACA)?

Notice that the core Health Care and Insurance business practices remain completely on the Linear Path of Doom. It is us humans and our human institutions that are pushed away from the common thread and out into the "unpredictable" exponential ether.

Bringing this home for us, the Progressive Left, is all about the exponential curve, politically speaking. The Linear Path to Doom is well laid out via our corporate sponsored political situation.

"We can't save the planet. It will cost too much money."
"We can't deliver health care to all Americans as a Human Right. Who will pay?"

Over and over, the Left is asking the Establishment to get off the Linear Path to Doom.

The problem is that we're governed by business and slaves to profit, which means that the core business practices and the Linear Path to Doom must be maintained. You dirty fucking hippies can't have your unicorns, you must settle for "the possible" -- be pragmatic and stay on the Linear Path to Doom.

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:04am

"flashbacks of my cubicle" LOL yes!

Thanks for watching and making such a great comment in reply. I do appreciate it and so will try to digest that vid, maybe a little at a time will work better.

Peace

Submitted by k9disc on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:23am

Not Sure if You Read It or Not, But the Link to the Graber Piece

is really pretty amazing.

I just read it again after a few months. I got the link from this place, IIRC. It's super long, but pretty amazing. It dovetails nicely with the video you linked. The right perspective just might make it palatable viewing.

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:29pm

The Linear Path of Doom reminds me of Chill Wills

riding a nuclear missile toward the Russkies at the end of "Dr. Strangelove", a movie secretly dedicated to Henry Kissinger.

Submitted by tocino8 on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 11:17pm

Slim Pickens

It was Slim Pickens who rode that bomb.

Submitted by Wink on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 1:12am

Ten months and

counting. Then, S.S heaven here I come. I have no idea how todays college kids are going to make a living in the future-is-here gig economy, but I'm glad I'm leaving what's left of the work force. My guess is we "go back to the garden," as CSNY sang, and form communes. Seniors can't live on $900 S.S. checks any more than college grads can live on McJob paychecks. Time we bought some property and pooled our resources.

—

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Submitted by native on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 2:30am

Tesla factory robots

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lfxPI5ObM]

—

native

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 7:23am

Transportation is now the biggest source of CO2 in the USA

Treehugger

August 8, 2016
[...] We have reached the point where transportation, 80% of which is in cars, is the single biggest source of carbon dioxide in the country. We can talk about making our buildings more efficient and buying LED bulbs, but it is our cars, and our car oriented planning, and our car culture that is killing us all. We cannot wait for Elon Musk to save us by putting everyone in a Tesla that drives to their solar powered house; we have to get people out of cars now.

Speaking of "culture that is killing", The future of Silicon Valley may lie in the mountains of Afghanistan, pardon the repeat I won't keep harping on it. Was hoping for discussion.

In Silicon Valley and beyond, tech companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sony, and Tesla rely on continual, and uninterrupted, access to lithium, as lithium-based batteries are the primary power storage devices in their mobile hardware.

Without these batteries, MacBooks, iPads, iPhones, Kindles, Nooks, Galaxy IIIs, Chromebooks, and, yes, Tesla Model S cars would be largely worthless. If forced to use older, nonlithium batteries, their battery lives would certainly be much shorter.
[...]
Canada, China, Australia, and Serbia also have varying amounts of lithium, but not as much as Bolivia.

Or apparently, Afghanistan.

no comments

Some of the Valley’s biggest and most powerful tech companies either declined to comment for this story or never returned calls. But they didn’t deny the importance of lithium-ion batteries.

So a boycott might hurt enough to stop the madness? Any thoughts about that, I don't know what to say. :-\. ELI5 (explain like I'm five). Alkaline batts? Lead-acid? No, it is the device-makers deciding US wars, they are only selling the lithium kind. Everything is wrong.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Eklil Hakimi, presided over a press conference at the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C., on March 10, where he talked about the untapped deposits, along with reps from the USGS and other U.S. politicians.

But Hakimi, through a spokesman, told me he simply didn’t have the time to talk.

Simply no time. Ta!

Meet the new cloud, same as the old cloud. Ka-boom!

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 4:47am

Wal-Mart Automates Back Office, Lays Off 7,000

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday it will cut about 7,000 back-office jobs, mostly in accounting and invoicing positions at its U.S. stores, continuing a programme it announced in June of cutting such jobs on the West Coast.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Deisha Barnett said the company will now cut back-office workers in all its approximately 4,600 stores over the next several months. ...

Barnett said the move is part of Wal-Mart's efforts to have more employees on the sales floor, and the retailer is offering affected workers consumer-facing positions in stores. ...

Recently, the retailer launched a new system for scheduling workers at 650 U.S. stores in an effort to improve staffing levels during peak shopping times.* ...

The eliminated back-office jobs typically include higher paid hourly workers who manage tasks like an individual store's daily cash flow or process claims from manufacturers delivering goods directly to stores. Starting early next year, those jobs will be automated and handled by a central office, the retailer had said in June.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/09/01/business/01reuters-walmart-...

* This reminds me of Britain's infamous "zero-hours contract" jobs, where employees are told they are on-call to report for work the next day. Often they are never called in to work. When they are, it's often with barely enough time to get to the job - and then they frequently only work for 2-3 hours before being sent home. Those who decline to work or simply cannot make it to work when the employer wants them there are never again called in to work. Employees nonetheless remain obligated to fulfill the terms of the zero-hours contract they have signed - by being available for work - for the term of the contract.

Need I add that these "employment opportunities" are tied in to the receipt of of social benefits (think food stamps, housing subsidies, etc.)? Those receiving assistance are required to spend so many hours per week at job centres looking for jobs on a dysfunctional government computer system. If they are offered one, they must accept one of these zero-hours contract jobs - or lose all benefits. Once they have signed a zero-hours contract to keep their benefits, the amount of the benefits they receive are reduced, because they are ... "employed."

More on those lost-to-automation Wal-Mart jobs:

Making Change at Wal-Mart, a campaign backed by the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, said displaced employees who do get store jobs will likely take pay cuts, calling the back-office jobs "some of the better positions at Wal-Mart."

"They could come with a higher salary, and also allowed a worker to be at a desk as opposed to be on their feet all day," Jess Levin, a spokeswoman for Making Change at Wal-Mart, said in a statement.

http://tucson.com/business/wal-mart-cutting-about-back-office-store-jobs...

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by p cook on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 5:11am

Guaranteed basic income

This can be a good thing? If we could legislate a guaranteed basic income? Channeling you Gene Roddenberry!

Submitted by Hawkfish on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 7:21am

Knowledge work will go faster

This is sort of my area.

The thing that slows down robotic job factories is that you need hardware to be designed, built and installed. Not so for "knowledge work" - all you need is digital training data (all that stuff knowledge workers have been doing online for the last 20 years) and a good learning system like Google's TensorFlow.

There are already stock recommendation systems that can read the news and make better suggestions than human analysts. I've seen estimates that half of Wall Street will be automated within the next 10 years. Automated trading has been a major source of profit for the investment banking houses for at least 10 years.

Another possible example is medical diagnosis. We have been digitizing radiology films for outsourcing for years now, so the data exists and is mostly correctly tagged. Switching the outsourcing to Amazon Web Services is merely the final step. But physical stuff like front line doctors and nursing should last longer.

—

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 11:28am

FAA: 600,000 more drones in the air with new safety rules

Edit: The Tube link is dead! Wow that copyright robot was fast. :-). Let's try a Press Conference linky (Q&A around 8m51s)

Peace

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:46am

Excellent topic that needs a lot more discussion

and regulation, particularly at the decision making levels of government. We do not know what is in the latest trade agreements which may have provisions prohibiting the regulation of robotic technology and artificial intelligence. While I do not know if those areas are addressed, the idea of these technologies being used and solely controlled by corporations and the oligarchs that run them is frightening.

I have seen several articles in which one or more well known thinkers or leaders in the fields of science and technology have warned that artificial intelligence is the single greatest threat to mankind. In the Time article referenced in the previous sentence five well known scientists and technological innovators speak out about the dangers of artificial intelligence. Primarily among those who have been warning about the apocalyptic danger of artificial intelligence to mankind has been Stephen Hawking.

“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” the world-renowned physicist told the BBC. “It would take off on its own and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.” Hawking has been voicing this apocalyptic vision for a while.

Even Elon Musk whose companies are based upon technology has been outspoken about the danger of artificial intelligence.

At a conference at MIT in October, Musk likened improving artificial intelligence to “summoning the demon” and called it the human race’s biggest existential threat. He’s also tweeted that AI could be more dangerous than nuclear weapons. Musk called for the establishment of national or international regulations on the development of AI.

There is another aspect of the use of robotic technology and artificial intelligence to do the jobs that human beings currently do and it dove tails with my next planned essay on neo-liberalism. This quote comes from the Counterpunch article cited by Big Al in his essay. (my bolding added)

As human labor is being replaced at a vertiginous rate by non-salaried robots so is human labor’s claim to its rightful share of the national product. Meanwhile the people owning the “capital” are making enormous fortunes.

Where is the say for protecting the human quality of life in all of this?

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by UntimelyRippd on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 2:46pm

They don't scare me.

—

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 6:55pm

The answer could be a Basic Citizen's allowance

But Hillary and the Kochs will probably just let tens of millions starve. There are plenty more in India to take our places.

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Thaumlord-Exelbirth on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 9:50pm

If they did replace half the jobs with robots

I think things would likely go mostly back to the way things are right now shortly after. How would those billionaires be collecting giant profits when suddenly, nobody has any money to buy their products?

Alright, that may be a bit optimistic. Really, we'd probably go through a Greater Depression before some geniuses finally figure out that in order for them to make a profit, people kinda need some pocket money to buy their products, and they can't get pocket money when there's a robot doing a job that a person is perfectly capable of doing.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sat, 09/03/2016 - 10:46pm

One scary trend getting off the ground is the farce called

Telemedicine. If you think that what you read is bad, there's worse already started and slated for wider adoption. This "advance" in semi-robotic medical "care" will finish off the job that Medicare haters would like to start. That is by reducing the Medicare patient population by "skillfully" letting them die. More elucidation later.

Submitted by josb on Sun, 09/04/2016 - 2:02am

Given how human nature works

Once machines can build most other machines, the people in charge will kill off most people except for a relatively small support staff, and go on to live like gods with their extended families and a selection of chosen people (to make sure the gene pool is large enough).