It’s often said that if you’re doing a task without thinking more than a couple of seconds about it, then a robot can do it for you. That’s how we have seen many production chains being automated with workers replaced by robotic arms, especially in the car industry. Soon a lot of other blue collar or repetitive work will also experience this transition.
From warehouses robots, to cashier robots, to autonomous ride sharing cars, a lot of these jobs seem doomed to be replaced by robots. Did you know that, according to the MIT Technology Review, 83% of jobs that pay less than 20$ an hour are very likely to be automated?
And with the rise of AI and automation, and with robots getting better and smarter, it’s easy to see this as only a first step towards the prediction that 70% of jobs will be done by robots by the end of the century. So, it’s reasonable to ask yourself : will robots take my job?
Keep reading on : https://www.robotshop.com/blog/en/will-robots-take-my-job-20615
Remember back in the 80’s when we were all promised a robot and then we all said “Were is my Robot”. Well now we have them and some are saying “Enough with the Robots”. All things are due to change over time and there is nothing we can really do to prevent those changes. What we do need to do keep up with those changes and grow with them so we can still be productive working class people. Many jobs have been lost to automation and many more will be lost. I would have to suggest to those that are in fear to go back to school, higher your education and learn something more, it will only make you better.
It is a little scary how many jobs could be automated with the technology we have today. It is a huge opportunity too for many companies that are vying for their piece of the pie (and maybe someone else’s if they can get it).
I have two kids just getting ready to start working and wonder what will happen to them if they are on the wrong side of this wave. The disruption to society could be from pretty mild as other industries pop up and people migrate from their automated job to new jobs, or it could be 1789 again with pitchforks, guns and the storming of the modern equivalent of the Bastille.
I think in many ways we already see the effects of this automation in a disenfranchised segment of our population here in the United States. Manufacturing has been severely hit in our country over the last 40 years. Look at the Occupy Wall Street movement which really tapped into that unrest but didn’t know how to funnel it into a lasting movement. The divide between the rich and the poor has never been higher in our history. Our current president managed to tap that unrest and continues to tap it today. People are frustrated that they can’t find a good job and make a decent living no matter how hard they work. I suspect things will get worse before they get better.
I think software will take millions of jobs in the coming decade…mostly office jobs in my opinion. Software, once written, has almost zero cost to operate relative to people. A lot of chatty software with some area of expertise will replace a lot of people. Legal, Insurance, Accounting, Customer Service…anything that is not very creative is vulnerable. The consequences will result in the very structure of cities/commericial real estate being redesigned.
I am much more doubtful about “mobile” robots taking very many jobs outside of transportation/logistics. Robots lack the physical dexterity to do something like crawling under a sink to fix a plumbing leak, etc. Even if they did have the dexterity and smarts, they would still be too expensive to be viable for a while, and lack endurance.
Since we will soon have driverless trucks/taxis however, millions of jobs will be lost there. In this case the “robot” is the entire platform (truck) and can perform its function without human dexterity. People will still need to maintain the trucks and refuel them.
In fast food, millions of jobs may also be lost. I think they will redesign the restaurant around what robots can and cannot do. We’ll have kiosks for ordering, windows for picking up, etc.
Another field that may be redesigned is education, a labor intensive process.
