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Some thoughts about living in an age of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence The future’s only as close as tomorrow and it is hardly ever kind to the unprepared. As today’s achievements in science and technology accelerate toward maximum velocity in the next 40 years, we must begin to prepare now. There are potentially some very serious issues to address; events that, if ignored today could make the lives of our grandchildren miserable tomorrow. Keep in mind, the future is impatient. It cannot be stopped. It waits for nobody. Therefore, humankind needs to act and we need to act. We can begin to do so by anticipating and solving some of these looming problems before it’s too late to do anything useful. If we don’t respond quickly enough, the unrelenting unstoppable waves of imminent chaos and catastrophe, like a giant tsunami, will drown us in our collective sleep. So, what are the most urgent of these potential crises? Current evidence and opinions suggest that a half dozen key issues should be high on the world’s current agenda. If we address them now, we’ll be better prepared to adapt to likely seismic societal events thirty or forty years down the road. There are a number of crucially important changes and challenges the next generation will have to deal with. For example, the development and consequences of robots with artificial intelligence; the impact of intelligent robots on employment trends and their impact on education. Science and technology in the coming decades will be increasingly important in a variety of fields from agriculture and animal husbandry, through medical science, engineering, transportation, robotics, artificial intelligence and space exploration as well as many other specialist categories. With automation and robots changing our economic systems dramatically (money as we know it might even become redundant), poverty will rise at a phenomenal rate, unless we have safety net provisions in place well beforehand. With reduced human employment there will be fewer public revenues from taxation. Fortunately, public expenditure will also diminish considerably as a result of robot employment at all levels of government. With so many human beings unemployed, unqualified for available jobs, and unable to earn a salary, governments will need to find positive alternatives for the enforced idleness of the formerly employed. Therefore, we have to decide now how the unemployed can gain access to sufficient funds to be able to support themselves in the absence of salaries. We will then only need to address the question of how to channel their available potential into re-training programs, small business activities and recreational opportunities. These, and other consequences of human progress have huge implications for human life in the decades ahead. They cannot be ignored. So, let’s explore all these issues and try to get some idea of what the future of our children and grandchildren may look like. 1. Robots and Artificial Intelligence Of all the items produced by science and technology, the development of the robot (in effect, an autonomous mobile computer) with artificial intelligence and the agility of a human being will have the most far-reaching and significant influence on the lives of future generations. It will be a friend, an advisor, a tutor, a child minder, a care giver, a servant, a translator, a body guard, a sentry, an alarm system, a data base, a driver, a GPS, a paramedic, a two-way audio and video device, and a worker. Let’s not forget though, that with progress comes poverty. It has always been that way. Scientific and technological progress will enable human beings to do less. Consequently, they will earn less and could become poorer. Therefore, we need to plan now for the days, not too far away, when artificial intelligence and a new population of robots will take over many of the jobs and livelihoods of human beings. Ironically, with the advance of science and society, our economy will begin to resemble a slave economy in which robots work for no money for those who don’t work at all. Despite the important distinction that twenty-first century “slaves” will be machines, not human beings, we can perhaps learn from the slave economies of the past. For example, as recently as the nineteenth century, in some societies it was necessary to own slaves in order to prosper or live a good life. Therefore, ownership of at least one robot, preferably more, could provide future generations with the means to earn money and live a reasonably good life. Each generation of robots will be a technological improvement on the previous generation, because robots will also design and manufacture future robots and upgrade artificial intelligence more effectively and efficiently than human beings can. No doubt we will one day reach the stage where robots or androids are virtually indistinguishable from human beings and where human beings become cybernetic organisms (“cyborgs”) or bionic beings – sophisticated mixtures of technology and biology. The development and improvement of robots and artificial intelligence will determine how future generations coexist with a population of robots that look after them and ensure that their human needs are met in every possible way. In the future, life can still be good for human beings if we plan now. 2. Robot Employment There are very few jobs in the world today that cannot be replaced by robots with artificial intelligence. For example, driver-less cars, trucks, busses and trains; pilot-less aircraft; and seagoing vessels with minimum crew complements and no captains, will reduce unemployment and increase safety and efficiency without negatively affecting the operations of such vehicles. Physical security, too, will experience great changes, particularly in the form of body guards, sentries, security services, guard dogs, soldiers and even police services, due to the more advanced capabilities of robots. Factories will be able to get rid of more than 95% of their workforce and robot replacements will work 24 hours per day, without compensation. They won’t go on strike, take vacations, be late for work or get sick. Military and security services will also be reduced in numbers as robots replace them. In addition, banking and the service sector will need far fewer workers as robots take their place. Manual labourers in agriculture, forestry, construction, waste control, cleaning services, community services, and road repairs would also have to make way for robots. Human activity in the form of labour, intellectual thought, artistic creativity and recreation gives purpose to the lives of human beings. Without purpose, life becomes pointless and futile. The Robot age will force governments to find new outlets for human activity in ways that encourage individual satisfaction, peace and stability. >>> Continued in Part two, the next blog post >>> Duke Kent-Brown p.s. Get a free sample of my new book "Hail To The Chief". Click here >>> My next book "Diplomatic Notes - Memoirs of a Diplomat" is launching soon. Web: www.Duke-Kent-Brown.tk
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