Categories
-Cross Currents 11.1 Where Computers Work 11.2 Technology and Job Quality 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing 15.6 The Robot Revolution

Our Robotic Future: AI or IA?

The robots are coming, and they’re coming fast. In this fascinating Fresh Air interview, tech writer John Markoff talks about several ways that intelligent machines are likely to profoundly change our lives over the next few years. From self-driving cars to peopleless warehouses, intelligent machines will play major roles in shaping our world. He makes a critical distinction between artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligence augmentation (IA), two schools of research that take radically different approaches to the relationship between humans and machines. As a bonus, the interview ends with what is probably the funniest robot song ever recorded.
npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/08/20/433000643/how-close-are-we-really-to-a-robot-run-society
 

Categories
-Context 11.1 Where Computers Work 11.2 Technology and Job Quality 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing 15.6 The Robot Revolution

The Job Market Looks Great if You’re a Robot

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More jobs every day are being automated—done by machines rather than humans. In this thought-provoking Fresh Air interview, Silicon Valley executive Martin Ford says that all kinds of jobs—even many that we assume are machine-proof—are threatened by advances in hardware and software. The implications for our economy and our society are far-reaching.
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/05/18/407648886/attention-white-collar-workers-the-robots-are-coming-for-your-jobs

Categories
-Cross Currents 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 11.2 Technology and Job Quality 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing

Automation in Perspective: The Workforce Crisis

We’ve speculated for decades about the impact of robots and automation on the future of jobs. But in this eye-opening TED talk, Rainer Strack considers automation as part of the larger question: How will society meet the needs of people in 2030? He raises many profoundly important questions and provides a few answers that we should all consider.
https://www.ted.com/talks/rainer_strack_the_surprising_workforce_crisis_of_2030_and_how_to_start_solving_it_now
Categories
-Context 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing 8.4 The Network Advantage Chapter/Section

Faster than the Speed of Money

NPR’s Radiolab is radio at its best—entertaining, informative, provocative. This episode will change the way you think about time and speed. One segment reveals the surprising truth about the relative speeds of the human nervous system and the Internet, and the a critical role of speed in today’s computer-controlled financial marketplace.
radiolab.org/2013/feb/05
If you don’t understand how the stock market works, you’re not alone. The market has developed a digital mind of its own, and in many ways it’s beyond human comprehension. The blog that accompanies that story includes some dazzling animated visualizations.

Categories
-Updates 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing 3.2 Output: From Pulses to People 3.5 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow's Peripherals

Print a Burrito For Me

good.is/post/burritob0t-a-3d-tex-mex-printer-of-hangover-helpers
3D printers are used to create plastic prototypes and parts for machines, among other things. But this is the first burrito printer we’ve seen. How long will it be until the global taco chains replace people with printers?

Categories
-Cross Currents 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing 3.4 The Computer System: The Sum of Its Parts

The Dark Story Hidden in Your Smart Phone

After seeing some mysterious photos someone found on a brand new iPhone, comedian Mike Daisey travelled to China to find out where and how our digital gadgets are made. He tells his story (EDIT: his “story” was later found out to be just that, a story) in this episode of public radio’s This American Life.
www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory
 

Categories
-Inventing the Future 11.3 Automation, Globalization, and Outsourcing 15.5 Question-Answering Machines 15.6 The Robot Revolution

Skilled labor joins the Race Against the Machine

Here’s a quote from the first edition of Digital Planet (then called Computer Currents), written almost two decades ago:

“It seems likely that, at some time in the future, machines will be able to do most of the jobs people do today. We may face a future of jobless growth–a time when productivity increases, not because of the work people do but because of the work of machines. If productivity isn’t tied to employment, we’ll have to ask some hard questions about our political, economic, and social system…”

Back then, this prediction seemed farfetched to most people. This NPR story about the Race Against the Machine conference suggests it’s not farfetched anymore.
www.npr.org/2011/11/03/141949820/how-technology-is-eliminating-higher-skill-jobs