Artificial intelligence: ‘Homo sapiens will be split into a handful of gods and the rest of us’

A new report suggests that the marriage of AI and robotics could replace so many jobs that the era of mass employment could come to an end

Source: The Guardian

In the title of the article it says gods but I think they meant to put jobs instead. I have spoken and written about the conclusions discussed in this article at length for quite some time now. It is obvious to researchers like myself and many others. I guess I am just too cynical to accept the notion that the people who run things on this planet will allow a bunch of useless feeders and breeders to roam around free of labor, and not paying them taxes. There is going to be a huge culling of the human herd very soon I expect.

originally posted by: machineintelligence

A new report suggests that the marriage of AI and robotics could replace so many jobs that the era of mass employment could come to an end

Source: The Guardian

In the title of the article it says gods but I think they meant to put jobs instead. I have spoken and written about the conclusions discussed in this article at length for quite some time now. It is obvious to researchers like myself and many others. I guess I am just too cynical to accept the notion that the people who run things on this planet will allow a bunch of useless feeders and breeders to roam around free of labor, and not paying them taxes. There is going to be a huge culling of the human herd very soon I expect.

Been living this dream since 2009...

Still in it actually .. of sorts...the future defiantly doesn't look that bright...one word...nanotech.

where do we go from here ? who responsible to increase the labor in the countries we all live in .. the entire world is and has been in a economic collaspe; for those precious few that still have a job, do what you should to keep it, especially in the USA.

No one is immune!

I remember reading this with another Header of the article

a reply to: machineintelligence

I guess I am just too cynical to accept the notion that the people who run things on this planet will allow a bunch of useless feeders and breeders to roam around free of labor, and not paying them taxes. There is going to be a huge culling of the human herd very soon I expect.

If they have robots running around doing everything for them why would they even need taxes . If AI develops i am sure it would cull those of no use to them first , read bankers and politicians first . Unless AI works out how to operate without electricity , or repair shops it will need the hands on people , not people in big houses .

wa reply to: machineintelligence

It's not popular to say it, but the human herd does need a major culling.
There's no bar right now, so you have a lot of useless eaters...don't deny it.
So simple....here's the bar...pass it or be removed.
The bar just needs to be set at "productive member of society".
Wanna bet how many people who sit on their ass sucking welfare when they could be working suddenly find a job when faced with euthanasia?
I don't mean legitimately disabled.
I society as advanced as ours should be able to absorb them, even allow them to.be productive.
I mean grown ass men in their 30's with 9 kids and 4 baby mamas and no income.
Get your # together ffs...

Listen people you are all nuts. I propose 2 things
1. A true a.i. that doesn't kill us will advance us beyond "jobs". It just will there will be no "need" to work
2. The only people who want to "cull" are just ignorant of what our future will really look like
I plan on doing a thread to show this but I will give an overview
If a.i. come and brings with it nanotechnology and a tech singularity all work will be done by machines including building machines to repair and keep the system up and running
Humans will enter an age of pure technology. Now if you think that will lead to culling you are simply wrong
It will lead to humans perusing ideas and exploring the solar system the galaxy and the universe
Art literature and the like will be the "work" and yiu won't have to do that if yiu don't want to
You will be truly free to do as yiu please. Want to just sit around and do nothing? Go for it.
Yiur life will be totally up to you .
Longer if not immortal life's will be commonplace . Get ready for it.
If we can get past this hump it's all gravey .

As soon as AI becomes our friends and selves it will be all win!

AI will be a form of self expression for a person just like a person wears clothes!

Your body has all kinds of AI like breathing and your heartbeat!

This will just add more!

a reply to: FormOfTheLord
If you think AI is a good idea you dont know ANY of the history of the world and have zero understanding of our rulers....

a reply to: machineintelligence

The problem with this is how it is handled. The worst thing would be the traditional western capitalist approach. This has already been amply demonstrated by a respondent here with his/her everyone on welfare is a scrounger and a scroungers should be culled. It has been demonstrated across the world different cultures different politics different religions that these "scroungers" are a very small minority. The vast majority of people want to work even when they are handed a large enough state allowance that they don't have to. This is highly embarrassing (and thus denied) for those who treat all on welfare as good for nothing scroungers.

If the normal "market forces" approach is used then the first to use robots will make a fortune by replacing all human labour with 24hr automated labour. They will corner the market from all other companies who cannot afford the capital outlay of robots and have to pay humans. The problem is this approach results eventually in an imbalanced economy with hardly anybody earning a wage and thus consuming. So ALL companies will drastically cut back on production and the economy will collapse. We are already seeing the signs of this kind of economics due to the massive distortion between the obscenely rich and the working poor who have little , if any, disposable income. A robotic workforce would amplify the rich-poor divide many fold if not managed.

This is only going to work if the economy "manned" by robots is producing goods for humans to consume and the goods a human consumes is not related to the wages they earn, as it currently is. The solution is obvious, the economic model is obvious, those of certain ideological mindset will find it terrifying.

We are headed toward a scenario like the B Sci-Fi movie Zardoz. Here is the Wiki article on the movie.

Zardoz is a 1974 science fiction movie written, produced, and directed by John Boorman. It stars Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, and Sara Kestelman. Zardoz was Connery's second post-James Bond role (after The Offence). The film was shot by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth on a budget of US$1.57 million.

Zardoz

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: machineintelligence

I guess I am just too cynical to accept the notion that the people who run things on this planet will allow a bunch of useless feeders and breeders to roam around free of labor, and not paying them taxes. There is going to be a huge culling of the human herd very soon I expect.

If they have robots running around doing everything for them why would they even need taxes . If AI develops i am sure it would cull those of no use to them first , read bankers and politicians first . Unless AI works out how to operate without electricity , or repair shops it will need the hands on people , not people in big houses .

I agree. If anything it would allow for a truly cashless society. In fact, a moneyless economy. Something like a resource based economy I suppose. Taxes would be obsolete.

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: machineintelligence

I guess I am just too cynical to accept the notion that the people who run things on this planet will allow a bunch of useless feeders and breeders to roam around free of labor, and not paying them taxes. There is going to be a huge culling of the human herd very soon I expect.

If they have robots running around doing everything for them why would they even need taxes . If AI develops i am sure it would cull those of no use to them first , read bankers and politicians first . Unless AI works out how to operate without electricity , or repair shops it will need the hands on people , not people in big houses .

Jail the 1% and the rest of us can vacation and enjoy the fruits of the Robots labor. Simple really. Socialism and sharing of resources is the future due to technology. Greed and power have no place in the "Future".

Knowing people they will try to teach the robots about capatilism and greed then we will have greedy lazy robots instead of selfless hard working robots. . . .

originally posted by: Another_Nut
If we can get past this hump it's all gravey .

Thats' the rub though isn't it.

There's a hump, and a rather big one in the transitional period between where we are now and where we can be when the required tech fully established. On the rise to our tech future there will continue to be hoarders and so called puppet-masters who will attempt to control things because they are the ones that stand to lose the most; and it is well within human nature to be self-serving beyond all foresight and logic.

I suppose we'll see, or we won't and someone else will, depending on how long this all takes.

a reply to: machineintelligence

Short of us somehow devising a viable means to depart this world and move on out into the rest of our galaxy i imagine you are quite correct.

originally posted by: odinsway
a reply to: FormOfTheLord
If you think AI is a good idea you dont know ANY of the history of the world and have zero understanding of our rulers....

AI is already everywhere. Your WYSWIWYG word processor/Powerpoint editor and a laser printer running PostScript replaced a whole team of print workers. In the past, if you wanted a poster printed, you had to assemble together all the pictures, some handwritten notes saying what should be written and where, then the print shop would put your work on a queue, and tell you to come back in a week. They may or may not get it right. Now you just slap on the pictures and paragraph boxes on the computer screen, edit the text and fonts until you are happy, then save the final work as an image file ready to be printed out. When the newspapers attempted to do the same, there were riots.

Automatic traffic lights replaced the need for a traffic officer to stand at every intersection. Automatic elevators replaced the need for elevator operators in every cab. Automatic telephone exchanges replaced the need for a telephone operator to make every single call.

Automatic weaving looms replaced textile workers. It used to take four artisans to make one custom garment using a manual loom, and no two garments would be identical due to human error. Now automatic looms can weave any complex pattern and only require on technician for fifteen machines. There's such an oversupply of fabric that native crafts skills in Africa are being replaced by aid donations.

Internet search engines have replaced the need to go to a library and fill out manual search requests. You had to fill out a paper form with the name, title, author and year of the publication with each letter going in a particular box. Get one character wrong and the search would fail. And you had to wait two weeks. Being able to purchase books online has really killed high-street bookstores, who no longer stock technical publications but just crime and fiction.

Online banking has replaced the need to visit bank branches in the city. That's led to losses of thousands of jobs.

Everything has become faster too. Online purchasing has replaced the "please wait 28 days for packaging and post" that many magazine adverts used to offer. After 7 days you would wonder whether they had received your order. After 14 days, you would wonder whether the order would after arrive. After 21 days, you would have forgotten that you had made the order. After 28 days, you were completely surprised that a package had arrived in the post for you.

Thing is, we have no idea what kind of temperament an A.I would have, especially if the A.I could actually think for itself and ignore it programming. It would ether wipe out or enslave humanity, be fair and just to humanity, or if A.I was based on our behavior, be just like humanity.

An A.I can get to powerful to control, it will be watching like it were a Jealous Heathen God...All the time.

It has already happened - and for the better. Technology takes on jobs that nobody wants as a rule - out there dragging a plough around to break ground for crops, for instance - and also makes transportation and communication easier.

So, yes, bring on that robotic housekeeper. It frees me up to do other things. Robotic lawn mower - you betcha! I'd even take a robotic cook because I don't have much interest in cooking. Other Daughter does, however, so she wouldn't buy one. Self-driving cars would eliminate road rage and idiots making weird turns in front of your vehicle and drivers (like a friend tragically killed) falling asleep from exhaustion.

AI has also brought us NEW jobs: web page designer, video designers, technicians, repair folks, creators of new paradigms. Yes, the old jobs are gone, but some of those I'm glad to be rid of.

originally posted by: Specimen
Thing is, we have no idea what kind of temperament an A.I would have,

Yes we do. We program it.

especially if the A.I could actually think for itself and ignore it programming.

It runs on programming. If it "ignores it", then it shuts off.

It would ether wipe out or enslave humanity, be fair and just to humanity, or if A.I was based on our behavior, be just like humanity.

An A.I can get to powerful to control, it will be watching like it were a Jealous Heathen God...All the time.

Every geek worth their title knows where the "off switch" is for everything... and where the "god mode cheat code" is. AI will have those.

a reply to: Byrd

Yea, for the most part advanced robotics/cybernetics/programming it probably would be that simple, but whats happens if it glitches and ignores it, acting like an actual Sci-fi A.I making it own decisions, able to reprogram it self so it can be the ultimate entity . Like uploading it self to the internet or deep web, or finds a way to turn off that kill switch?