Out With The Humans In With The Robots

"The tasks they perform are becoming more complex and lifelike."


Reading Chayko's section about "new and emerging technologies" in chapter 10 made me immediately think of the scene from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory when Charlie's father loses his job to a robot (you can see the scene below). The replacement of human workers with robots is rarely shown in a positive light in movies and television. The media often paints a picture of technology being bad because it is causing people to lose their jobs. Even at 15 when I first saw this movie after it came out you couldn't help but feel bad given their families economic status. 




While there are still sad cases I am sure there is also the untold side of robots replacing jobs that are unsafe and undesirable. Robots can increase productivity and provide some of the products and services we desire. I was interested to find out more about what makes a company deside to switch other than money reasons given that I really only have a Hollywood version of things. I found this chart most helpful when I was searching.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/where-machines-could-replace-humans-and-where-they-cant-yet

The authors explain that there are five factors to examining the feasibility of automation.
1. Technical feasibility
2. Costs to automate
3. The relative scarcity, skills and cost of workers who might otherwise do the activity
4. Benefits of automation beyond labor-cost substitution
5. Regulatory and Social-acceptance considerations

I can't help but feel mixed when it comes to the automation of jobs. While I understand people lose jobs I also understand there are times we would rather have a robot do the job to prevent injury and health issues for human workers. I think this is one of the consequences and benefits of advancing our technological world. 

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 5, 2018 at 4:07 PM

    I love all the connections you're making here! My boyfriend and I had an interesting discussion about the pros and cons when it comes to the automation of jobs. A couple of things we talked about were the fact that robots don't need health insurance, don't ask for vacation or time off, don't complain or cause work place drama, etc. On the other hand, what would the maintenance be like? How often would they need to be updated? What are the dangers of continuing to advance artificial intelligence. If more and more smart machines are created and developed there will be an even higher demand for computer programmers. This means coding will be another literacy we are required to teach. Related to teaching, I'm noticing more and more companies advertising digital learning curriculums devoted to math, reading, writing, etc. A huge selling point on this is that many differentiate automatically. This potentially means way less planning time. While I don't think robots will be fully teaching my students anytime soon, I think it's important to consider the benefits and the implications. How much automation is too much automation?

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