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Yes. All the jobs. Drivers, luggage handlers. The salad cook is just another in the long line of manual jobs that can be done quicker, better, cheaper by a robo

Yes. All the jobs. Drivers, luggage handlers. The salad cook is just another in the long line of manual jobs that can be done quicker, better, cheaper by a robot. So now what? What job do we guide our children into? What jobs are left as the fall through for kids who decline formal training? I don't know, but we need to answer that question quickly.

Swizec 9y ago
Robot repairperson. I hear the stand-in-line-as-a-service industry is growing as well. Anyone with a lot of free time can get paid to stand in line. It’s great! Who wouldn’t want such a bright future?
- derefr 9y ago
  Do you think the average salesperson would be willing to sell an item to a telepresence robot carrying a credit card? If so, I'm not sure the waiting-in-line industry will survive much longer either.
dvdhnt 9y ago
> The salad cook is just another in the long line of manual jobs that can be done quicker, better, cheaper by a robot. Allow me to be sentimental for a moment. I agree that some jobs, perhaps even most, can be done "better" by a robot. At least, if we're defining better as more cheaply or "to spec". However, when I go to a nice restaurant, I go because I enjoy the Chef's style, their ability to express their art through cooking. Sure, a robot could do something like that, especially at chains like Burger King, but for my personal incentive to dine at a restaurant, it's unlikely a robot could do a "better" job than a human chef. That said, you're right, we need to avoid the foolishness of passing the buck when asking "what will our children do?" We can't agree on social issues now, how the hell will we agree when even more people are unable to contribute meaningfully?
- umanwizard 9y ago
  So the maybe 10% of people who fetishize artisanry will still create demand for service jobs. But this is an edge case.
  - allenz 9y ago
    Also, maybe 10% of chefs view their work as art, rather than as a way to earn money.
    - KekDemaga 9y ago
      That number is probably less than 1%, those stories about chefs being so inspired by ingredients and just wanting to share that vision with the world are written by marketers.
- cookingrobot 9y ago
  People will prefer meals cooked by robots for the same reason they listen to recorded music. Everyone will have access to the best creations of the best chefs, instead of today where the closest you can get is watching them cook on tv. It will be a new media where artists can directly share their work with the world.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    Most people enjoy recorded music, but most people also like to see their favorite artists live, when they can. I think it's the same thing.
    - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
      > but most people also like to see their favorite artists live, when they can Citation needed. Live music is a healthy economy, but I am not sure a majority of listeners of a given artist are particularly driven to go to that artist's concerts. I suspect only a passionate minority is interested.
      - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
        It's still enough to support an extremely healthy global live-music industry. I don't see handmade food being different.
- jamesrcole 9y ago
  Here's an alternative perspective to consider: what if the artistry is in the design of the dishes, and the automated systems could be used for implementing that design. That could lead to good food being cheaper and more accessible to more people.
  - greenleafjacob 9y ago
    In the future, we will probably download food designs from a food app store, and use our food printer to fabricate the food.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  I think there will still be professional chefs for a long, long time, for all the reasons you give, and I'm fine with that. But short-order cooks and burger-flippers could be replaced without any loss to the culture--assuming that we can find a way for those people to live happily without needing to prove their worthiness through labor.
- dagw 9y ago
  I go because I enjoy the Chef's style, their ability to express their art through cooking. Even at many restaurants today the person who's name is above the door as it where rarely touches the food. So as long as that person is the one who is responsible for designing the recipes and menus and plating what difference does it really make if the dish you are served was prepared by a robot or whatever line chef happened to be on duty that day?
ekianjo 9y ago
> What jobs are left as the fall through for kids who decline formal training? Robot cleaners, maintenance, etc... I highly doubt we will have a fully automated robot loop that takes care of themselves anytime soon, so there's always going to be a need for humans in the chain.
- gallerdude 9y ago
  Well yeah, but we reach a point where we don't have a job available to say, 30% of the potential workforce. I don't think robot maintenance will be the next retail or warehouse employee.
  - greglindahl 9y ago
    We made the transition from subsistence agriculture to now. 90%+ of the population used to tend crops.
    - ekianjo 9y ago
      Exactly. Funny how most people seem to completely forget that little detail of recent history.
      - mbaha 9y ago
        That's mainly because the rate of change is far greater. Will need to get used to it though.
      - TeMPOraL 9y ago
        What matters is if there is anything to transition to. A strong argument is made that the options for new jobs are rapidly diminishing, as automation eliminates jobs by skill level, while at the same time the economy is not giving people time to retrain (people most imperilled by automation are usually those living paycheck-to-paycheck). Those two things were not simultaneously true in the past.
        9y ago
greeneggs 9y ago
Few people are guiding their kids to be salad cooks. But for cooks, this is probably good news. If they can do their jobs more efficiently, there should be more restaurants, and more jobs.
astrodust 9y ago
Someone's going to have to clean all those robots, top up their various fluids, and patch their firmware until some startup bros in Silicon Valley disrupt that market too.
yann63 9y ago
Is it the question we should ask? I'd prefer to ask another question: is it time to change our society, to go away from paid jobs? A job is one of the things that currently defines us, one of the first questions you ask someone you just met is often to know what job they are in. If all jobs were automated, we could have more interesting occupations: taking care of our childrens, elders, neighbors, growing our garden, reading, art, etc. Many sci-fi authors saw the job being automated and society changing toward this. The question is how to we make the transition.
- allenz 9y ago
  For a realist, the question is whether people with power benefit from your proposed change, or whether they are invested in the current system. If the system doesn't change, then robots may be detrimental.
- JoeSloth 9y ago
  Keep in mind that the transition wont be from black to white or visa versa.. We're talking about a gradual change over a decade and a half a least. In the meantime there will be an uptake in jobs that support this type of automation.. physically building the thing, building the digital experience(Design, UX, Backend architecture, process, branding) as well as ancillary jobs like IT support, installation, IT, legal, union, whatever. It will be less drastic than people anticipate, as always with automation/ai. Different jobs will become more available and (hopefully) the value of those jobs will increase. Manual/tedious jobs that used to be considered low-brow will hopefully become "artisanal" or appreciated, and fill the gap. A butcher used to be a respectable profession that would earn an honest days living. Maybe now, instead of a butcher working for his employer (with a cashier, accountant, manager, sales person), they will operate as their own employer. Other micro-focused based companies will handle the other needs for a fraction of the cost. In the end, efficiency prevails with capitalism and tech in general.. Having a population with a low work force seems both inefficient and impractical. Life will find a way...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

Swizec 9y ago

Robot repairperson. I hear the stand-in-line-as-a-service industry is growing as well. Anyone with a lot of free time can get paid to stand in line. It’s great! Who wouldn’t want such a bright future?

derefr 9y ago
Do you think the average salesperson would be willing to sell an item to a telepresence robot carrying a credit card? If so, I'm not sure the waiting-in-line industry will survive much longer either.

dvdhnt 9y ago

> The salad cook is just another in the long line of manual jobs that can be done quicker, better, cheaper by a robot. Allow me to be sentimental for a moment. I agree that some jobs, perhaps even most, can be done "better" by a robot. At least, if we're defining better as more cheaply or "to spec". However, when I go to a nice restaurant, I go because I enjoy the Chef's style, their ability to express their art through cooking. Sure, a robot could do something like that, especially at chains like Burger King, but for my personal incentive to dine at a restaurant, it's unlikely a robot could do a "better" job than a human chef. That said, you're right, we need to avoid the foolishness of passing the buck when asking "what will our children do?" We can't agree on social issues now, how the hell will we agree when even more people are unable to contribute meaningfully?

umanwizard 9y ago
So the maybe 10% of people who fetishize artisanry will still create demand for service jobs. But this is an edge case.
- allenz 9y ago
  Also, maybe 10% of chefs view their work as art, rather than as a way to earn money.
  - KekDemaga 9y ago
    That number is probably less than 1%, those stories about chefs being so inspired by ingredients and just wanting to share that vision with the world are written by marketers.
cookingrobot 9y ago
People will prefer meals cooked by robots for the same reason they listen to recorded music. Everyone will have access to the best creations of the best chefs, instead of today where the closest you can get is watching them cook on tv. It will be a new media where artists can directly share their work with the world.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Most people enjoy recorded music, but most people also like to see their favorite artists live, when they can. I think it's the same thing.
  - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
    > but most people also like to see their favorite artists live, when they can Citation needed. Live music is a healthy economy, but I am not sure a majority of listeners of a given artist are particularly driven to go to that artist's concerts. I suspect only a passionate minority is interested.
    - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      It's still enough to support an extremely healthy global live-music industry. I don't see handmade food being different.
jamesrcole 9y ago
Here's an alternative perspective to consider: what if the artistry is in the design of the dishes, and the automated systems could be used for implementing that design. That could lead to good food being cheaper and more accessible to more people.
- greenleafjacob 9y ago
  In the future, we will probably download food designs from a food app store, and use our food printer to fabricate the food.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
I think there will still be professional chefs for a long, long time, for all the reasons you give, and I'm fine with that. But short-order cooks and burger-flippers could be replaced without any loss to the culture--assuming that we can find a way for those people to live happily without needing to prove their worthiness through labor.
dagw 9y ago
I go because I enjoy the Chef's style, their ability to express their art through cooking. Even at many restaurants today the person who's name is above the door as it where rarely touches the food. So as long as that person is the one who is responsible for designing the recipes and menus and plating what difference does it really make if the dish you are served was prepared by a robot or whatever line chef happened to be on duty that day?

ekianjo 9y ago

> What jobs are left as the fall through for kids who decline formal training? Robot cleaners, maintenance, etc... I highly doubt we will have a fully automated robot loop that takes care of themselves anytime soon, so there's always going to be a need for humans in the chain.

gallerdude 9y ago
Well yeah, but we reach a point where we don't have a job available to say, 30% of the potential workforce. I don't think robot maintenance will be the next retail or warehouse employee.
- greglindahl 9y ago
  We made the transition from subsistence agriculture to now. 90%+ of the population used to tend crops.
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    Exactly. Funny how most people seem to completely forget that little detail of recent history.
    - mbaha 9y ago
      That's mainly because the rate of change is far greater. Will need to get used to it though.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      What matters is if there is anything to transition to. A strong argument is made that the options for new jobs are rapidly diminishing, as automation eliminates jobs by skill level, while at the same time the economy is not giving people time to retrain (people most imperilled by automation are usually those living paycheck-to-paycheck). Those two things were not simultaneously true in the past.
      - 9y ago

greeneggs 9y ago

Few people are guiding their kids to be salad cooks. But for cooks, this is probably good news. If they can do their jobs more efficiently, there should be more restaurants, and more jobs.

astrodust 9y ago

Someone's going to have to clean all those robots, top up their various fluids, and patch their firmware until some startup bros in Silicon Valley disrupt that market too.

yann63 9y ago

Is it the question we should ask? I'd prefer to ask another question: is it time to change our society, to go away from paid jobs? A job is one of the things that currently defines us, one of the first questions you ask someone you just met is often to know what job they are in. If all jobs were automated, we could have more interesting occupations: taking care of our childrens, elders, neighbors, growing our garden, reading, art, etc. Many sci-fi authors saw the job being automated and society changing toward this. The question is how to we make the transition.

allenz 9y ago
For a realist, the question is whether people with power benefit from your proposed change, or whether they are invested in the current system. If the system doesn't change, then robots may be detrimental.
JoeSloth 9y ago
Keep in mind that the transition wont be from black to white or visa versa.. We're talking about a gradual change over a decade and a half a least. In the meantime there will be an uptake in jobs that support this type of automation.. physically building the thing, building the digital experience(Design, UX, Backend architecture, process, branding) as well as ancillary jobs like IT support, installation, IT, legal, union, whatever. It will be less drastic than people anticipate, as always with automation/ai. Different jobs will become more available and (hopefully) the value of those jobs will increase. Manual/tedious jobs that used to be considered low-brow will hopefully become "artisanal" or appreciated, and fill the gap. A butcher used to be a respectable profession that would earn an honest days living. Maybe now, instead of a butcher working for his employer (with a cashier, accountant, manager, sales person), they will operate as their own employer. Other micro-focused based companies will handle the other needs for a fraction of the cost. In the end, efficiency prevails with capitalism and tech in general.. Having a population with a low work force seems both inefficient and impractical. Life will find a way...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]