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Consider this: A blood test today costs $100 in USA. A complicated blood test costs $250. If we could invent a serious AI algorithm that can replace lab techni
by Karishma1234 8y ago
Consider this: A blood test today costs $100 in USA. A complicated blood test costs $250.
If we could invent a serious AI algorithm that can replace lab technician and drop this cost to $10 and $25 respectively. (Note that every single item in USA such as Cars, phones and bread is damn too cheap compared to mere 30 years ago).The lower cost of blood tests would save thousands of lives each year.
A small efficiency in making bread will save lives and put food on table of more people and improve sustainability of our planet.
It is not about jobs but efficiency. Making things more and more efficient is a moral imperative. It is something we need to do for the future generations.
Secondly, a cashier losing job is not as big a deal as people make it out to be because these people will do something else. Large availability of cheap labor can invent new industries as long as government does no criminalise being poor or skill less. Minimum wage jobs for example make it a crime to have no skill.
In future I imagine human beings with driving skills sitting a automated car simulators and teaching the cars to drive or clicking on images and video feeds to teach computers to get better while receiving am minimum wage.
Losing job is also something that makes a society ant-fragile and robust. Without laying off inefficient arms of the company you will haev a fragile North Korea/ Venezuella like economy.
- slededit 8y agoIn Canada it's between $25-$50 [1] depending on the test. The price of medical care in the USA has little relation to raw costs and if you approach it that way you will lose. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/practitioner-pro/laboratory-services/laboratory_services_-_schedule_of_fees.pdf https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/practitioner-pro/la...
- Karishma1234 8y agoDoes not matter. Will poor people be way better off with $1 per test ? They surely will. Don't just think in terms of existing tests being cheaper, significantly lower price mean people might to do often, there might be automated testing machines installed everywhere which might detect many diseases way quicker and in early stage saving thousands of lives and much better medical research.
- slededit 8y agoThey would, but the point is that in the existing system the patient will never see the savings. An aspirin tablet is under a dollar at the drug store and $100 in the hospital right now, what makes you think it would change if it got cheaper by a factor of ten?
- Karishma1234 8y agoHere is a question. Do you think Americans in 2018 are able to afford more complicated surgeries than 90s ? Increase that by factor of 10 if automation can reduce costs of various medical processes.
- arwineap 8y agoCan you expand on this? > Minimum wage jobs for example make it a crime to have no skill.
- Karishma1234 8y agoImagine a 19 year old back teenager from a bad neighbourhood. He can't walk to a local McDonalds and offer to work for free or for $1 and hour and the McD manager will always find plenty to experienced people at $10 /hr. Government has made it a crime to employ anyone whose skills is worth below minimum wage.