3 ms·

What's usually missed is the value of being a skilled tradesman. Who fixes your robot? Who builds your house? Not everyone is cut out for college, actually,

by pnathan 15y ago

What's usually missed is the value of being a skilled tradesman. Who fixes your robot? Who builds your house? Not everyone is cut out for college, actually, most people aren't.

quandrum 15y ago
> who fixes your robot? Who fixes humans? Robots will do this eventually. > Who builds your house? Robots here too. Just because they can't do it today doesn't mean you shouldn't plan on them being able to do it.
- ams6110 15y ago
  The question is, will a robot that is autonomous enough and sophisticated enough to build a house be cheaper to operate than a human worker? As complexity of machines increases, the number of ways they can break down increases exponentially. Humans bodies are self-repairing for the most part except in cases of severe traumatic injury and disease.
  - rsheridan6 15y ago
    The complexity of a robot is mostly in the software. Input (cameras and microphones) and output (robotic arms, etc) have been around for decades, but robots have not been able to interpret a picture of the world effectively. That's a software problem. The thing about software is that you write it once and then it's free to copy. The first general-purpose robot workers will probably run expensive proprietary software, but 10 years later there will be usable open source versions. The physical robot itself will become cheaper, if anything, due to economies of scale.
randomdata 15y ago
Not everyone is cut out for college, actually, most people aren't. That is me. Once upon a time, I applied to take CS at a number of institutions. I was rejected from them all. Not that it really stopped me, I just had to learn it all by myself. Now I get to play "lead engineer" on some pretty significant projects and have CS grads coming to me for help. But the meme I see often on HN and elsewhere is that you need to go to college. What they fail to account for is that college is a protected class where most people do not have the choice of going, even if they wanted to. I certainly didn't have the opportunity – though in hindsight, it was probably a blessing.

by pnathan 15y ago

What's usually missed is the value of being a skilled tradesman. Who fixes your robot? Who builds your house? Not everyone is cut out for college, actually, most people aren't.

quandrum 15y ago

> who fixes your robot? Who fixes humans? Robots will do this eventually. > Who builds your house? Robots here too. Just because they can't do it today doesn't mean you shouldn't plan on them being able to do it.

ams6110 15y ago
The question is, will a robot that is autonomous enough and sophisticated enough to build a house be cheaper to operate than a human worker? As complexity of machines increases, the number of ways they can break down increases exponentially. Humans bodies are self-repairing for the most part except in cases of severe traumatic injury and disease.
- rsheridan6 15y ago
  The complexity of a robot is mostly in the software. Input (cameras and microphones) and output (robotic arms, etc) have been around for decades, but robots have not been able to interpret a picture of the world effectively. That's a software problem. The thing about software is that you write it once and then it's free to copy. The first general-purpose robot workers will probably run expensive proprietary software, but 10 years later there will be usable open source versions. The physical robot itself will become cheaper, if anything, due to economies of scale.

randomdata 15y ago

Not everyone is cut out for college, actually, most people aren't. That is me. Once upon a time, I applied to take CS at a number of institutions. I was rejected from them all. Not that it really stopped me, I just had to learn it all by myself. Now I get to play "lead engineer" on some pretty significant projects and have CS grads coming to me for help. But the meme I see often on HN and elsewhere is that you need to go to college. What they fail to account for is that college is a protected class where most people do not have the choice of going, even if they wanted to. I certainly didn't have the opportunity – though in hindsight, it was probably a blessing.