3 ms·

What happens when automation completes all tasks more efficiently than humans?

saraid216 14y ago
While that's an interesting question for sci-fi, I don't find it useful to ask it as a policy matter in the next century. I am somewhat bemused by Dresden Codak's answer: self-sabotage: http://dresdencodak.com/2008/06/07/eloi/ http://dresdencodak.com/2008/06/07/eloi/
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  If that's too far in the future to contemplate, then what about when it reaches a tipping point? We don't have to get all the way down that road for it to be a serious problem. Given the nature of technology, it's more likely to come in the form of large bursts of disruption than a gradual slide. Once robots reach a certain level of sophistication, they take over a large number of tasks all at once. Same with more knowledge oriented systems. Even if complete human replacement is far off, what happens when 200 million jobs are made obsolete in a matter of years?
  - saraid216 14y ago
    I dunno. The horror of this confuses me: I don't derive a huge amount of meaning from my job, and I'd find as much enjoyment from life just from a life made mostly from thought and casual socialization. I imagine we'd carve ourselves niches where we'd intentionally do things ourselves for the enjoyment of using our hands and our minds for funsies. We'd probably transition to a purely attention-based economy or something. /shrug
beatpanda 14y ago
At that point, it will be obvious that coming up with ever-more-difficult tasks for the robots to complete, just for the sake of them having something to do, would be ridiculous. Then, time will stand still, as this 'obvious' fact becomes a mirror for human society, in which we'll see the destruction and pain we've wrought for basically no reason, and weep. And hopefully, at that point, we'll use the knowledge in automation we've gained to dramatically downsize civilization, and hopefully spend a lot more time swimming, because by the time all this happens it will be fucking hot outside most of the year.
- sageikosa 14y ago
  > we'll use the knowledge in automation we've gained to dramatically downsize civilization, I'm pretty sure that's where the kill-bots come in. And we can always make more kill-bots.
D_Alex 14y ago
There is always Calvinball. http://www.xkcd.com/1002/ http://www.xkcd.com/1002/
jacques_chester 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage
neutronicus 14y ago
Then, society will be a zero-sum game, because every resource someone else's robots are using is a resource your robots aren't using. There will probably be a lot of bloodshed.

While that's an interesting question for sci-fi, I don't find it useful to ask it as a policy matter in the next century. I am somewhat bemused by Dresden Codak's answer: self-sabotage: http://dresdencodak.com/2008/06/07/eloi/ http://dresdencodak.com/2008/06/07/eloi/

waterlesscloud 14y ago
If that's too far in the future to contemplate, then what about when it reaches a tipping point? We don't have to get all the way down that road for it to be a serious problem. Given the nature of technology, it's more likely to come in the form of large bursts of disruption than a gradual slide. Once robots reach a certain level of sophistication, they take over a large number of tasks all at once. Same with more knowledge oriented systems. Even if complete human replacement is far off, what happens when 200 million jobs are made obsolete in a matter of years?
- saraid216 14y ago
  I dunno. The horror of this confuses me: I don't derive a huge amount of meaning from my job, and I'd find as much enjoyment from life just from a life made mostly from thought and casual socialization. I imagine we'd carve ourselves niches where we'd intentionally do things ourselves for the enjoyment of using our hands and our minds for funsies. We'd probably transition to a purely attention-based economy or something. /shrug

beatpanda 14y ago

At that point, it will be obvious that coming up with ever-more-difficult tasks for the robots to complete, just for the sake of them having something to do, would be ridiculous. Then, time will stand still, as this 'obvious' fact becomes a mirror for human society, in which we'll see the destruction and pain we've wrought for basically no reason, and weep. And hopefully, at that point, we'll use the knowledge in automation we've gained to dramatically downsize civilization, and hopefully spend a lot more time swimming, because by the time all this happens it will be fucking hot outside most of the year.

sageikosa 14y ago
> we'll use the knowledge in automation we've gained to dramatically downsize civilization, I'm pretty sure that's where the kill-bots come in. And we can always make more kill-bots.

D_Alex 14y ago

There is always Calvinball. http://www.xkcd.com/1002/ http://www.xkcd.com/1002/

jacques_chester 14y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage

neutronicus 14y ago

Then, society will be a zero-sum game, because every resource someone else's robots are using is a resource your robots aren't using. There will probably be a lot of bloodshed.