[ThirdOfFive]

Kind of an overlap here with another discussion on this board about good science fiction reading, specifically the Harlan Ellison short story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream". Artificial intelligence run amok.

[hdanielblank]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

From a technical data web site, very impressive.




From the CEO of a public company vendor, $SOUN, which provides AI voice interactions to fast food restaurants implemented voice interactions in drive throughs:


These will replace human labor, and the ratio of programmers to displaced humans is vastly sucked higher in displaced humans than programmers.

Don't believe the AI hype trying to downplay human replacements

Such fears have been with us since the 19th Century Industrial Revolution began as well documented in literature of that time (e.g., Dickens). Watch the 1935 movie Modern Times, 1973's Colossus The Forbin Project and many others. What actually happens is that humans migrate from these menial jobs to other jobs. The chief beneficiary of such change and growth has been the huge expansion of the leisure industry. As less time and physical energy is expended to work, demand increases for games, pampering, sporting activities, healthy pursuits, etc., and who-knows-what in the future.

One thing machines can't do is consume - and someone needs to get paid in order to spend money to maintain the machines they use. As long as we have a capitalistic society, humans need to be employed in order to spend on consumption. As long as corporation influence governments and governments are controlled by money, corporations will make sure that humans are employed.

Now, many humans will need to be retrained and be angry and resentful that things can't go on as they used to and that AI/machines have ruined society and made things more difficult instead of easier. Sound familiar? That's also been going on for centuries and here in The Villages, those complaints are endless.

But, the end of human employment and more poverty because of it? That is not the future of this country and the world - at least not if history is our guide and basic logic still applies.

[Justputt]

My grandfather heard the same thing about horseless carriages replacing real horse drawn wagons!!!!

[opinionist]

There was a time when most people were farmers and they worked sunup to sundown for 7 days a week. The advance of labor saving technology should reduce the burden on the workforce and allow people to work fewer hours. The 40 hour work week is an arbitrary standard that should be reduced with advances in technology. People like Klaus Schwab are the problem because they want people to "own nothing and be happy". We have lived with a dishonest money system our entire life and most people think it is normal to live paycheck to paycheck. The creature from Jekyll Island is worse than any science fiction monster. The dishonest money system siphons wealth from who they see as "useless eaters" and gives the "elites" ever more wealth and power.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Caymus

Can always use more carpenters and plumbers.

Houses can be built on an assembly line with fewer workers than on site. And have better quality control.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by billethkid

Sounds very much like the concerns expressed way back when "...computers were going to replace humans" and then later came robotics in manufacturing were going to replace humans.

Somehow we have digested and acclimated to the opportunities opened/presented by the new technology........VS the sky is falling news/headlines back then and again now......but worse.

Way too much commentary by ANYBODY with a keyboard presenting every whim of the day as if with authority/validity. And unfortunately a population that now believes almost anything.....from ANYBODY.

Computers have replaced a lot of human jobs. For example, accounting departments used to keep the books of the business by hand entries before computers and printers. And robotics have replaced lots of manual factory jobs in manufacturing automobiles and tools.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Keefelane66

It doesn’t bother me that AI should be used a Fast Food restaurants rarely frequent them. Since many restaurants offer pay at table. I should be able to order from table so the meal order gets processed correctly. Just deliver it to the table requires minimum tipping.

If a robot delivered the meal, there would be no need for tipping.

[fishon]

If you lose your job to AI, just learn to write code.
Easy peezy.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Aces4

UBI, as the younger generations state, is anticipated by many now…. Universal Basic Income dished out by the government.

What I worry about is the illegal immigrants that are pouring across our southern and other open borders. Even after the language problems could be decreased, most will only have basic labor-type skills. So, the US could end up with up to 30% unemployed and under-employed extra people. If the Florida highways are any indication, the US is already overcrowded. A.I. and robotics are going to practically guarantee high unemployment.
......With factory jobs decreasing, the middle class is decreasing and has less power. The US is moving (due to tax percentages and intervals that favor the rich) toward having 2 classes - the highly educated upper class and the minimally educated low class together with the unemployables. And without a strong middle class America will cease to be America and an internal or external takeover is more possible.
............Moving manufacturing offshore to countries like China could have been the beginning of the end.
........Another problem associated with high unemployment would likely be more crime as people see their less successful future.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

I agree, and the way to support it is though a tax on capital, as that is what replaced labor.
So all software amortization and software purchase and SAAS expense shall be disallowed expenses for corporate tax purposes.

And then the corporate tax is adjusted to include capital to fund this, as corporations US entities can't leave, including ones owned by intl holdings companies.

And raise the social security tax by increasing the percentage and removing the ceiling to tax all management employees, even with a graduated increasing scale for highly compensated ones, and then SS will survive a bit longer. . and I don't believe that these people will miss the increased tax, so save yourself from the theoretical arguments on tax disincentives. Working above UBI after tax gives you more spending opportunities than UBI or nothing at all.

In the post WWII and post the great depression, people still worked with the highest incremental tax rate approaching 70%. People won't stop working but there is a level at which each individual won't work harder or longer or want the additional responsibility for the incremental income. Just don't conflate the two concepts into a generalized for everyone not working excuse.

I agree about raising the SS tax and with no ceiling. I also agree that when the US had a strong middle class (like around 1950) that the top tax rate was 70%. Today we have virtually no middle class. We see the problem, you are correct, but how to SOLVE the problem. The upper 1/10 of 1% runs America today and we won't be able to say to them, "mommy may we" please go back to 1950 tax rates.
.........And in 1950 there was about 125,000,000 people in the US. Now there are around 350,000,000 legal ones.
.........You mentioned some good answers to some problems. But, there are more problems that I can think of just off the top of my head. The Supreme Court needs term limits. Congress needs term limits. That won't happen. In my opinion, 4 people are controlling the US today. .........about 3 or 4 Supreme Court Justices and one man (with glasses) in the house.

[Topspinmo]

I think AI should take over management.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

What I worry about is the illegal immigrants that are pouring across our southern and other open borders. Even after the language problems could be decreased, most will only have basic labor-type skills. So, the US could end up with up to 30% unemployed and under-employed extra people. If the Florida highways are any indication, the US is already overcrowded. A.I. and robotics are going to practically guarantee high unemployment.
......With factory jobs decreasing, the middle class is decreasing and has less power. The US is moving (due to tax percentages and intervals that favor the rich) toward having 2 classes - the highly educated upper class and the minimally educated low class together with the unemployables. And without a strong middle class America will cease to be America and an internal or external takeover is more possible.
............Moving manufacturing offshore to countries like China could have been the beginning of the end.
........Another problem associated with high unemployment would likely be more crime as people see their less successful future.

What’s worry about they get free medical, free apartment, and money credited on their government credit card every month. Everyone walking around in new clothes, shoes, coat, and I phone.

[Topspinmo]

I think AI should eliminate members of congress.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

I agree about raising the SS tax and with no ceiling. I also agree that when the US had a strong middle class (like around 1950) that the top tax rate was 70%. Today we have virtually no middle class. We see the problem, you are correct, but how to SOLVE the problem. The upper 1/10 of 1% runs America today and we won't be able to say to them, "mommy may we" please go back to 1950 tax rates.
.........And in 1950 there was about 125,000,000 people in the US. Now there are around 350,000,000 legal ones.
.........You mentioned some good answers to some problems. But, there are more problems that I can think of just off the top of my head. The Supreme Court needs term limits. Congress needs term limits. That won't happen. In my opinion, 4 people are controlling the US today. .........about 3 or 4 Supreme Court Justices and one man (with glasses) in the house.

I disagree, lobbyists control country.

[opinionist]

"Universal Basic Income dished out by the government"

You get more of what you pay for.
Do we really need more unproductive people than we already have?