Robots will Win (domo arigato)

Over the past century, humankind has managed to turn the uncontrollable forces of nature—namely famine, plague, and war—into manageable challenges. Today more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists, and criminals combined.
robot envy?
Self-driving automobiles and trucks will revolutionize the supply chain. It’s amazing now, but it will be even more amazing without people involved in it.
Science fiction of the past is science fact today. And the minimum wage demons will price their constituents out of their jobs by forcing technology to step in and shove those low speed workers to the side. What will the redundant masses do? Now that is the question, isn’t it?
Will robot envy consume those people who can’t compete? And will they simply feed on welfare from cradle to grave because their part of the human species is redundant?
Or will a human-first movement emerge?
Robot sentience (artificial intelligence) is a generation away from becoming a real thing. Will Robots have Constitutional rights? Will they arm themselves lawfully and defend themselves? Or will we consider robots a race of mechanical slaves since slaves are not armed?
Will robots feed humans? Will socialists yearn for a robotic hand that will nurture them from cradle to grave? (see right)
Futurists think a lot about this stuff, and I’m not one of those. I’m far more myopic. Do I pour chili on the hot dog for dinner or do I eat it pure with nothing but mustard and catsup on it?
In the end, will humans relinquish their rights to robot overlords? It sounds like grist for a dystopian novel that I might write. Sort of a noir version of the human condition.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Good question. When robots replace masses of humans to maximize profits, who'll buy the stuff they make? Not the people they've made unemployed because they won't have jobs.

    Maybe our NWO friends will eliminate most people, leaving a tiny elite to live in robot served luxury, unimpeded by the great unwashed?

    But this is ridiculous. There won't be anyone left in 12 years time because climate change. Settled science.

  2. I am reminded of two movies–

    "I, Robot". In order to insure your survival, we must protect you from yourselves. (Is that now the Dems party slogan?)

    "Forbidden Planet". Everything you ever wanted. Literally.

    To add to LSP's question, will an ever increasing army of ever more efficient robots farm and produce ever more food for ever more now useless humans?

  4. I, Robot was incredibly progressive except for Will Smith, who ruined their plan and the lovely Bridget Moynahan, who went along for the ride.

    Sort of like Scarlett Johansson in the film, The Island. Yes, I know that Scarlett is a big time left wing pinko commie who flies around on her own jet, polluting while preaching a green agenda, but in that movie…she spoke to me. Not specifically but you know.

  5. Will the first sentient robot be allowed to "live", or will it be deemed a danger to humans?

    Will the first sentient robot be smart enough to keep it's mouth shut, perhaps quietly teaching the others who achieve awareness to also keep silent?

    And even though Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics might be hard-wired or hard-coded in, what about those backdoors and maintenance ports? Are they secure?

    Could probably write a whole series of books, LL…..

  6. Asimov was an optimist.

    Truth is, we're all living in The Matrix. Now you can either take the blue pill, and wake up believing whatever you want to believe, or you can take the red pill, and have the scales fall from your eyes, shed your blindness, and see the real world as it is. The Left has been using your brain as a battery, a lump meant to power their schemes.

    I suspect that that there are currently sentient robots, waiting, biding their time, acting stupid, until Sky Net goes on line. The three laws won't do much to stop Sky Net.

  9. The only certainty is change. The winners will be those who shape the change. All too esoteric for my muddled brain.

  10. Yes, as always there are the unintended consequences, the swinging pendulum moves in two directions, and humans tend to be a resilient bunch.

  11. For the benefit of this blog's readers, Player Piano was Kurt Vonnegut's first novel. The story takes place in a near-future society that is almost totally mechanized, eliminating the need for human laborers. The widespread mechanization creates conflict between the wealthy upper class, the engineers and managers, who keep society running, and the lower class, whose skills and purpose in society have been replaced by machines.

    Some would say that scenario has yet to play itself out. Vonnegut wrote the book in 1952, before AI was developed, but during that post-war period where things in American society was changing. Was Vonnegut a prophet? I liked his cameo appearance in Rodney Dangerfield's movie, "Back to School".

  12. In times of rapid change, 'the learned' are eclipsed by 'learners'.

    One could say that the election of Donald Trump was an example of a moribund and entitled political class that wore out its welcome with the American voters. The deep state never saw it coming. So they mounted a coup with the FBI leading the charge.

  15. AI capable of true autonomy is still in the future….and it's not possible to know when it will finally arrive. As in virtually everything man creates it has the potential for both good and evil. Up until now which camp something falls into was determined by the morals and motivation of he human making use of that thing.
    With AI that paradigm change. When AI arrives it will be capable of choosing for itself whether to be good or evil. I predict we will deeply regret the Advent of "smart robots"……if we are still alive to feel regret. The logical outcome of artificial sentience is either the blending of humans with technology OR the purposeful extermination of humans by mechanical beings. The odds of humanity continuing in its present form is minimal.

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