Robots to take 20 mil jobs, worsening inequality: study

It added that "robots will increasingly play in sectors including retail, healthcare, hospitality, and transport as well as construction and farming."

Automated trucking would have the most devastating effect on US employment. It's the #1 job in 29 US states:

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/05/382664837/map-the-most-common-job-in-every-state

As long as we have an economy-led society rather than a people-led world we can expect money to be THE leading factor. Thank you banks, oil, pharma, etc. The next world economic collapse will have this as the cause. We need a way to bring out the best (in people) in our societies without killing peoples’ hope. This affects women, the young and the aged. Throwing people away as if they were a liability rather than the main asset is the root cause of dysfunction today. We’re consumers, not beings to respect and build strong societies around. Get rid of robots when and where possible.

We will need people with degrees to program and make the robots work for us. That requires more college education but it'll be worth it for all, because robots can do all the dangerous jobs and human lives won't be exploited and wasted so much.

One prime example is the use of droids in space exploration - they're better suited and more expendable than astronauts and they pave the way for future utilization of outer space by Earth people. We've learned a lot already in that field.

Domo arigato, Mister Roboto.

Quote: "Jobs in less structured environments and which demand compassion, creativity or social intelligence are likely to be carried out by humans for decades to come."

Oh good, so at least the remnants of humanity have thirty or forty years left ahead of them/us.

The next challenge is to transform robots into consumers as human beings will be unemployed.

Who's decisions were these ???.

I hope the government is factoring in all the lost tax revenue as they promote these machines. Robots will use up electricity, can't use the shinkansen, won't buy clothes, eat in restaurants, and consume, consume, consume. Are they a good choice? PLUS the government will have to pay out unemployment benefits, including mental & other social problems. Nice going!

I hope the government is factoring in all the lost tax revenue as they promote these machines. Robots will use up electricity, can't use the shinkansen, won't buy clothes, eat in restaurants, and consume, consume, consume. Are they a good choice? PLUS the government will have to pay out unemployment benefits, including mental & other social problems. Nice going!

Yeah, it's not like society has ever figured out how to adapt to changing technology or anything.

If it's the robots shown in the story, the people losing those jobs weren't necessary to do them in the first place.

Millions still do dirty, dangerous and work in drudgery

Please see my previous post. Robots don't get diseased or sick from doing dangerous or dirty work. And they don't 'think' like those chintzy B-grade TV shows have shown us. The word 'robot' is derived from a Czech word meaning 'slave'. Robots serve mankind. 

Domo arigato, Mister Roboto.

Yeah, it's not like society has ever figured out how to adapt to changing technology or anything.

This. Just like any technological advance in the past, it is inevitable.

No. But they are expensive to build, they can break down, they cost a lot to maintain and repair. And they're incapable of thought. They do some things very well, and most things very badly, which is one reason why humans do most things.

Also people can be cheap and reassuringly expendable. If someone dies doing something dangerous, you just get another person to do it.

Robots can't 'think' or do anything unless someone programs it to do so. And they are more accurate than humans can be, or even want to be. Droids or not lazy.

As for the idea that 'people are cheap' - that's the crap ideology you will hear in a totalitarian nation. Nobody is 'cheap' and nobody has the right to play God with other people's lives. Nobody.