Machines have been a topic of discussion among people in the world for hundreds of years. The main controversy about them is that they have been used to substitute workers at most times within this period. However, little has been said regarding machines designing new employments (“The Economist,” 2016). During the beginning of the 20th century, agricultural technology and chemical fertilizers proved that one farm owner could abruptly grow more food. For this reason, we did not require as many farmers, and as a result, an enormous number of farm owners lost their careers to technology (“The Economist,” 2016).
Although technology rendered food so cheap that people could use their wages to buy other vital needs in their priorities like radios, TVs and modern appliances, jobs in factories also boomed. According to (“National Public Radio,” 2015), other segments also grew; in the mid-century, there were a lot of semi-skill white-collar jobs such as bookkeeper and secretary. Another wave of significant change came along in towards the end of the 20th century. These saw robots assume the position of workers in offices and factories. Many people who had secured employment due to technology again lost them.
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In the recent past, as factories became more computerized, manufactured goods decreased in price (“National Public Radio,” 2015). Many Americans were left with more cash to spend on secondary wants. They spent equally on educating themselves and treatment when they fell sick. These sectors still produce intensive labor and have consistently added jobs to people (“National Public Radio,” 2015). Nonetheless, a change may be witnessed because computers continue to get smarter and omnipresent around the globe (“National Public Radio,” 2015). A few jobs have been noticed be disappearing for over centuries. An example, a blacksmith job was not considered safe at any point in the 20th century.
Elsewhere at the University of California, San Fransisco Medical Center, there are robots filling prescriptions (“National Public Radio,” 2015). The system that costs $15 million is fantastic and works in this way; a medical practitioner writes down an electronic prescription. At the drug store, a mechanical belt conveys dozens of chests and picks out drugs. The pills are assorted and packed into small bags (“National Public Radio,” 2015). The bags are carefully placed together inside tiny rings to be used by only patients. Traditionally, a doctor would write down a prescription using the hands and have a clerk scan and fax it to the drug store who would then enter the order into a computer. Afterward, the drug store technician would go ahead to fill in the prescription (“National Public Radio,” 2015). The pharmacist would then go back and ascertain whether the order is correct.
The accuracy of the robots remarkable as their rate of error is close to 0 percent. Findings show that the robots have only filled one prescription wrongly out of 6 million doses (and human error was to blame). Before the arrival of the robots, the error rate was approximately 2.8 percent. In the event a new machine arrives at the place of work, things can work differently (“National Public Radio,” 2015). At times the computer substitutes human beings while sometimes it becomes equipment that enables people to work more. As far as robot pharmacists are concerned both these things appear to happen concurrently. (“National Public Radio,” 2015). If the robots were absent, then the pharmacy would have to employ more workers. This means that the robot is replacing labor that would have otherwise been provided by people.
Jobs that involved services were the best area of refuge when people lost their jobs to robots. They apparently appeared safe, but unfortunately, robots are unstoppable. They check people in inside hotels, rent cars and ring customers at supermarkets. An example of this incidence that is common is where machines have taken over some roles of pizza joint servers. Buzzers are used to notify waiting clients at the table when their pizza is ready. (“National Public Radio,” 2015).
We tend to think humans are unique beings. What humans do looks as if it could be impossible to replace. However, robots are incessantly getting sophisticated. Today, believe it or not, there are robot advisers and robot radiologists and who knows? We may be surprised by driverless vehicles shortly. We who are prolific writers and compulsive readers do not even trust our jobs. They are no longer safe.
Experts assert that if the substitution of machines for human labor goes on, the population may stand to be rendered redundant. Their worry is that the discovery of this powerful knowledge way earlier than peoplehas known how to incorporate it correctly. From (“The Economist,” 2016), such fears are indicative of the adducts related to artificial intelligence that could be a possible cause of the destruction of thousands of jobs and pose a menace similar to the one the movie, “Terminator,” posing a threat to humanity (“National Public Radio,” 2015). These are indeed the comments of critics who discussed mechanization two centuries ago. At that time, this controversy was referred to as the machinery question. Today there exists a similar debate.
Each time man struggles to make work easier by the use of technology; life becomes cheap.This is true as witnessed in the replacement of bank tellers with ATMs which led to the opening of new locations creating new job opportunities in customer service and sales. It is a heated argument with pros and cons (“National Public Radio,” 2015). When jobs become perishable, technology advances to cover up for the repercussions making people’s working lives longer. This means that young people will remain unemployed. Despite the progress of technology, there is little hope for the welfare of the rising population in the world. Policymakers need to become stern otherwise the more the delay, the worse the consequences.
References
National Public Radio. (2015). Episode 622: Humans Vs Robots. Retrieved from www.npr.org
National Public Radio. (2015). Episode 624: I, Waiter. Retrieved from www.npr.org
National Public Radio. (2015). How Machines Destroy (And Create!) Jobs, In 4 Graphs. Retrieved from www.npr.org
National Public Radio. (2015). Watch Robots Transform A California Hospital. Retrieved from www.npr.org
The Economist. (2016). Artificial Intelligence. March of the Machines. What history tells us about the future of artificial intelligence and how society should respond. Retrieved from h ttp://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21701119-what-history-tells-us-about-f uture-artificial-intelligenceand-how-society-should
