Robots In The Society & The End Of Manual Labour For Humans

Historical Overview

Write a report on Robots in the Society and the end of Manual labour for Humans.

Most of the technological innovations have created an impact on the life of human at numerous scenarios in history. The wheel invention as well as machines which presented the industrial revolution, these inventions have made a great advancement in the 20^th century and have left traces in lives of people & resolute the way society has moved since that time. The essay deals with the history of robotics, various advantages & disadvantages of this technology and how this technology has created an influence on the society (Blasi, Freeman & Kruse, 2013).

Technological developments & its impact on human society can be analysed in retrospect. It cannot be predicted, if a certain invention will transform the world. For instance, the invention of mobile phones has influenced our lives much more than the Apollo missions to the moon. As per the history, it has been clearly depicted that the mobiles would not have been developed without the knowledge of IT that inventers had made in the industries such as aerospace. Hence, viewing in the past, may assist us to evaluate the potential impacts of innovative technologies, such as robotics. The modern robots capacity & performance is increasing continually that forces universities, colleges & schools to integrate such technologies into their schedules.

Egyptian & Greek history may showcase the origins of modern robotics, when individuals had the idea of intelligent mechanisms. The Babylonian Water Clock, the clepsydra is known as the first robotic application in in the mankind history. Comparable works were seen in China. When it reached to the middle Ages, many of the mechanical arrangements were designed by engineers such as Leonardo da Vinci’s case or clocks, a first human made robot. These inventions and also the later inventions play a significant role in the history of robot, since they showcase how individuals believed about mechanical potentials, however they have not created a big influence on the our  society. This influence was instigated thru the industrial revolution of 19^th & 18^th century (Hounshell, 2014).

Numerous innovations have transformed the significant industries forever throughout the 18^th century mostly in the second half of it. For example, in the textile industry, 3 researchers had a great impact on the techniques of spinning. Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, James Hargreaves invented spinning jenny & both these inventions were combined by Samuel Crompton in his Spinning Mule, which was lastly patented in 1783. Obviously, these developments lead to profits for people. From then onwards cotton mills assisted to yield different variety of textiles, in bigger amount & with quicker speed that resulted in the cheaper final products by any consumer (Pecchi & Piga, 2008).

In 1775, steam engine by James Watt created a related influence on the industry. Initially, it was utilized to provide power to the pumps which required water from the mines; it shortly developed as an effective power source for other machineries as well. Now, organizations, are capable of building factories in places without waterpower. Such factories, quickly become semi-automated & bigger, also impacted the way work was done by individuals.  Human labour in the workshops were organized in such a way that individuals were provided with trainings to handle special tasks of the process & later deliver the products to subsequent employee who’ll be performing his work. Such changes in the working process are viewed as the assembly lines birth, which expanded greater significance in the following centuries & decades (Christensen, 2007).

Robots have emerged over the future of labour for decades, at least since robotic arm in early 1960s began replacing auto workers on the assembly line. According to optimists, there would be more economic growth & higher productivity because of more robots, whereas according to complaints from pessimists, massive swaths of the labour forces would see their possibilities of employment robotic out of existence.

Both the sides have a point, however there is also other way of looking at this apparently inevitable trend. Both these scenarios could be considered right. As more & more of the work is done by the robots as compared to the work humans used to do, and all these work is done with much more efficiency than humans used to do, it might result in requirement of jobs disappearing altogether. There might be situation where robots end up manufacturing more than enough of all the things which are required by everyone.

The redefinition of work itself is amongst most interesting opportunities imagines in the recent report of Pew Research about the jobs & robot’s future. Unquestionably, the prospect of a post-scarcity, robot-powered, future of obligatory mass leisure seems like a far-off scenario, & an edge case even then. In current scenario, safeguarding that each one has adequate mostly looks harder for humans to achieve instead of manufacturing sufficient in the first place. However, assuming a future which seems more similar to a Star Trek Blade Runner; many individuals might turn out having much more time in their hands.  In such a scenario, robots will just not only take our jobs; they will be forcing us to challenge a main existential dilemma: what would we do, if we don’t have to work anymore? (Needham, 2009)

The answer to this question is both a qualitative & quantitative exercise in describing what makes the human intelligence different from the artificial intelligence, an explanation which appears to keep becoming narrower. And at the end, we may be able to find out that a job-free robotized future seems to be quite more dangerous than it looks (Snyder, 2013). 

One dominant answer kind of escapes the question, however it looks line one amongst the most believable results. There might be a case where in at first place, many of the jobs cannot be automated. Numerous respondents stumped by Pew consider that the requirement for human labour would continue, since numerous of our basic human qualities would be difficult to code. According to Phew, computers are not smart enough; they are just huge calculators. They are capable of doing things which need logic; however, logic is only a part of human mind (Angelo, 2007).

Humans would endure to be valuable workers; the argument goes, since things such as creative thinking, judgement, creativity & empathy. Considering a common experience of calling a representative of a customer service, where employees are forced by employers them to follow a script (a type of pseudo-automation). When asked to follow a decision tree in the similar kind, a computer could, all 4 of those talents are sucked out of the communication & the service provided inclines to fuss. There is no chance to exercise critical thinking, judgment, empathy or creativity. It’s an AI problem to detect a complaint. It’s an AP problem to send the complaints to the right customer service entity, however customer service itself is a human problem (Robert, 2006).

Generally, the type of employments that respondents forecasted humans could still be required to do intricate communications with other individuals. Education, healthcare & child & elder caring would still be seen as occupation which will still need a human touch. The fields where human interference is significant would be changed less than those where interference is nil or less significant (Nilsson, 2010).

Future options of jobs might even spread beyond the caring professions to comprise work which the fluid integration of body & mind still make it most effectual for performance of humans.

Conclusion

The idea that robots would generate employment itself elective might seems to be amazing. No more work! However, the consequence at the end might be more, not less anguish. We need to still find out a place for ourselves amongst the robots. By excluding the requirement for individuals to work, robots will make us free so as to pay attention on what actually makes us human.

References

Christensen, A. G. (16. November 2007). The Literary Encyclopedia. https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=728

Angelo, J. A. (2007). Robotics: a reference guide to the new technology. Santa Barbara, United States: Libraries Unlimited.

Needham, J. (2009). Science and civilisation in China. Cambridge, Great Britain: Cambridge University Press.

Nilsson J. N. (2010). The Quest for Artificial Intelligence. Stanford, United States: Cambridge University Press.

Hounshell, David A. (2014), The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8

Robert Lacey, Ford 2006 - Little, Brown & Company ISBN: 0316511668

Blasi, J. R., R. B. Freeman, and D. L. Kruse. The Citizen’s Share: Putting Ownership back in Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013

Snyder, M. “Robots and computers could take half our jobs within the next 20 years.” The Economic Collapse, September 30, 2013. Online at: https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/oxfordprofessors-nearly-half-our-jobs-could-be-automated-within-the-next-20-years

 Pecchi, L., and G. Piga (eds). Revisiting Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Employment Outlook 2012. Paris: OECD, 2012