Replacing Jobs with Robots

                After reading R.U.R. the idea of robots replacing normal human jobs popped into my head. I decided to look further into this idea, and it turns out that I am not the only one who has this fear. There’s an article I found on the Science Daily that contains research conducted by Baylor University on “Technophobia.” A technophobe is a person who fears robots, artificial intelligence and new technology that they do not fully understand.

                In the study, they found that those who had this fear of robots taking over their jobs suffered from anxiety-related mental health issues. Previous research has shown that employees with little job security and issues with unemployment had poorer mental health and that these factors were often linked to heart disease and mortality rates.

                Billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believes that automation is going to cause unemployment. Society is advancing at an extremely rapid rate. This advancement or evolution in technology is an exponential change in society, so we will be advancing more and more rapidly. Eventually, we will reach a point where we will have the capability to produce a very high-functioning and almost life like android that will be able to complete any task that a human can complete in a fraction of the time. This will increase efficiency of the work and cause an increase in demand for these robots. Soon, most companies and businesses will invest in these androids, so they can increase their profits greatly. Eventually all the jobs that were once completed by humans will be taken over by these diligent, non-fatiguing androids. Then, there will be robots to replace and repair the other working robots. Essentially, humans will no longer have jobs, and there will be a divide created between the rich and the poor. Where the poor will have no money to survive, while the rich will have more than enough to support themselves and their children for generations to come.

                Many are aware of robots having the potential to replace their jobs, and some take an active stance against creating them. The article mentions that in England, 19^th Century textiles workers destroyed new machines to protest employers who utilized new inventions that allowed faster and cheaper labor by workers who were not as skilled. This has already been seen with many engineering companies where the parts to a car are made by machine or how many basic items such as brushes and push brooms. This idea has been around for a long period of time, however it did not have as much momentum as it does today.

                With the new additions like Siri, highly realistic robots made by China, Da Vinci machines, Roombas, etc. These are all a small start to a very huge problem. Da Vinci machines are used for surgery and need to be powered by the surgeon, however one day they could be completely independent of a user. This is just a basic example of how society is on its path to making work more efficient, but replacing much-needed jobs at the same time.

Article link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170321125007.htm