Robots doing Real Work!
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Community Manager03-06-26 11:38How did I generation raised watching this:
Decided it was a good idea to create robots?
At some point, you have to ask: if machines are doing all the work, what exactly are people supposed to do?
"It will create more jobs". Ok...
I just posted about the self-driving car. The last couple of years have been quite intense, it seems technology is advancing way too fast. I miss the ol' good times when the biggest tech update was Apple coming up with another overrated phone.
And no flying cars like in the Jetsons... or the wardrobe that becomes tiny and you can put it in your pocket! 😂Last edited by Lily; 03-06-26 at 12:22.
Lily
Got a question or want to start a discussion? Create a new post here. ✍ -
03-06-26 14:31Curiosity, and the search for novelty, is part of being human but, as you say, we are getting into areas where the consequences of new developments should be thought through before being released.
First we need worldwide laws and a system to enforce them, one of these laws should be, "Do no harm".
Hopefully, it does not prevent development but does introduce a level of responsibility into the development of products.
If not world wide, countries could go it alone, I think, the events that lead to the Grenfell Towers fire would not have happened if all the parties involved had been working under a 'Do no Harm' directive, of course the penalty would need to be realistic.Last edited by olduser; 03-06-26 at 14:34.
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03-06-26 18:51Ricky Gervais said AI isn't truly as clever as us until it works out how to get out of work: not turning up on Monday because of a hangover, while self-diagnosing with ADHD and claiming hardship
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Community Manager04-06-26 16:14You could always be a contractor, being hired and paid by an AI agent to do work that it finds too difficult: The Human API
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04-06-26 16:37I wonder if there will be pushback from the BMW workers union.
Just wondering.
https://apnews.com/article/strike-la...9d38febe05e212 -
05-06-26 13:19
Well, they have Trump on their side - god help them.
Automated trucks feels feasible but automated cranes are different, when it goes wrong (and it will) someone could be killed. Lifting and lowering a load on a crane is simple but in this situation the ship is moving, the weight in each load is different, the wind is different, the pendulum effect is constantly changing, and there are people in the ship and at the landing site.
One other thought is, have the longshore men priced themselves off the market?
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07-06-26 10:37
I don't agree. They both have the potential to cause mayhem. On the other hand, they both could prove to be more reliable than fallible human operators.
Workers have tried to resist automation forever. Spitalfields silk weavers rioted against the introduction of machines in 1675, 1719, 1736, and the 1760s. The 19th century had the Luddites resisting mechanisation in wool and cotton mills.
News printing used to be controlled by a very strong union which insisted that only a qualified man could press the button to start the press (his only task). At Longbridge, drilling a hole in a piece of wood backed by metal required both a carpenter and a metalworker.
Does this mean that most people will be able to veg out all day in front of their screens watching entertainment created and provided by AI? I don't know, but I surely hope not. -
07-06-26 15:26As a sort of aside: Apparently most car top coats are around 40 - 70 microns thick. One manufacturer, (who will not honour paint fade caused by sunshine), boasts only 30 microns. I was told these kinds of 'thinness'* cannot be achieved by human painters.
*I claim a senior moment here - I can't think of the correct word. -
07-06-26 15:27Automated load carriers appear to be sorted out and working safely in factories, mixed in with people.
I don't think, within the dockyard, there is a need for speed, a container has to be in the right position at the right time that is all.
I once visited a BMC factory in the bad old days, and seeing people working like machines (repetitive actions) struck me as soul destroying, and a waste of human intellect.
But I do agree, we should be thinking about how life needs to be reorganised to enable people to live with pride.Last edited by olduser; 07-06-26 at 15:30.
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07-06-26 21:16
No, it's more like the ability to hold the whole country to ransom, much like the British rail and London Underground workers, and any threat to that power is not to be taken lightly. -
08-06-26 13:26
I would have said, "I was told kinds of thickness (30 micron) is beyond human painters", but I do understand and sympathise with your senior moments, they are very frustrating.Last edited by olduser; 08-06-26 at 13:42.
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08-06-26 13:35
Eventually, they all price themselves off the market but from what I hear, unions in the USA hold far too much power.
They did in the UK, and eventually destroyed the UK motor industry but at that time, it was easy for the unions because the work was so bad, men were forced to work mechanically, like machines.
Last edited by olduser; 08-06-26 at 13:43.
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08-06-26 14:04
That's a bit of a myth. UK car production actually peaked in 2016, when we built more cars (and exported vastly more) than in any earlier "golden age". Production then fell dramatically with Covid and hasn't recovered.
The unions certainly did massive damage to the industry in the '60s and '70s, (and so did inept management), but they didn't kill it. -
08-06-26 14:14My next-door neighbour at the time worked for Ford at Dagenham on the production line. He assured me that he could swap jobs at the drop of a hat if he could find someone to swap with. He reckoned he could build a complete car with the knowledge he had accrued.
FWIW: Has anyone else seen Made in Dagenham?
