tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26968829666682559702024-03-13T12:07:23.328-07:00Brainstorm the FutureHow will we deal with the growth of technology? We need to address the issues that Robots and AI are and will bring up. This brainstorm is meant to bring forth positive ideas on how we as humans can develop a society that takes advantage of the positive aspects of robotics and technology to enhance our well being.
Please join me in this effort to develop some practical solutions. Your positive and constructive comments are welcomed.Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-25159421093227127302023-03-27T10:51:00.003-07:002023-03-27T11:31:59.921-07:00What If You're Wrong About Climate Change?<p> Let me start by saying straight out that I plan to use AI software ChatGPT to help me write this article. I will put any quotes that I use from it in italics.</p><p>First let's define what we mean by "Climate Change"</p><p><i>Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.</i></p><p>The only thing we can have an effect on is the last part. "<i>human activities have been the main driver of climate change". </i>Some agree, and others disagree so this article will try to sort out the consequences of each point of view to perhaps help to make a rational rather than emotional decision about your opinion. </p><p>The article will examine both sides of the debate with a different approach than we are used to from public media.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Part 1 - I believe that climate change is being caused by fossil fuels - What if I am wrong?</h1><div>To look at this I will break down what I think are some main repercussions of the current trend to cut back on fossil fuels. I will use statistics from the USA to illustrate the points.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">Economic Repercussions</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Job Loss<i> </i></li><ul><li><i> According to a Brookings report, nearly 1.7 million people worked in fossil fuel industries in 2019. The Energy Department report stated 2.3 million additional jobs were in energy transmission, storage, and distribution; a number that includes powerline and pipeline workers and more than 900,000 retail jobs, such as gas station workers and fuel dealers.</i></li></ul><li>Money invested in stocks and bonds of fossil fuel companies will be removed from the market and the companies will declare bankruptcy leaving many investors with losses. </li><ul><li><i>According to a report published in March 2021 by a collection of climate organizations titled Banking on Climate Chaos 2021, the 60 largest commercial and investment banks have collectively financed $3.8 trillion in fossil fuel companies between 2016 and 2020.</i></li></ul><li>Cities and towns dependent on neighboring fossil fuel operations will lose that source of tax revenue as will some of the business in these cities and towns.</li><li>Projects to provide fossil fuel energy for the future will have been delayed or cancelled causing energy shortages. Existing facilities and pipelines may be abandoned and unusable. </li></ul></div><h3>Physical Repercussions</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Many current transportation vehicles would be scrapped and replaced with other clean fueled versions.</li><li>Many petroleum products will be discontinued including plastics, lubricants and others. Substitutions would need to be developed.</li><ul><li><i>In the industrial sector, the petrochemical industry uses petroleum as a raw material (a feedstock) to make products such as plastics, polyurethane, solvents, and hundreds of other intermediate and end-user goods. Petroleum products are also used to produce chemical fertilizers, synthetic fiber, synthetic rubber, nylon, pesticides and insecticides, perfumes, dyes, paints, carbon black and sulfur.</i></li></ul></ul></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Political Repercussions</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Tax revenue would suffer and need to be replaced. </li><ul><li><i>Fossil fuels provide substantial revenue to the US federal government and many states, tribes, and localities.</i></li></ul><li>Progressive party politicians who back the idea may suffer voter kickback and funding from those affected by negative economic outcomes. Elections may be lost.</li><li>Conservative politicians who deny the premise may see this as a victory and ride a wave of confidence further to the right. </li><li>General loss of confidence in political systems that back the premise may occur and cause difficulties in the future.</li><li>Public opinion may move away from concepts of clean air and water thus allowing pollution policies to fall and setting back environmental movements.</li><li>Your country may fall behind or lose power to countries who do not follow the trend away from fossil fuels and use the fuel as a bargaining chip.</li></ul></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Personal Repercussions</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>You may lose your job for no reason if you work in the fossil fuel industry.</li><li>You may lose your job in the future because you chose renewable energy as a career and it has failed.</li><li>You may lose money on your investments in renewable energy companies.</li><li>Friends and family may split apart because of differences of opinion and the "I told you so" arguments. </li><li>You may lose credibility in your pier group.</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><div><h1>Part 2 - I deny that climate change is being caused by fossil fuels - What if I am wrong?</h1></div><div><h3><br /></h3><h3>Economic Repercussions</h3></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Vast amounts of money will be spent on disaster relief and rebuilding. </li><ul><li><i>According to a report published by Reuters in April 2022, the federal government could spend an additional $25 billion to $128 billion annually on expenditures such as coastal disaster relief, flood, crop, and healthcare insurance, wildfire suppression and flooding at federal facilities¹. The United States faced 22 extreme weather and climate-related disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each last year alone – a cumulative price tag of nearly $100 billion⁴.</i></li></ul><li>Economic output will be reduced and growth stifled.</li><ul><li><i>According to a report from Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest providers of insurance to other insurance companies, the effects of climate change can be expected to shave 11 percent to 14 percent off global economic output by 2050 compared with growth levels without climate change¹. The largest impact of climate change is that it could wipe off up to 18% of GDP off the worldwide economy by 2050 if global temperatures rise by 3.2°C⁴. If that happens, the economy of the United States would be as much as 7 percent smaller than in a world without climate change.</i></li></ul></ul></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Physical Repercussions</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Crops will fail and warming will alter the environment. Land and animals will be lost.</li><ul><li><i>According to NRDC, if we don’t limit greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, the consequences of rising global temperatures include massive crop and fishery collapse, the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of species, and entire communities becoming uninhabitable. Scientists have predicted that long-term effects of climate change will include a decrease in sea ice and an increase in permafrost thawing, an increase in heat waves and heavy precipitation, and decreased water resources in semi-arid regions. Climate change may increase the risk of some infectious diseases, particularly those diseases that appear in warm areas and are spread by mosquitoes and other insects.</i></li></ul><li>Sea levels will rise due to melting glaciers and ice fields.</li><ul><li><i>According to National Geographic, sea level rise poses a serious threat to coastal life around the world. Consequences include increased intensity of storm surges, flooding, and damage to coastal areas. In many cases, this is where large population centers are located, in addition to fragile wildlife habitats. Potential effects of sea-level rise include surface inundation of low-lying coastal areas and changes in the altitude of the water table and corresponding distance from the land surface to the water table (depth to water), the position of the freshwater/saltwater interface in the aquifer, and the volume of base flow in freshwater streams.</i></li></ul></ul><div><h3>Political Repercussions</h3></div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Millions of people will need to leave their homes and migrate to areas where they can survive rising temperatures.</li><ul><li><i>According to Time, if climate change is left unchecked, bigger storms, unsurvivable heat and disappearing coastlines will leave billions displaced or struggling to survive. This would in turn create unprecedented strain on political and social institutions, not mention the global economy. No one really knows exactly how the fallout will occur. As climate change takes its toll on Earth’s physical planet, it will also cause social, economic, and political chaos as refugees flee areas that can no longer sustain them.</i></li><div></div></ul><li>Conservative party politicians who deny climate change may suffer voter kickback and funding from those affected by it (everybody). Elections may be lost.</li><li>Progressive politicians who believe the premise may see this as a victory and ride a wave of confidence further to the left. </li></ul><h3 style="text-align: left;">Personal Repercussions</h3></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>You may lose your job if you work in the fossil fuel industry.</li><li>You may lose money on your investments in fossil fuel companies.</li><li>Friends and family may split apart because of differences of opinion and the "I told you so" arguments. </li><li>You may lose credibility in your pier group.</li><li>Your home location may become unlivable due to extreme weather or pollution.</li><li>Your home may be destroyed.</li><li>You and your family may be dispossessed and forced to move.</li><li>You and or loved ones may die.</li></ul></div><div><h1><br /></h1><h1>Part 3 - I'm not sure so what should I do to increase the odds of a better life for me and my family?</h1></div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I did discover using ChatGPT for research is that it's sources (scouring the internet) overwhelmingly favor reduction in the use of fossil fuels. In every case when I asked it to give me repercussions of ignoring climate change (Part 1 above), it came back with what I asked but then cited reasons not to ignore changing climate. While this is not definitive, it tells me that the majority of public opinion and scientific evidence is pointing to climate change causing big problems in the future.<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I think it's a sure thing that if we do nothing about fossil fuel use, the environment will get worse than it already is. Pollution is a bad outcome no matter what you believe in. Its proven and you can see the smoke in the air with your own eyes.</li><li>If you go along with the majority of public opinion it is easier to move ahead in your life. A wise bit of advice from the investment community says "Follow the money". Going against the grain is not the easy solution to life in our societies.</li><li>If you believe anything from the topics I have brought up here, you can see that not investing in a clean future could cause catastrophic repercussions if not for you, at least for your kids and grandchildren.</li></ul><div>A final word from GPT in the form of a poem about climate change. A bit corny but what the heck!</div></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i>The world is changing, can't you see?</i></div><div><i>The air is thick with CO2</i></div><div><i>The ice caps melt, the oceans rise</i></div><div><i>The planet's future's in disguise</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The forests burn, the droughts persist</i></div><div><i>The storms grow stronger, can't resist</i></div><div><i>The climate's changing, that's for sure</i></div><div><i>We must act now, there is no cure</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>We must reduce our carbon footprint</i></div><div><i>And find new ways to live and sprint</i></div><div><i>We must protect our planet's health</i></div><div><i>And leave behind a better wealth</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>For future generations to come</i></div><div><i>Let's make sure they have a home</i></div><div><i>Where they can breathe and live and thrive</i></div><div><i>And keep our planet's hope alive</i></div><div><br /></div><div><i>So let's unite and take a stand</i></div><div><i>And save our planet, hand in hand</i></div><div><i>For we are all in this together</i></div><div><i>And we can make it last forever!</i></div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07696242733896939239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-59941126383958591402023-01-16T15:47:00.000-08:002023-01-16T15:47:03.061-08:00Artificial Intelligence Application ChatGPT - Threat or Tool?<p> ChatGPT is in the news every day now and it's interesting to follow the multiple sides of the discussion about its merits and pitfalls as well as the fears of AI taking over and destroying us.</p><p>I'll ask ChatGPT to describe itself so we can start with that. </p><p>How do you describe yourself in simple terms?<br /><i>I am a computer program designed to understand and generate human language.</i></p><div>How do you work?</div><div><i>I work by processing and analyzing large amounts of text data using machine learning techniques. This allows me to understand the patterns and relationships in the language, and generate responses based on that understanding. I am also continuously learning from new data and user interactions, which helps me to improve my responses over time.</i></div><p>And here's a link so you can <a href="https://chat.openai.com/chat" target="_blank">check it out yourself</a>.</p><p>Here's my take:</p><p>Way back (50 years) when I was in 2nd year mechanical engineering, I managed to save up enough pennies to buy myself a calculator. I think it was $40 and all it did was basic math with maybe one memory function. At the time, we were allowed slide rules in exams but not calculators. The fear on the street at the time was that wide use of a calculator would ruin children's ability to do simple math in their heads and that people without calculators would be at a disadvantage in an exam. </p><p>Guess what, it did just that. Have you ever been in line to buy something when the power goes out? Nobody can give the correct change without the cash register (calculator). The store is shut down. But also, have you ever been in a math exam without a calculator?</p><p>But ... it seems that we as a society have managed to get by without being able to add or subtract on demand. Tools to do that are all around us.</p><p>How about spelling. Same thing has happened. It used to be frowned upon to write a letter with bad spelling. No more. Firstly, we really don't care anymore as long as it's understandable and secondly, spell check is rampant in our world of communication and its use is not difficult.</p><p>Do computers make us dumb? There is an argument about that too.</p><p>Each of these examples has two truths depending on how you look at them. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">- If you are threatened by them, then they can be thought to be harmful to your way of thinking or at least going against your view of the future.</p><p style="text-align: left;">- If you think of them as evolutionary tools helping advance our aptitude and way of life, then they are all just steps along the path to the future. </p></blockquote><p>The question that arises then is, do we seek to regulate the application to make it more acceptable to the former group, or is that even possible. Looking at my other examples above (calculator, spell checker) it is probably safe to say there is no way these could be regulated without severely difficult philosophical arguments and oversight. In fact, I think we could agree that without them running free we would not have their full benefits in our society.</p><p>Are calculators and spell checkers used for evil? Of course, they are used by evil people to further their evil goals. Could we stop that? Doubtful. Once the pandora's box is open, it is impossible to close without authoritarian rules and oversight. And then the question becomes whether or not it is the authoritarian that is evil or the application?</p><p>I know, you are now thinking my arguments and examples are much too simplistic to be meaningful. My engineering background shouts at me to simplify simplify simplify so that the problem can be understood and solved. So, bear with me!</p><p>I argue that AI applications like ChatGPT are best left unfettered so that the market (i.e. the need) decides how they will evolve. Evil players will use them, but the overall drive for improvement will drive them to mainly good uses and features. Already there is a real market posed by teachers to develop applications that can identify ChatGPT output thus avoiding plagiarism by their students. </p><p>So, my conclusion to myself is that we need to encourage AI applications / tools for the betterment of our society and use them where necessary to aid in the development of more and better tools as we grow.</p><p>If you disagree or have other ideas to discuss, please comment. If you agree, see you on the other side.</p><p>In closing, I asked ChatGPT to "Write one paragraph justifying your existence."<br /><i>As a language model, my existence serves the purpose of assisting users in generating human-like text. I am trained on a vast amount of text data, allowing me to understand and respond to a wide range of questions and prompts. By using me, individuals and organizations can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on writing or editing tasks. Additionally, my ability to understand and respond in natural language can be beneficial in areas such as customer service, content creation, and language translation. My existence ultimately aims to improve efficiency and productivity for users.</i></p>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07696242733896939239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-42616097961690243112019-09-04T10:39:00.004-07:002019-09-04T10:39:55.943-07:00Lets Talk about The FutureSo a bit of time has gone by since my last post and robots have not yet taken over the planet ... but not to fear, other things have changed both personally and globally. Only 4 months to go before I will be officially retired. Yikes!<br />
<br />
For lack of something concrete to dedicate my new life to, I will try to write in here on a regular basis whether anybody reads it or not. The subject matter may ramble for a bit until I get into a routine both mentally and physically ... but it will mostly be about the future and how technology could save the day.<br />
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<h3>
What Day are we Trying to Save?</h3>
<div>
It's Sept 2019 as I write this from the west coast of the USA. </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Democracy in America (and most of the globe for that matter) is in gridlock.</li>
<li>Social Media has made the world a bit crazy and it's directors have made us nervous with their concepts on ethical business practice. Apparently we are their human data for sale to the highest bidder. </li>
<li>The US President has acted like the proverbial bull in a china shop for the last 3 years and for at least some of us, destroyed our trust in the ability of our system to deliver policies based on ethics and common decency.</li>
<li>Global relations are strained in many ways including trade, religion, ideals and conflict. Alliances are re-aligning and what they call populist politics is rising in popularity ... or at least it appears that way. </li>
<li>Trust in communication via the media has been shaken, somewhat driven by what is now referred to as "fake news" which has cropped up on social media and to some extent mainstream media. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
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<h3>
Can Technology and / or AI be Harnessed to Police our Networks?</h3>
There are many skeptics out there that will say no to this and I must confess that my doubts have been raised over the last few years after seeing what has happened to our digital environment at the hands of hackers and data harvesters like facebook. So perhaps the first thing we need to do is to harness our technology and turn it onto itself in order to wipe out some of these dangers.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Would it be possible to develop an AI system to scrape universal networks and destroy malevolent code wherever it is found including when it is released by hackers? It would need to be able to not only recognize known threats but also to foresee and destroy new threats as they are released. Here is an interesting article about this possibility and perhaps one of you out there can comment on it as well:<br /><a href="https://www.scienceandtechnologyresearchnews.com/training-ai-to-police-future-networks/">https://www.scienceandtechnologyresearchnews.com/training-ai-to-police-future-networks/</a><br /></li>
<li>Can a better business model be devised for social media whereby the good side (healthy communication and co-operation) is preserved without the downside of bad actors being allowed to survive. I think this one would require government intervention and regulation and the goal of infinite profit by selling user data would be banned. Advertising has worked for decades without being malicious so there is hope for this ... or how about paying for your social media instead of having advertising at all. Here is an article about some possibilities:<br /><a href="https://www.vox.com/conversations/2018/3/27/17168790/ello-facebook-alternative-data-privacy-cambridge-analytica-deletefacebook">https://www.vox.com/conversations/2018/3/27/17168790/ello-facebook-alternative-data-privacy-cambridge-analytica-deletefacebook</a><br />So far though I don't think this model is working because we are just too enamored with the thought of everything free on the internet.<br /></li>
<li>And what about politics and government ... can technology fix that mess? Maybe so but only if we can elect some people with vision and so far I don't see much of that happening at least in this country. Let me just write down some thoughts for discussion and perhaps you can comment on the pros and cons of these points:<br /></li>
<ul>
<li>Limit the length of time for campaigning to a few months</li>
<li>Take money out of the process by giving each candidate a blog whereby he/she can talk to the public and express platforms and ideas. Otherwise communication is by unpaid news reports only ... no TV ads or fundraisers ... no more lobbyists or super pacs either.</li>
<li>No more primaries. Each party selects their presidential candidate at a convention by majority vote</li>
<li>All positions are limited to a time period (4-6 years) after which a second term may be attempted but only two terms are allowed.</li>
<li>Elections could be done via the internet over a period of a week or so and only registered voters would have the ability to log in and vote (need the AI police mentioned above to stop fraud and hacking).</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />Well that's a start anyway. More later. Comments welcome here and I will try to respond to all of them.<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-40664164464751074802017-09-08T11:31:00.001-07:002017-09-08T11:38:14.563-07:00The Specifics of the Robot Minimum Wage Plan<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0d2ea4;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white;"> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's been a while since my last post ... sorry about that. No excuse, just life getting in the way sometimes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Since the last post, there have been umpteen articles and scenarios in the media about robots taking jobs and government funded guaranteed income for all. Even the big tech gurus are talking about it. So, let's accept that there is a problem, and move on from that and discuss in more detail how my RMWP solution could work.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Firstly, to reiterate, the plan endeavors to tap into capitalism to fund and maintain the minimum wage system ... not government handouts or higher taxes for anybody. This is where the idea differs and why I think it is something that would be supported by the majority of citizens in most countries.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">But, I need help to flush out the details and that is why I created this blog. I'm hoping to get feedback and ideas from people who know much more that I do about various aspects of the plan.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let me break it down here and ask you to give your feedback. Bear in mind that I am an engineer and strive to keep things as simple as possible. That's how we get things built :-)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
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<h2>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Part 1 - Convincing Industry to Adopt the Plan</span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Role 1 - Robot System Manufacturers </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The concept here is that robot manufacturers and system providers (this includes process automation software and systems) would change to a leasing system rather than outright sales and ownership transfer. They would act more like an employment agency in some ways. Their robots or systems would be leased to companies at an hourly rate as though they were employees. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">For this to work it obviously must be just as, or more, profitable to the manufacturing company. My simple brain tells me this would not be difficult and in fact because of the expensive nature of robotic systems, it may be advantageous to offer them as though they were employees. It seems to me that more small companies would be able to afford to implement them without the large capital outlays required today. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<i style="color: red; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html#comment-form" target="_blank">Thoughts on this?</a></b></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Role 2 - Robot System User Companies</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The companies who use the products and services would treat the systems as if they were employees and pay an hourly wage rather than own them outright. The wage would be broke down as follows:</span></span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Part A - Lease fees paid to the system manufacturer above. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Part B - Income taxes and payroll taxes paid to the government. Tax rates would be determined based on the hourly wage of the robotic system. Need an economist to simulate the effects of this on the taxation system.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Part C - Contribution to the RMWP (Robot Minimum Wage Plan). This amount would be determined based on the number of employees replaced by the robotic system.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, the end result here is that the company must make a profit doing whatever it is they do. The decision of whether or not to use robotic systems instead of humans would be made based on the economics of this model. In some cases I expect that humans would remain because the are cheaper or better suited to the job. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i style="color: red; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html#comment-form" target="_blank">Thoughts on this?</a></b></i></div>
<div>
<i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></i></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Part 2 - Designing and Operating the Plan</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Role 3 - </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The RMWP (Robot Minimum Wage Plan)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are probably many ways to set this up but I think it would need to be closely tied to the government so it has the power it needs to collect and distribute the funds. Maybe something like the IRS since the roles are somewhat similar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This institution would be responsible for:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Determination of contribution and distribution levels based on a system designed to be as simple as possible. That's what this blog is for :-)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Collection of revenue and distribution of wages to qualified recipients</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oversight and enforcement of the plan. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>This institution should be designed to operate mostly with AI / Robotic precision as far as collecting and distributing the funds. It could be a model for government to follow in other areas</b>. </span></div>
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<i style="color: red; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html#comment-form" target="_blank">Thoughts on this?</a></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Role 4 - Government</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since new laws would be required to make this work, the role of government would be to make those laws and give the RMWP authority to carry them out. Whatever shape that takes would depend on the type of government in place for each participating country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That is all the government should be involved in!</span></div>
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<i style="color: red; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html#comment-form" target="_blank">Thoughts on this?</a></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Part 3 - Living with the Plan</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Role 5 - Society</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now we enter the human equation and we need to be careful not to oversimplify here. In a society that embraces the plan we would expect and encourage evolution from what we have now to what we want to have in the future. Here's how I think we could start to look at the plan in action:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Existing incentives for success must be maintained although the goalposts may move.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Government Leaders and Politicians</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do we move away from re-election mania to responsible governing again? I can't answer this one but perhaps a society that sets different goals will encourage that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Professionals and Educators</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This group responds well to higher ethical standards and I suspect would see opportunities to use their influence to encourage a more equitable way of life. Again, as long as they can still be motivated with monetary and status rewards. We also need to be aware that some of these professions will be affected by the loss of employment due to automation and AI so the RMWP must take those jobs into account as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Ambitious Individuals</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again, we need to encourage and reward ambition just as we do today. Higher education must be rewarded with higher earning power and status. The goal posts will move however. Careers will shift to areas where robots cannot affect status and employment. This should be a good thing for the advancement of the society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Average Citizens - The Middle Class</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are the folks who will make or break the plan and also the ones who should benefit the most if it is done right. The cheese will move (different jobs) but the RMWP should work to ease the pain and encourage the transition. The amount and disbursement of the minimum wage must be targeted to those who are most affected but the amount should not be enough to deter ambition. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Working Poor</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Families who are<i> just scraping by</i> are the ones who need the most help because ... <i>they are just scraping by</i> ... and their jobs are the most at risk by automation in general. The RMWP disbursement amount should be designed to lift them out of poverty and give them a chance to improve their standard of living by taking on basic work to add money to the minimum amount they receive. The trick will be to recognize value and monetize basic care-giving work because this may be an area where these folks can best be employed. People helping people. It may even be that many of the jobs available would be shared / part-time positions but if the RMWP can provide enough for basic survival then the additional work need only do light lifting to improve lifestyle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Disabled, Unable to Work, Unwilling to Work</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There will always be unfortunate or unwilling people who cannot or will not fend for themselves. The RMWP should give them a minimum income on which to survive. Other existing or new government support programs would still be needed to cover the multitude of special needs of this sector of society. With the RMWP however, the cost of this support should be reduced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Future - Our Children</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If the RMWP can raise the average standard of living, the most benefit should go to the children. They would grow up with a different set of values based on different upbringing and career goals. Not having to scrape out a living should improve the attitudes of their parents. The children themselves should see a more open playing field and better access to education and opportunity. </span></div>
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<i style="color: red; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html#comment-form" target="_blank">Thoughts on this?</a></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">OK, enough from me. Please send me your thoughts on this plan and if you know others who may be interested please pass it on to them. Especially if you know the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or other influential thought provokers out there who see and care about the future of their country, children and society. </span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Please take a moment and comment with your impressions (just click on the comment link below). This is meant to be a brainstorming session so your opinions are what will keep it going.</span></i></div>
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Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-3823076232520462202017-04-30T21:23:00.000-07:002017-04-30T21:23:28.913-07:00Robotic Process Automation & AI<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white;"> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If your only vision of robots taking jobs conjures up a silver humanoid beast working in a factory then we need to look further into our definition of robots and expand it to include artificial intelligence (AI) and a swiftly growing industry called Robotic Process Automation (RPA). If we think of computers as robotic brains then the processes they perform are related to our dilemma. Computers have been replacing humans for years and yet they have enhanced our existence and made many things commonplace that would have otherwise remained impossible. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8L8F-zcT4zWeqrFMh7sHxHFtH2xaBSfdQwewskDa5NgKV1FUGJ3dZgxUYDYdT4cE-dSt0IhKtBoJLqR6YFsnhhqfrzivB71uYcUucHSlDFeJzKzcj1jarcZbw2fR9wgWIFPWrfZSOl3LA/s1600/rpa_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8L8F-zcT4zWeqrFMh7sHxHFtH2xaBSfdQwewskDa5NgKV1FUGJ3dZgxUYDYdT4cE-dSt0IhKtBoJLqR6YFsnhhqfrzivB71uYcUucHSlDFeJzKzcj1jarcZbw2fR9wgWIFPWrfZSOl3LA/s1600/rpa_thumb.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of the reason that computers have not hurt the job market so far is that we have still needed to feed data into the computers to make them useful to us. Initially punch cards were used to communicate our needs to those transistors ... then keyboards and now more than ever sensors input the data directly. With AI and a bunch of sensors and logic the robot brains can now experience the environment and learn cause and effect from that. Connect all those brains to the cloud (a huge central brain) and the body of experiences grows exponentially. Now add a bunch of very smart programmers whose goal is to teach that huge brain to use its knowledge (data) to think for itself (AI) and find and solve business problems that we did not even know we had. Voila ... RPA!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And guess what one of the main goals of RPA is? Look deeply into our business models and figure out how to improve efficiency and make more money. Why is this industry growing so fast? Because it can save big money without adding expense. A company can make more widgets, sell them at the same price without adding cost = more profit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now guess how RPA improves efficiency ... replace the weakest links, namely those humans that need care and attention and can only work 8 hours a day. The game changer here may be the kind of workers that are displaced by RPA. Not the factory workers we are used to hearing about but how about lawyers, accountants, managers and the like. Business processes can include just about everybody so no one is immune.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are a few articles I have recently read about RPA:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.roboticstomorrow.com/article/2017/04/robotic-process-automation-rpa--the-future-of-outsourcing/9926/" style="background-color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Robotic Process Automation (RPA) - The Future of Outsourcing</span></a></h3>
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<a href="http://www.roboticstomorrow.com/article/2017/04/key-best-practices-for-successful-implementation-of-automation/9904/" style="background-color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Key Best Practices for Successful Implementation of Automation</span></a></h3>
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<a href="http://www.roboticstomorrow.com/article/2017/01/brave-new-world-of-rpa/9347/" style="background-color: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066cc; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Brave New World of RPA</span></a></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The good side of RPA is again that it releases humans from repeatative work and enhances the output of businesses that make our lives better in many ways. It will lead to leaner and more productive companies that will in turn build us more products and services at lower cost. RPA and AI will also improve the essential services such as health care and public safety.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8XmcvyaJmLKMy1SEDu215U0eC0cNONeZUmGqVLOjd0pHwzLKjormooZMvuTDcrc6w7xSRsk5IK7BWQzhJNGxz-S7xZXYmaYYH8ZaLS6yZlZM-R1Lyx8dNoj0lyFWXfA2LajhIy0b2Y-J/s1600/ai_blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8XmcvyaJmLKMy1SEDu215U0eC0cNONeZUmGqVLOjd0pHwzLKjormooZMvuTDcrc6w7xSRsk5IK7BWQzhJNGxz-S7xZXYmaYYH8ZaLS6yZlZM-R1Lyx8dNoj0lyFWXfA2LajhIy0b2Y-J/s1600/ai_blog.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine a scenario where you walk into a clinic and are recognized by a scanner which alerts your doctor and the big brain that holds all of your information plus everybody else who has ever been served by it. The big brain is in the room with you and your doc. He plugs you into a batch of sensors while you describe your symptoms. Big brain runs your sensor data plus verbal and image info through his AI system which compares you to thousands of other similar cases and comes up with the most probable diagnosis and treatment ... within a few minutes or even seconds. Nice. Oops, what did we need that doc for again? Hmmmm. Could it be that we find simple human interaction becomes a commodity that we need and will pay for just to be there for us?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how do we get there and still maintain the dignity and upward evolution of the human beings being served by the robots and robot brains.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going back to my RMWP scenario, here is how I see it. If we start soon and introduce the concept of paying robots a wage, then we can gradually evolve the system. We would start with robots and jobs that are easily identifiable and work out a program that suits both the workers and the companies. Base the solutions on capitalism so there is a built in motivation on both sides of the coin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The company that makes robots generates as much or more revenue by leasing them to the company that uses them. The user company spends less to rent and pay the robots and produces more than it did with humans thus increasing profits. The displaced humans work less time at more satisfying jobs while earning the same overall income supplemented with the RMWP. The government receives the same tax revenue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, if we start with simple solutions, over time we could develop systems to handle other workers as problems arise. In fact using RPA and AI systems from the start would help do design the best possible solution models.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, we can't just keep ignoring the problem and hope that it will go away or that retraining will simply solve it. We're not too big to fail but I hope that we are too smart to keep walking down the road to failure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next and most important questions are about the logistics of this concept. How much government action is needed? Who designs the programs? How and where does the first application get tested and evaluated? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got ideas ... please send them to me via comments so I can share them and build on them next time.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please take a moment and comment with your impressions (just click on the comment link below). This is meant to be a brainstorming session so your opinions are what will keep it going.</span></i></span><br />
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<br />Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-54529711475723779082017-04-11T15:18:00.000-07:002017-04-11T15:18:04.178-07:00Who Will Lead the Way in the New Era of Automation<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0d2ea4; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Last time we talked about defining the problem and decided that indeed there is one. Since then I have seen several news stories about robots and jobs that seem to agree with that:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pwc-robotics-jobs-20170324-story.html" target="_blank">Robots could take over 38% of U.S. jobs within about 15 years, report says</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/24/technology/robots-jobs-us-workers-uk/index.html" target="_blank">U.S. workers face higher risk of being replaced by robots. Here's why</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-robots-jobs-20170330-story.html" target="_blank">Robots, not immigrants, are taking American jobs</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And a few more:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">So far we're seeing lots of stories and not many ideas for solutions. Unfortunately the current government does not even see the problem yet:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.roboticstomorrow.com/story/2017/03/mnuchin-on-robots-taking-us-jobs-its-not-even-on-our-radar-screen--50-100-more-years-away/9742/" target="_blank">Mnuchin on robots taking US jobs:</a> 'It's not even on our radar screen ... 50-100 more years' away </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;">Not a good indication for workers in the US. There is definitely a disconnect.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Here is a relevant comment received last week:</span><br />
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<cite class="user" style="font-weight: bold;">Gideon A. Marken</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/03/defining-problem-if-there-is-one.html?showComment=1490231139981#c103866605565178478" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 22, 2017 at 6:05 PM</a></span></div>
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<i>Your comments regarding the McDonald's example reminds me two points in today's current environment - President Trump's son can't find people to pick grapes in his winery and is requesting work visas for individuals from Mexico to do the job. Coal miners in Kentucky say they are disappointed that the President hasn't yet taken actions to put them back to work but they are certain he will.</i><br />
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<i>The rust belt and environmentally damaging jobs won't/can't return just as some won't work at McDonald's short-term jobs because they are beneath them.</i><br />
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<i>This isn't a political observation at all but it points to a trend where there will be a growing gap between the haves and the have nots and at some point we have to do more than just encourage people to enrich their education/expertise or they will be left even further behind. There is a tremendous amount of work that has to be done to bring our national infrastructure - transportation, communications, services - globally that has to be done and much of it admittedly will have to be manual labor intensive providing a bridge work/income flow for perhaps the next 10 years. That can/should be enough of a buffer to raise the income and educational levels of segments of society in the short term.</i><br />
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<i>This will give the governmental and educational sectors some time to develop/implement programs to enable people to be equipped to handle system support positions, data management/movement jobs and skills that will be needed tomorrow.</i><br />
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<i>As you noted our transition from an agrarian society and activities involved in growing/harvesting food shifted people to communities of people who ultimately evolved to data processors/handlers/movers. The key is not whether robots are good/bad for business/society but how do we prepare and move into the next phase of humanity.</i><br />
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<i>Programs will have to begin - coordinated effort of government/business/education - to view what workloads will be best carried out by augmented intelligence and robots and what will the human - reasoning - factor be in this new environment. The challenge is it won't happen by accident and planning for displacement is also not a popular agenda...until it becomes a crisis!</i><br />
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Thanks Gideon, you hit the nail on the head. The RMWP is one idea of a program that could work. There are many other ideas out there to examine. Bottom line though ... we need to pay attention to this issue before it becomes a crisis as Gideon says.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Who Will Lead the Way in the New Era of Automation?</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;">Based on what the current administration in the US saying, let's assume we are out of the running for the time being. Maybe if we are lucky the quote from Winston Churchill will hold true - "</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5px;">You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;">Most likely countries like <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/02/news/economy/finland-universal-basic-income/" target="_blank">Finland</a>, Norway, Switzerland and <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2016/12/20/world/dauphin" target="_blank">Canada </a>will take the lead and in fact there have already been a few experiments in the direction of Guaranteed Income for ALL. OK, I can hear the screams of socialism from here :-) Well, lets face the facts. Modern socialist countries are nice places to be humans. Just look at any of the multiple articles about the best places in the world to live and they are always near the top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;">But, I don't think the pure socialist solution is a good option either, so, rather than going for a virtual handout paid for by taxes, why not incorporate a capitalist element to help pay for it and spread around the success. In fact the RMWP should enhance the lifestyles of society by encouraging advances in technology and automation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;">China is another country that may advance this idea as their middle class grows and the economy settles into one where competition for jobs becomes more important. It would be fairly simple for China to take over the ownership and production of robot systems and rent them to industry under a RMWP type system as <a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/03/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html">Gene suggested a few posts ago</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">India is big into software and service for business and they export much of that to other countries via call centers etc. <a href="http://www.roboticstomorrow.com/tag/rpa">Robotic Process Automation</a> (RPA) is the application of technology that allows employees in a company to configure ‘software robots’ to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems. This may be something that impacts India and forces some changes in this industry. How they handle that is beyond my knowledge of their politics but the question is relevant to the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a big world out there and I'm sure there are other places that are already talking about these issues as well. As technology advances it's interesting to note that new companies (or countries in this case) will have an advantage over the established ones in that they do not have to tear down existing infrastructure or embedded capital structures in order to implement new strategies and systems. I think it will only take a few successful adventures into the realm of robotic taxation in order to start the ball rolling in other societies. I can hardly wait :-)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;">Help us out if you have insight on this topic from the point of view of another country or this one (US) by commenting below.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px;"> Now, here is another comment received last month:</span></div>
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<cite class="user" style="font-weight: bold;">NidsiTales / Nidsipoetry</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/03/defining-problem-if-there-is-one.html?showComment=1490254341780#c5975845122733494588" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 23, 2017 at 12:32 AM</a></span></div>
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<i>The human vs. machine debate raises head time and again. It is an inclusive discussion and instead of us pondering on the versus aspect, we must look at the complementing aspect. Neither can survive or thrive without the other, so lets stop pitting one against the other.</i><br />
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<i>Moving on to the minimum wage discussion - the premise that organizations may be penalized for improving efficiency and productivity is contrary to the principle of business. The answer lies in upskilling and improving employability of the workforce. Giving them handouts is both insulting and crippling them for future.</i><br />
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If you look at the RMWP scenario you will see that I don't talk about human vs machine at all. In fact I am looking for a system whereby humans can benefit greatly from the work of machines while still advancing technology and human ingenuity. What I do believe though is that we can't just ignore the sector of society that is unwilling or unable to "Upskill". For that reason I propose a minimum wage for all and offer increased living standards for those who seek that via careers in a modern society.<br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, that's it for me today. Thanks for listening and please let me know what you think.</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"></span>Please take a moment and comment with your impressions (just click on the comment link below). This is meant to be a brainstorming session so your opinions are what will keep it going.</div>
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Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-34447153802281821032017-03-22T14:18:00.000-07:002017-03-22T14:20:30.054-07:00Defining the Problem ... If there is one?<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0d2ea4; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few of the comments that I have received talk about whether or not the advancement of robotics will or will not actually put people out of work. Here for example is an article on the topic:</span></span><br />
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-transformation-small-medium-enterprise-rick-huijbregts" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-transformation-small-medium-enterprise-rick-huijbregts</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few quotes from the article are typical and worth discussing:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961);">Digitization may challenge established processes, jobs, and companies. But for every job that may fall victim of innovation and digitization, new jobs will be created instead.</span><span style="color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961);"> </span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961);">Over 150 years ago we had more than 70% of the population work in the agriculture sector. Today, this is 5% or less. And this shift didn't mean that we have everyone else without a job. In turn, consider new employment that come with startups and digital companies such as Uber.</span><span style="color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961);"> </span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At RoboticsTomorrow we have published many articles talking about the same issue and there is a valid argument to agree. In fact to a certain extend I do agree. Skilled workers can probably be retrained to fill the new jobs created by new companies and new technologies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is There a Problem?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm just very unsure whether unskilled and under educated workers will be able to cope in new and highly technical workplaces. For example, I think many of the agricultural workers mentioned ended up performing unskilled labor in other fields or assembly line work that did not require special skills. Also, the breadth of the future changes is vast and in my opinion will decimate jobs in many industries almost simultaneously (i.e. within a decade or so). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nor do I think that the proportion of unskilled labor to skilled labor can evolve at a pace that would compensate for the disruption. Maybe someone reading this can enlighten us on the historical shift in labor skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lets look at MacDonald's for example, and maybe this will help us decide not only if there is a problem but also give us a broader definition of what a robot is in the context of our scenario. Suppose MacDonald's decides to install kiosks where customers can place their orders, as well as automatic burger makers and dispensers. This is not far fetched at all and points to several somewhat scary job facts:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is a kiosk a robot? I would say in our scenario, yes it is. It is an electronic device which replaces a human being, in this case the order taker.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The automatic burger maker is also a robot and combined with the dispenser probably replaces another human being.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A normal MacDonald's could probably reduce its staff by at least 2/3rds and maybe more with these technologies. What industries are there that would create the new jobs for these people, given that if MacDonald's can do this so can every other fast food outlet.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A new fast food outlet starting from scratch would most likely be based on using robots for as many tasks as possible with available technology. It's business model would only include humans where absolutely necessary to manage the robots.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, for our discussions, lets take the position that yes, there is going to be a problem. Given that, we should take the engineering approach and spend some time defining the problem before we get too far into finding solutions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Defining the Problem(s)</span></h3>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With the advance of digital technology many jobs done by humans, especially unskilled jobs, will disappear and will not be replaced by jobs requiring the same skill and education levels.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Without action by society (business and government) there will be widespread unemployment leading to poverty and unrest.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lack of employment will lead to a shrinking marketplace for goods and services and a widening demand for social services and support. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While retraining will provide a partial solution, it may also lead to a widening of the have / have not gap in society.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I welcome other comments that would help us further define this problem. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">(just click on the comment link below)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here are some recent comments to discuss:</span><br />
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<cite class="user" style="font-weight: bold;">Gideon A. Marken</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/introduction-and-some-rules-of-road.html?showComment=1489453096597#c7634009520869459149" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 13, 2017 at 5:58 PM</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><i>The idea of a minimum wage which goes into a mysterious pool to benefit all is intriguing but not totally practical because the distribution/use is not fully defined. I agree with the concept of a tax as we levy for all equipment, people employed by an organization. Part of the resolution in this area is really a better definition of AI because it is not really artificial intelligence, it is augmented intelligence which means to be completely effective it is a joint learning process where the robot gains from the individual and the individual gains information, insight from the robot enabling him/her to break from ingrained habit and think about processes and activities in a different way. Ultimately - some will say simplistically - it is a symbiotic relationship that helps the individual do more, better, more efficiently, more effectively. Will there be some displacement? Certainly but the tax can then be used to assist the individual in learning, gaining new skills because most people want to learn, experience and grow and yes they want to have a feeling of self worth and value in their lives. For some the augmented intelligence provided by the robot will provide that permitting them to both grow. In other instances, the technology will have passed them by - such as in the mining industry requiring fewer people to do the task - and they can can gain new skills.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again, while I agree with this in some cases, it is the unskilled and under educated workers that will need some form of financial assistance more than others because I do not feel that retraining will be enough to bring them into a new, more technological workplace. The question then becomes, what kind of jobs will society create for this sector of its population? In the RMWP scenario I describe a situation where working part time in personal care and service jobs could provide a partial solution but for this to occur, values may need to shift away from pure profit motivations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For those who can benefit from retraining the future is brighter than today in my opinion. I doubt that many doing tedious repetitive work would resent learning a more interesting job. But could we extend that to reducing work hours for all so that more people could work with less jobs in the marketplace? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Mark</b> March 15,2017</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Personally, basing the payments on whether the person was
displaced by a robot or another society challenge is too complicated. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe that we should offer a basic living allowance to
anyone (including healthcare). If they don’t want to work, they can get enough
money to survive. If they want to stay home, watch TV, play video games and
smoke pot all day long, that is fine. It keeps them from getting into fights
and committing crimes. One of the few jobs that robots cannot
replace is entertainment. (or I don’t think so). <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If they get bored or want to contribute to society, we
provide education so that they can get fun, interesting and challenging jobs in
society.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I know many young adults that play (or try to play)
video games 24/7. Why don't we have games that actually provide a society
advantaged function – helping to calculate solutions to real world issues…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think it's important to develop a system that supports capitalism and is not overly socialistic. Paying taxes so the unemployed can play video games will not sell in my opinion. I know I would certainly resent it. Having robots pay into the system however seems to me a palatable solution. My thinking in developing the RMWP scenario is that eventually the system would evolve to cover everybody, but it would need to start with a problem that we could identify and solve and gradually change the thinking of our society while observing the outcomes and changes to the way the marketplace responds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">OK, that's it for me today. Thanks for listening and please let me know what you think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"></span>Please take a moment and comment with your impressions (just click on the comment link below). Could it work? I’d appreciate 2 points of view. Your first impressions and thoughts (positive or negative) followed by the opposite argument. If the first impression is positive (this could work because) then the second should be a rebuttal to the first (this will never work because). </div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-33686403915939066732017-03-13T14:55:00.001-07:002017-03-13T14:55:25.771-07:00Getting More Specific - Can we define which robots should be included?<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;">In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0d2ea4; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to those who have been participating with their comments, It's interesting that the latest few comments are very specific in that they point out that their particular applications should be exempt from the RMWP.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;">So, maybe a good way to move further towards this solution would be to start talking about specific applications and the impact the RMWP might have on them. If you have an example that you are familiar with please leave a comment about it and we can have the discussion here.</span></span><br />
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<cite class="user" style="font-weight: bold;">COLIN KEIZER</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/03/in-case-you-have-not-had-chance-to-see.html?showComment=1489088673924#c3235792721593754302" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 9, 2017 at 11:44 AM</a></span></div>
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<i>Don't forget to carefully consider who owns the robot.<br /><br />For example, we may very soon all have our own robot gardeners providing food, herbs, flowers, fruits and berries.<br /><br />https://farmbot.io/<br /><br />It's a bit expensive for casual purchase, today. But it's also Open Source, so I could build my own.<br /><br />What other convenient, inexpensive Open Source robots will become available this year or next? I'm not sure I want my home garden and home manufacturing robots to be taxed, and I certainly don't want them to be taxed at the rates of an industrial production robot.</i></div>
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My thoughts are that firstly, yes, if you build it at home it is obviously not taking away a job so the RMWP does not apply. For certain we do not want to discourage Open Source and DIY robotics. In fact they should be encouraged because they may lead to even better solutions in the future. </div>
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However, lets say a commercial vegetable grower replaces a bunch of people to incorporate one of your systems to grow vegetables for the market. Or lets even say he started from scratch and did not need to hire anyone to do the work of planting and harvesting but instead just uses robots to do that. In this case, I think it would be fair to include the robots into the plan and to pay them the wage. If this is an across the board requirement then it should be fair to all those in the business of growing produce.</div>
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<cite class="user" style="font-weight: bold;">Dave</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/introduction-and-some-rules-of-road.html?showComment=1489085627921#c857076595461348834" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 9, 2017 at 10:53 AM</a></span></div>
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<i>I work in the robotic surgery training/support field- not in manufacturing. I like the proposal of industrial robots contributing to the tax base, but not the idea for a robotic minimum wage.</i></div>
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<i>IBM used to have a slogan: "Machines should work,people should think." I agree.</i></div>
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<i>Displaced workers should not be relegated to welfare/semi welfare livelihoods. People need purpose in their lives. Monies collected via a robotic equipment tax should be used wisely- to educate the displaced workers, helping them to provide for themselves and their families in new vocations or professions. That way, they win- and society does as well. </i></div>
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<i>I hate the thought that displaced workers would only be faced with minimum-wage job options- what a waste that would be. I hope the future will be better and smarter than that.</i></div>
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<b>Me too</b>, and this is one of the tough issues we will face no matter what in my opinion. In my scenario I state the following:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.85px;"><i>My friend and his wife choose to work 5 days a week and live in a nicer house and send their kids to private school. My spouse works at their daycare 3 days per week.</i></span></div>
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<i>I have other highly successful friends who work in the robot industry … designing, building, installing and operating robots.</i></div>
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<i>Nobody that I know works in a repetitive dirty job … the robots do that work.</i></div>
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My thought is that while we will need to provide basic existence for all, we will also need to encourage those who want more by keeping as much of our capitalist system in place as possible. There should always be opportunity for those who want to go after it, but it will just not be in the realm of menial tasks that robots can do. I think that is inevitable whether or not we address the issue of unemployment due to replacement of jobs. But, lets be honest. There will also be many who are satisfied with the minimum and there will also be those who want to take advantage of the medium route by working part time for some perks. We need to provide for all of those options. How to do that will involve much more detailed study and discussion but it must be a priority to any solution we arrive at in the future.</div>
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So, maybe a good way to move further towards this solution would be to start talking about specific applications and the impact the RMWP might have on them. If you have an example that you are familiar with please leave a comment about it and we can have the discussion here.<br />
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Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-20899894217930299762017-03-08T08:43:00.000-08:002017-03-09T07:53:46.757-08:00More Discussions about the Pros and Cons of the Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0d2ea4; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5px;">Thanks to all of you who have and are taking the time to comment on this idea. I will probably stick to summarizing and replying to these comments for the time being until a consensus starts to emerge. Here are the latest:</span></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><cite class="user" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Unknown</cite><span class="icon user" style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-style: normal; margin-left: 6px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0d2ea4;">March 1, 2017 at 10:56 AM</span></span></i><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">I think another important topic that will come up as we move forward is "what is a robot?" How will we define what machine and former operator would be deserving of this wage. I imagine every manufacturer would be looking for loopholes to avoid paying any taxes or wages so this would be difficult to regulate. A robot security guard might be an easy one to define, but what about factory automation where sensors and cameras do the sorting and quality control where humans previously worked?</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Good point here and something I have given a bit of thought to. How about this: At the beginning </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">I think </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">it would be relatively easy. Any layoff would have to be evaluated. The individual would apply for RMWP and the cases would be adjudicated, gradually building a database of yeahs and nays. In fact we could use AI to assist in this adjudication and it should not take long to form some standards. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">As time goes on, the standards could be widened to include a broader definition of the qualifications because each time a robot replaces a human, the pool of cash grows. This is a good thing and should lead to the eventual goal where there is enough money generated by robot wages to provide the RMWP for all.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Bear in mind that this process in itself would create some new jobs which is part of the exercise. If the new jobs are designed to fit into the part-time goal, that would help to change the direction of employment as the future evolves.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">I know this is all pretty simplistic, but that is the essence of engineering ... keep it simple stupid :-)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><cite class="user" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Megalen</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; margin-left: 6px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/02/moving-forward-get-conversation-going.html?showComment=1488224501617#c4128446837011164255" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">February 27, 2017 at 11:41 AM</a></span><i><br /></i></span>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Robots are now expanding worldwide and in great numbers. When is the point at which, they start paying a tax? If this is not addressed soon, businesses will reject the idea that they have to pay a income to a robot when they already own them.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Yes, exactly why this conversation is so important. Almost every day I am reading another article where these concerns are being voiced in both positive and negative points of view. We don't want this to get too far ahead of us. It will not solve itself and like the Great Lakes, once the pollution has gone too far it is a huge and expensive task to clean it up.</span><br />
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<cite class="user" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;">Unknown</cite><span class="icon user" style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html?showComment=1488399275485#c390002945513901132" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 1, 2017 at 12:14 PM</a></span><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">I'm a robot software guy so I'm pushing for more robots but I do think Gates is partially right. The tax code punishes a company for hiring a worker rather than buying a piece of capital equipment. Make Humans an asset you carry on the books, that way if the human out preforms the robot, at least they won't be at a tax disadvantage. </span></i><br />
<i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Even better use robots and humans together like we do at Jodone (shameless plug)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5px;">Collaboration with robots is already happening in a big way and I hope that never stops. In fact I would think that working alongside a robot could be one of the better part-time jobs for humans to have in order to enhance their minimum wage. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5px;">Don't forget, in my original scenario, the company does not own the robots but instead they are hired from a robot manufacturing company so in fact both the robots and the humans are employees and could be treated equally as far as the taxman is concerned. </span></span></div>
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<cite class="user" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;">Anonymous</cite><span class="icon user" style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; margin-left: 6px;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/02/moving-forward-get-conversation-going.html?showComment=1488409154624#c1434545330493682576" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">March 1, 2017 at 2:59 PM</a></span><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">As an older established person I am very much concerned about the number of people, especially younger ones, being laid off from their employment to be replaced by robots. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">It is not just the loss of wages/excess time off for those laid off, but for those being served by/ or working with robots, it is the loss of human contact and relationships that get forged in a working environment that I feel is also a detriment to the human being.</span></i><br />
<i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">As the saying goes “A person needs a reason to get up in the morning”. This is especially true the younger you are. Whether right or wrong it is so very easy to fall into a lethargic routine. If you are at or near retirement age this is not such a big deal as after working for so many years, usually the person has some activities they are looking forward to doing, and the dollars saved to do them.</span></i><br />
<i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">But, as we cannot change the advancement of technology, the concept of a Company owner having to pay the robot the same wage as would have to be paid to a human is a good one. However, not every Company also offers benefits such as a pension income or medical/dental coverage along with a wage.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">So how do you make it mandatory that a Company owner pays a robot a wage and benefit package equal to a human and that a certain portion specifically gets put into a RMWP (Robot Minimum Wage Plan) to distribute to the displaced workers?</span></i><br />
<i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">I believe that this could only be achieved if it was an Administrative order by the Government and would have to be a law and regulated in order to make companies adhere to the rules. ….. and with the current Administration’s policy for deregulation, I do not feel confident that this would ever happen and displaced workers protected.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Yes, I agree that this idea would need to be regulated by the state in some form, at least as far as the administration of the plan and perhaps the enforcement of the standards and requirements. That being the case we can think of it like social security or state pension plans. The amount paid into the RMWP </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">would include for some benefits just as any employment agreement although it may be beneficial to the success of the idea if the humans needed to work at their part time jobs to improve the benefits they can achieve. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">My worry on this topic is the perception that this plan only works if under a total government controlled system. Without some capitalist / competitive opportunities built in I fear the system would result in a pampered and underachieving society.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><b>Gene</b> March 3, 2017</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><i>Would this idea work if all of the robots were owned by the government and companies had to hire them as needed?</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Hmm, this is a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5px;">possibility. My main reservation is again the lack of a </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5px;">capitalist / competitive atmosphere. I fear that innovation in the design of the robots would fall by the wayside and we would be left with an inefficient system that would not serve us well in the end. I suppose there are ways around this and perhaps more discussion is required here.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5px;"><cite class="user" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">John Billings</cite><span class="icon user" style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"></span><span class="datetime secondary-text" style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; margin-left: 6px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/02/moving-forward-get-conversation-going.html?showComment=1488150659096#c2346269352933043049" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0d2ea4; text-decoration: none;">February 26, 2017 at 3:10 PM</a></span></span></span></span>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">Robots & Slavery. Looking at this from a historical perspective, this may well be where common law can be excavated (pun intended) to understand the impact of sophisticated machine intelligence. Roman Law and that republic had a difficult time with first an abundance of slaves, then a lack of them. Robot intelligence will invariably be modeled on our own brains, an architecture pretty well understood and well modeled by current and future machines. As Bob points out, there will be a shift in what is available in manufacturing and highly trained technical fields (Doctors, Lawyers...many well be out of a job). IBM Blue is targeted at medical issues and is very successful. Human nature/history is bound to repeat itself in the treatment of robots. i.e. slaves. Slave driven economies could flood those countries with more 'even handed' policies with less expensive products. It will be a challenge to keep a lid on it, but I doubt that that will be successful. I contend that humanity will need more complex challenges which will drive - force .. innovation and ingenuity.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">We looked at this a bit in the last post and it is an important issue. When I think about it though, is it really any better or worse than what we are facing with virtual human slavery in some countries right now. We would still need trade agreements between countries and regions that work for both sides. We have not been great at that in the past but the situation is improving in many ways and hopefully with robots and AI we can develop better methods of balance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">I am intrigued by this statement though "</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"><i>I contend that humanity will need more complex challenges which will drive - force .. innovation and ingenuity." </i>We need to talk more about what this comment means and how it relates to our scenario.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;">To be continued... </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; text-align: justify;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Please take a moment and comment with your impressions. Could it work? I’d appreciate 2 points of view. Your first impressions and thoughts (positive or negative) followed by the opposite argument. If the first impression is positive (this could work because) then the second should be a rebuttal to the first (this will never work because). </span><o:p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></o:p><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you're new please have a look at this </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/introduction-and-some-rules-of-road.html" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><b>Introduction</b></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> before commenting.</span><br />
<br />Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-41096171621151406032017-02-26T10:59:00.002-08:002017-03-08T08:47:56.772-08:00Moving Forward - Get the conversation goingIn case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing <a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-robot-minimum-wage-plan-rmwp.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)</span></b></a> please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.<br />
<br />
Here are a few comments I have received (thanks) and some commentary about them:<br />
<br />
<i>The only route I see is taxation, which means the general public needs to be educated. Tax the sale of the robot, the purchase of the robot, the parts that go into the robot, the use of the robot. But what do we do with the new people coming into the labor market if there are eventually no jobs? </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
In my scenario, the taxes are generated by the work the robots do, just as income taxes today are generated by the work people do. The company basically hires the robot and pays it a wage. Part of the wage goes to the RMWP to support displaced workers, and part goes to an income tax to support the country, state, municipality. The rest goes to the company that builds and maintains the robots. Presumably whatever the robot user does with it generates a profit out of which taxes are paid. The bottom line is that we try to maintain a capitalist democracy with a different structure.<br />
<br />
As far as new people entering the labor market lets think about that. As I stated in the scenario - <i>The goal is for everyone to eventually receive the wage ... </i>I think this will take time to evolve but the problem is not insurmountable. The initial options for those entering the workplace would be:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>to further their skills and education to get the best jobs which would probably be in robotics and artificial intelligence. We are already there. </li>
<li>to seek education and training in other areas where wages are higher than the RMWP and robots are not likely to replace workers (High school education could play a role in this process)</li>
<li>to work at jobs that have not yet been replaced but will soon be ... and thus move into the RMWP</li>
</ul>
<div>
As the RMWP phases in over a period of time, the benefits should be expanded to cover those who work but do not initially qualify. This process needs to be designed into the scenario. More discussion and research required.</div>
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<i><br /></i>
<i>In the scenario you described there would be jobs in that factory to service and monitor the robots, these are skilled positions that would require training. If robots eliminated the majority of non skilled labor we would also need education and training for the entire population as there would be very few non skilled positions available. I wonder how we could go about training the masses and keep the majority motivated and happy in their work?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I think the goal would be to encourage more and more part time employment is fields related to care and service of each other. I know this sounds utopian but let's look at it this way. If you could receive the RMWP for basic needs and work 3 days a week as a housekeeper or massage therapist for extra money, wouldn't you be inclined to spend that extra time and money getting a massage or having someone clean your own home while you go to the beach?<br />
<br />
Motivation is an important discussion to have. Some have commented to me that this idea is crazy because everybody would just sit around, get fat and drink too much. Yes some would, and many do already in our society. The object of the exercise may be to steer the education system towards a scenario where motivation itself is rewarded, not solely with money or prizes, but with pride and self worth. Many of us (me included) are happy at our work and not motivated by accumulating more money than we need to obtain our goals and lifestyles. Perhaps we can brainstorm a reward system that encourages happiness in the workplace.<br />
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<i>-----</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The problem is how to still keep price competitive with places like Mexico, who have ‘human’ robots. That is more complex. </i><i>Countries who want to sell us cheaper stuff will just ‘enslave’ robots. Same old problem.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
This one is complicated and hard to solve. It is already a reality so any progress we can make towards a solution is better than anything we are doing at present. Building walls and imposing tariffs is not a solution in my world. Without global participation in the evolution of society we will be hard pressed to make any headway. Global participation necessitates open discussion and joint participation. That means we need to look at how better to share the resources native to each country with each other to the benefit of all sides. What if we all decided that trade with each other could only be done on equal terms. And the measure of equal, instead of money, is man/robot hours (just throwing this out there). So, in this scenario, lets say one truckload of avocados from Mexico is worth 100 man/robot hours. Then a fair trade for that may be two truckloads of Georgia peaches because robots are used in the harvest. For sure, we need to investigate different ways of measuring the worth of trade if we are to get past the worship of cash and greed. I haven't answered this one but maybe someone reading this will put forward some thoughts.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Please take a moment and comment with your impressions. Could it work? I’d appreciate 2 points of view. Your first impressions and thoughts (positive or negative) followed by the opposite argument. If the first impression is positive (this could work because) then the second should be a rebuttal to the first (this will never work because). </span><o:p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></o:p><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you're new please have a look at this </span><a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/introduction-and-some-rules-of-road.html" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><b>Introduction</b></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> before commenting.</span><br />
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Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-15589375190987934892017-01-24T16:51:00.001-08:002017-03-08T08:48:18.914-08:00The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP)The scenario I am trying to work out is one where people displaced by robots in the workplace are eligible to receive a minimum wage paid for by the robot that replaces him. Here is a short story to explain the concept.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m
just a normal guy living a normal life in a normal city on planet earth in the
22<sup>nd</sup> century. They told us robots would take our jobs, and they
have, thank god. Now I can spend the day in a meaningful way rather than drudge
at life to eke out a living like my grandfather had to do. He was a
factory worker, but then again so am I.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gramps
worked 8-10 hours a day tightening wheel nuts in an auto factory and barely
made enough to feed his family let alone buy a home or take a decent vacation.
Then the robots came and took his job. Life went from bad to worse until his
former employer opted into the Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP) to save money on
their robot budget and expand production. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now,
the company hires robots from XYZ Robot Installation Company. They pay an
hourly wage for each robot they hire depending on the complexity of the task
the robot performs. The wage is fairly low to the company but since the robots
work 24/7 it adds up. The robots pay income tax and the company pays payroll
tax just like they always did. In addition though, a percentage of the wage
goes into the RMWP. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
RMWP collects money from all of the working robots and distributes it to humans
as a minimum wage. As a descendent of a displaced worker, I am eligible to
receive the wage. The goal is for everyone to eventually receive the wage and
as more and more robots get to work that is coming about. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While
I could live on the wage at a subsistence level, I choose to work in the
factory 3 days a week in order to improve my living conditions and lifestyle.
Most human jobs are part time like mine so there are plenty of jobs to go
around and with the RMWP the wages required are lower so companies and
institutions tend to hire more people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m
happy because I work 3 days a week and live a comfortable life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My
friend and his wife choose to work 5 days a week and live in a nicer house and
send their kids to private school. My spouse works at their daycare 3 days per
week.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
have other highly successful friends who work in the robot industry …
designing, building, installing and operating robots.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nobody
that I know works in a repetitive dirty job … the robots do that work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People
who are unable to work get their RMWP plus government disability assistance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People
who choose not to work get RMWP and can survive on that although we still need
to work on trying to educate and motivate them. The abundance of clean part
time jobs is helping with that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
capitalist system still thrives. The best investments have turned out to be in
Robot manufacturers, installers and servicing companies. Providing basic food
and shelter has also proven to be a good investment since homelessness has all
but disappeared.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
government is happy because they get taxes from robots.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even
bankers are happy because 100% of the population are consumers because they
have money to spend.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Putting
numbers together - this is a simple starting point open to modification and it
represents only one segment … Industrial Robotics.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Average
cost of an industrial robot system today is $100000 (Incl. installation &
control system)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Robot
wage - $25000 / yr<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Taxes
– 15% = $3750<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
RMWP
contribution – 25% = $6250 ()<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To
Robot Integrator (Supply & install Robot) - 60% = $15000<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
RMWP
payment required to support one adult = $10000<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Please
take a moment and comment with your impressions of this scenario. Could it work?
I’d appreciate 2 points of view. Your first impressions and thoughts (positive
or negative) followed by the opposite argument. If the first impression is
positive (this could work because) then the second should be a rebuttal to the
first (this will never work because). <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
If you're new please have a look at this <a href="https://brainstormthefuture.blogspot.com/2017/01/introduction-and-some-rules-of-road.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><b>Introduction</b></span></a> before commenting.</div>
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Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696882966668255970.post-29894435016404626492017-01-23T15:37:00.002-08:002017-01-23T15:37:45.609-08:00Introduction and some rules of the road<span style="font-family: inherit;">We need to have a discussion about the future of robotics and AI in the workplace. The use of robots and robotic systems will grow exponentially over the next decade. Robots will take our jobs and "move the cheese" for those seeking to replace those jobs. Simply referring to the old adages (Cars put blacksmiths out of work ... and they survived) will not suffice in modern times. The evolution is much more widespread. It will affect every industry at every level. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My purpose here is to introduce some solutions for the future and ask others to comment and propose modifications so that we can brainstorm some answers. I will take the comments and summarize our progress from time to time so we can continue to move forward. </span><br />
<br />
A few rules of the road please:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Brainstorming is only effective if participants put forth positive comments and propose ideas that build on (not tear down) the subject at hand.</li>
<li>If you disagree with an idea that is fine but please include an alternative solution to the subject rather than just negative comments.</li>
</ul>
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That's it. Next post will put forth my initial ideas.<br /><br />Bob Hetheringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07124563447178066633noreply@blogger.com3