Science & Technology

Robots to take over most jobs within 30 years

By T.K. Randall
February 13, 2016

Image: NASA's Valkyrie Robot
Credit: (PD) NASA/Bill Stafford, James Blair, Regan Geeseman Even today, many jobs that once relied on manual laborers have now been completely taken over by increasingly efficient automated assembly lines thanks to advances in computers and robotics.

According to Professor Moshe Vardi of Rice University in Texas, within as little as 30 years this trend will have progressed to the point where more than half of the population will be out of work.

Eventually, he argues, we may have no choice but to find something else to do with our lives.

"We are approaching a time when machines will be able to outperform humans at almost any task," he said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science."Robots are doing more and more jobs that people used to do. Pharmacists, prison guards, boning chicken, bartending, more and more jobs we're able to mechanise them."

"I believe that society needs to confront this question before it is upon us: If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?"

While the idea of a life spent pursuing leisure activities might seem appealing now, such a lifestyle could have disastrous effects on society and leave most people ultimately unfulfilled.

"I do not find this a promising future, as I do not find the prospect of leisure-only life appealing," said Prof Vardi. "That seems to me a dystopia. I believe that work is essential to human well-being."

"Humanity is about to face perhaps its greatest challenge ever."

Source: Telegraph

Tags: Robots, Employment