Robotic Nation Evidence

According to this article in the Washington Post, we are already at the point where robots are making a significant number of hiring decisions in the U.S. economy:

Employers Relying On Personality Tests To Screen Applicants

From the article:

"Even before the candidates had stepped through the door for the group interview, their fate had been largely determined by a computer. They had taken a 50-minute online test that asked them to rate to what degree they agreed or disagreed with statements such as, 'It's maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free,' 'You don't worry about making a good impression' and 'You could describe yourself as 'tidy'.'

A score in the 'green' range for customer service gave an applicant an 83 percent chance of getting hired, 'yellow' a 16 percent chance and 'red' a 1 percent chance.

Over the past few years, personality assessment tests have moved from the realm of experiment to standard practice at many of the nation's largest companies, including the Albertson's grocery chain and retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Target. A recent survey found that about 30 percent of all companies use personality tests in hiring. To many companies, the tests are as important, if not more important, than an applicant's education, experience and recommendations. "

The conventional wisdom would think that humans are irreplaceable in the interviewing process. "Interviewing human beings" would be, one would think, a job tailor made for other human beings and immune to robotic replacement. The conventional wisdom is wrong. Robots do this job better than human beings. The fact is that robots will be taking nearly all the jobs in the economy. See also Robots and the right brain and Robotic Nation.

Of course, we can also expect to see a book in the next six months entitled: "How to get a perfect score on a personality test."