Robotic Nation Evidence

Marshall,

congratulations. Your Manna system forecast seems to be right on the spot.

It is indeed interesting to see that the robotisation occurs in telling lowly educated people what to do, and not in DOING what they do.

Another step in building a worse world. Being more effective in a job we hate, to cook food that is bad for us, in a restaurant that is ugly, in a townscape we don't care about.

Lovely.

I am quite "pro" technology, but am I wrong in thinking the Amish are pretty much one of the only societies that manage to align their technology use up with what people really want? Live healthily in the country, eat great food, have a job you like (or at least one you can stand) and raise your family in peace? How do SUV's, fast food and cheap intercontinental air travel help with any of that, really. hm.
 

There is also a mention of the article—and its relevance to Manna—here.
 

>>the robotisation occurs in telling lowly educated people what to do, and not in DOING what

that's just for now. as systems advance, everyone will be affected, not even the "lowly" educated. It is just common sense...

regards
http://niquel757.blogspot.com
 

Great idea about monitoring incoming traffic. Efficient and clever. Now if they could only do that for the check-out lines at the grocery.
 

Imagine you're running a fast-food restaurant. You're in the kitchen, trying to tell your crew when to cook how much of what, so you don't run out but also don't end up sitting on piles of stale food that you really shouldn't sell to customers, although you usually do it anyway because you don't want to lose money by throwing it out. Wouldn't it be great to have a spotter in the parking lot that tells you immediately when customers are arriving? And what if that spotter could also remember what people usually order and make an educated guess as to what you're likely to sell to these soon-to-be customers? And while s/he's at it, it can look at how much you have on hand of everything and figure out when it's the right time to prepare some more? And now imagine this spotter doing that job all day long, without a bathroom break, just watching the cars arrive and doing the math for you.

That's software doing something no person can or would want to do, and it's not alone in the world.

It's not that different from an autopilot in a plane or a GPS system in a car. Software helping people in some task by accessing and processing way more information than the human brain can do alone.

Think of all the ways you're used to having software - it IS SOFTWARE, not "computers" or "robots" - help you out every day. OK, the alarm clock in the morning is not really software. But after that - Outlook tells you about your meetings for the day. An email from Google Alerts tells you what people AROUND THE ENTIRE WORLD have posted matching your favorite search phrase "ANGELINA ADOPTS". There are only a few million hits, so you decide it's not a big deal for today. All information is good, but there's too much of a good thing sometimes...
Also in the morning's e-mail - a note that your auto-bill-pay thing has cranked out the monthly chore for you as you set it up. Not bad, it used to be a pain to do it by hand! That was so 90s (or 80s?)

I think those that shun the notion of technology-aided human existence - not to be taken over by robots, but becoming enabled to function in ways you couldn't otherwise - will simply find themselves at a disadvantage someday. Again, NOT because ROBOTS ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD, but because everyone else will be taking advantage of available technology while they refuse. Maybe not in our lifetime, but it's where we're headed. Deal with it.

Of course, the Amish will and should continue to preserve their low-tech lifestyle and culture. The are not at a "disadvantage": they don't care whether "we" - the rest of the world - eat hamburgers or robots or both.

The disadvantaged ones will be those who use modern technology everyday, but for some perceived political/ethical/ religious/(insert-keyword-here) reason reject a technological advance that ends up becoming mainstream.
 

A similar system will soon be pushed to watch the US borders.