News that makes you say WTF! (67 Viewers)

X Æ A-12

Senior Member
Contributor
Sep 4, 2006
87,934
So this week the Carnegie Mellon U campus next to my office on the NASA Ames base rolled out robot security guards:
http://knightscope.com/about.html

Getting to the office now requires sneaking past Daleks in the parking lot.
wtf...so if you try and run past it what can it do to stop you? Just sound the alarm or can it actually taze you or something?
 

DAiDEViL

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2015
64,586
wtf...so if you try and run past it what can it do to stop you? Just sound the alarm or can it actually taze you or something?
no :boh:

Q: Is the K5 weaponized?

A:

The K5 is a friendly community tool used exclusively to deliver relevant and real-time information to the appropriate authorities, not to enforce the law. It is an additional set of intelligent eyes and ears used to help security and law enforcement professionals do their jobs more effectively.
it might call the real cops. they shoot you then :snoop:
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
wtf...so if you try and run past it what can it do to stop you? Just sound the alarm or can it actually taze you or something?
It just drives around slowly like one of those Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners. It is a little wtf though...

(I type this as I listen to the close-out of an active shooter situation a mile from my house at a hospital with the sound of helicopters still buzzing overhead outside my window.)
 

X Æ A-12

Senior Member
Contributor
Sep 4, 2006
87,934
:lol: love that guy

on a serious note though, yea it is scary how so many jobs can be replaced with automation in the near future and its even scarier seeing early examples of it like this. what are first world societies going to look like when Mcdonalds decides its cheaper to automate their process then hire staff who want increasing wages and benefits.

Then a Mcdonalds will have two employees total and theyll be mechanical engineers. Its kind of ironic all these people demonstrating for higher minimum wage won't be able to find minimum wage jobs without a college degree and specialised skills.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
:lol: love that guy

on a serious note though, yea it is scary how so many jobs can be replaced with automation in the near future and its even scarier seeing early examples of it like this. what are first world societies going to look like when Mcdonalds decides its cheaper to automate their process then hire staff who want increasing wages and benefits.

Then a Mcdonalds will have two employees total and theyll be mechanical engineers. Its kind of ironic all these people demonstrating for higher minimum wage won't be able to find minimum wage jobs without a college degree and specialised skills.
All jobs follow this process:

Do it locally --> send the job overseas to cheaper labor supplies --> replace labor supplies with robotics/AI

We deal with this info all the time at work. An estimated 47% of the world's jobs will likely no longer exist in 20 years due to this shift.
 

Osman

Koul Khara!
Aug 30, 2002
61,487
:lol: love that guy

on a serious note though, yea it is scary how so many jobs can be replaced with automation in the near future and its even scarier seeing early examples of it like this. what are first world societies going to look like when Mcdonalds decides its cheaper to automate their process then hire staff who want increasing wages and benefits.

Then a Mcdonalds will have two employees total and theyll be mechanical engineers. Its kind of ironic all these people demonstrating for higher minimum wage won't be able to find minimum wage jobs without a college degree and specialised skills.
Interesting point, you remind me of ony my fav segments from this seasons Daily show. Lewis Black is hilariously on point, blaming it on some of the current young generation thats grown up entirely infront of computer/tv/cell phone screens, grow ever more awkwardly anti-social and lazy, so companies adapt to appeal to them more and more:


 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
All jobs follow this process:

Do it locally --> send the job overseas to cheaper labor supplies --> replace labor supplies with robotics/AI

We deal with this info all the time at work. An estimated 47% of the world's jobs will likely no longer exist in 20 years due to this shift.
I'll bet we had the same expectations back in the 80's, but we're always going to create new jobs that make up for those that no longer exist.
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,315
I'll bet we had the same expectations back in the 80's, but we're always going to create new jobs that make up for those that no longer exist.
We're not and it's naive to think that we are. That sort of thinking doesn't even make sense imo. The point of life is not work. We should always strive to reduce the total number of hours people have to work. And to be perfectly honest we have done so, but now resort to bullshit jobs to make people work anyway. Look at HR. There's an entire sector we don't really need. In the end these bullshit jobs will be automated. As for blue collar jobs.. You can't magically transform a lorry driver into a nurse. Chances are very high this was the one thing the guy was any good at.

I guess what I'm trying to say is:
1. Not all jobs will be replaced with other jobs
2. As a society we need to stop creating bullshit jobs
3. We need to think about what comes next

- - - Updated - - -

:lol: love that guy

on a serious note though, yea it is scary how so many jobs can be replaced with automation in the near future and its even scarier seeing early examples of it like this. what are first world societies going to look like when Mcdonalds decides its cheaper to automate their process then hire staff who want increasing wages and benefits.

Then a Mcdonalds will have two employees total and theyll be mechanical engineers. Its kind of ironic all these people demonstrating for higher minimum wage won't be able to find minimum wage jobs without a college degree and specialised skills.
The only reason McDonalds isn't automated right now is that it would cost a lot of money to change all the infrastructure and facilities they have. I mean, if you were to create a fastfood chain right now, surely you wouldn't employ a lot of people in the actual restaurant? That seems so wasteful.
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
We're not and it's naive to think that we are. That sort of thinking doesn't even make sense imo. The point of life is not work. We should always strive to reduce the total number of hours people have to work. And to be perfectly honest we have done so, but now resort to bullshit jobs to make people work anyway. Look at HR. There's an entire sector we don't really need. In the end these bullshit jobs will be automated. As for blue collar jobs.. You can't magically transform a lorry driver into a nurse. Chances are very high this was the one thing the guy was any good at.

I guess what I'm trying to say is:
1. Not all jobs will be replaced with other jobs
2. As a society we need to stop creating bullshit jobs
3. We need to think about what comes next
History says otherwise, throughout history we've had jobs that have become obsolete, but we also keep creating new jobs. I don't agree that they are bullshit jobs, because if they are, organizations(especially those in the private sector) would stop employing people in those jobs.

Ya, in a perfect imaginary world, none of us would need to work and we'd all just have a source of income we can survive on without having to work. That isn't going to happen anytime soon though. The whole concept of work has been around in some form or the other throughout the history of mankind.


I disagree with you about HR too, there are many problems with the field that I could go on about for days, it isn't as well defined a profession as the older fashioned professions, but someone has to do the functions HR do. Saying they shouldn't exist is not a solution, finding ways to make HR more effective is what we should be thinking about, but that's a whole other matter.
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,315
History says otherwise, throughout history we've had jobs that have become obsolete, but we also keep creating new jobs. I don't agree that they are bullshit jobs, because if they are, organizations(especially those in the private sector) would stop employing people in those jobs.

Ya, in a perfect imaginary world, none of us would need to work and we'd all just have a source of income we can survive on without having to work. That isn't going to happen anytime soon though. The whole concept of work has been around in some form or the other throughout the history of mankind.


I disagree with you about HR too, there are many problems with the field that I could go on about for days, it isn't as well defined a profession as the older fashioned professions, but someone has to do the functions HR do. Saying they shouldn't exist is not a solution, finding ways to make HR more effective is what we should be thinking about, but that's a whole other matter.
Not necessarily so. In many cases it probably pays to have employees. You know just how powerful a company with 50,000 employees will be politically? HR is bullshit, I'm not even answering that. It's something that should be done on the side, not fulltime.

As for the rest of your post.. The lack of vision is shocking and downright dangerous. We won't replace the jobs. Not this time around. Because like I said, you can't magically transform lorry drivers into nurses. You might be able to make them waiters. But will restaurants need waiters? What the fuck do you think these people will do? Please.. Tell me. Because right now I'm looking at a world full of unemployed 25-30 year olds and I see people everywhere saying that we probably won't be able to give them jobs. You think otherwise. Tell me. What the fuck will the lorry driver do?

Have a read: http://www.newsweek.com/clifford-stoll-why-web-wont-be-nirvana-185306
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
Not necessarily so. In many cases it probably pays to have employees. You know just how powerful a company with 50,000 employees will be politically? HR is bullshit, I'm not even answering that. It's something that should be done on the side, not fulltime.

As for the rest of your post.. The lack of vision is shocking and downright dangerous. We won't replace the jobs. Not this time around. Because like I said, you can't magically transform lorry drivers into nurses. You might be able to make them waiters. But will restaurants need waiters? What the fuck do you think these people will do? Please.. Tell me. Because right now I'm looking at a world full of unemployed 25-30 year olds and I see people everywhere saying that we probably won't be able to give them jobs. You think otherwise. Tell me. What the fuck will the lorry driver do?

Have a read: http://www.newsweek.com/clifford-stoll-why-web-wont-be-nirvana-185306
The debate about whether or not we need HR is actually a genuine debate, so you aren't really making any far fetched argument there, but like I said, that's another argument for another day.

You might be missing my point, you're talking about individual jobs, my point was more broad. What I'm saying is, throughout history jobs have become obsolete, but parallel to that, there have always been new jobs created. For example; HR, there used to be no such thing before the 20th century, now it's a profession, with hundreds of thousands of workers employed all over the world, it's now possible to get a degree in HR, when even 20-25 years ago that didn't exist. A job that has become obsolete, milkmen. What did milkmen do when there job became obsolete, they used their existing skills, or obtained new skills that allowed them to do something else, and that's what lorry drivers will do as well.

The point is, we will always find something to do for work, we always have and always will. There is absolutely no evidence that we are moving towards a world where people don't have to work anymore.
 

JuveJay

Senior Signor
Moderator
Mar 6, 2007
74,888
Milkmen are essentially the same service as lorry drivers, just micro :D BTW they are not quite obsolete yet but it's relatively niche (UK has something like 8000-9000).
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,315
The debate about whether or not we need HR is actually a genuine debate, so you aren't really making any far fetched argument there, but like I said, that's another argument for another day.

You might be missing my point, you're talking about individual jobs, my point was more broad. What I'm saying is, throughout history jobs have become obsolete, but parallel to that, there have always been new jobs created. For example; HR, there used to be no such thing before the 20th century, now it's a profession, with hundreds of thousands of workers employed all over the world, it's now possible to get a degree in HR, when even 20-25 years ago that didn't exist. A job that has become obsolete, milkmen. What did milkmen do when there job became obsolete, they used their existing skills, or obtained new skills that allowed them to do something else, and that's what lorry drivers will do as well.

The point is, we will always find something to do for work, we always have and always will. There is absolutely no evidence that we are moving towards a world where people don't have to work anymore.
Okay. I can see why you need HR from a function perspective, I just disagree with the fact that it has become an industry on itself.

But I disagree with the way you think you can compare the past to the future. There has simply never been an automation of the scale that is predicted now. And the transition from a farmer to a factory worker is an easy one. Both are mainly unskilled labor. You can't expect a lorry driver to become a programmer, a doctor (we might need a whole lot less of those soon too) or an engineer.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
I'll bet we had the same expectations back in the 80's, but we're always going to create new jobs that make up for those that no longer exist.
Not entirely. There are projections I hear out there that the future may need about a billion jobs, but that leaves the rest of society wondering what are they for. Their reasoning isn't half bad on this, IMO.

Not necessarily so. In many cases it probably pays to have employees. You know just how powerful a company with 50,000 employees will be politically? HR is bullshit, I'm not even answering that. It's something that should be done on the side, not fulltime.

As for the rest of your post.. The lack of vision is shocking and downright dangerous. We won't replace the jobs. Not this time around. Because like I said, you can't magically transform lorry drivers into nurses. You might be able to make them waiters. But will restaurants need waiters? What the fuck do you think these people will do? Please.. Tell me. Because right now I'm looking at a world full of unemployed 25-30 year olds and I see people everywhere saying that we probably won't be able to give them jobs. You think otherwise. Tell me. What the fuck will the lorry driver do?

Have a read: http://www.newsweek.com/clifford-stoll-why-web-wont-be-nirvana-185306
I am experience quite the opposite situation having lived in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley for the past 25+ years. People keep flocking here, and one of the prime reasons is that by some freak miracle this is where the decent jobs are for younger people. At the same time people are protesting gentrification here and housing prices going up, I also have to think that the economic success here also reflects the economic failures of the parents of this inbound generation: their mothers and fathers failed to generate the businesses that could sustainably create the next generation of decent employment.

It's not just their fault, but they bear some of the responsibility too. People aren't thinking enough about where their sons and daughters are next going to find gainful employment.
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,315
Not entirely. There are projections I hear out there that the future may need about a billion jobs, but that leaves the rest of society wondering what are they for. Their reasoning isn't half bad on this, IMO.



I am experience quite the opposite situation having lived in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley for the past 25+ years. People keep flocking here, and one of the prime reasons is that by some freak miracle this is where the decent jobs are for younger people. At the same time people are protesting gentrification here and housing prices going up, I also have to think that the economic success here also reflects the economic failures of the parents of this inbound generation: their mothers and fathers failed to generate the businesses that could sustainably create the next generation of decent employment.

It's not just their fault, but they bear some of the responsibility too. People aren't thinking enough about where their sons and daughters are next going to find gainful employment.
It's very hard to predict future jobs though.
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,315
Could you imagine in 1990 someone thinking, "Well, my daughter should be a cloud computing architect for an online social media company"?

The response would have been, "What's 'online' mean?"
Exactly. And while Fred may be right in that a whole lot of new jobs will be created, it is very difficult to see where and when. And the reality is that they might even not be created at all.
 

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