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Name a job. Can we automate it?
- Thread starter Aztechnology
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PetriP-TNT
Member
I have one. Mothers
This one is pretty dystopian but I am certain that we'll see first birth from some sort of machine womb / incubator in near-ish future. If by mothering you mean raising the children and what not many of current GAFfers were raised by video games and internet anyways
In general the answer is "most everything", the only thing stopping us either some sort conscience thing or just not wanting to do so: computer artists and human artists can co-exist and when people don't need to waste time on stupid shit there will be newer, more awesome forms of doing stuff that you can't even imagine now, IMO
Are we anywhere close to the kind of AI that can abstract the concepts of a desired components of a program and generate both efficient and readable code? A big part of code is maintenance, and it would seem like a really bad idea for a computer to generate the code if a human isn't able to maintain it if it produces cryptic syntax for everything.
Onlinehero
Member
Well humans aren't exactly cheap, either! If zoos are strung on cash that's all the more reason for them to automate than not, really. It won't happen before automation is cheaper than human labour, but it'll probably happen once it's "good enough" rather than perfect. You could argue that animal care has a social component similar to that of child care that can't be automated, however you would probably need a lot fewer zookeepers employed.
This post with your avatar is perfect.
veryslowhand
Banned
Aircraft pilot
Pantaghana
Member
Colleges don't have such political and economic influence to stop companies from automating.
And even then, the student loan and exploitation is a very US thing. Rest of the world is a bit more sane when it comes to paying college education.
notsureifserious.jpeg
Allow me to complement with the audiovisual translation side =)
Some time ago a client sent us a video that was already subtitled by a programme. The transcription was accurate, but the reading speed was too high because it kept everything. The other problem was that the software didn't do a good subtitle splitting. It limited itself to moving onto the next subtitle when the previous one was full.
So you'd
get subtitles split like
this.
While the programme wasn't capable of a proper split and good reading speed, that's possibily because who created it didn't understand those matters. If they did, well, subtitling could start getting automated.
I guess our biggest enemy is still automated translation, though. Too often, as you've said so yourself, clients opt for the automated one cuz it's good enough. This devalues our work significantly. If the Translator job doesn't die out because it got replaced by software, it probably will by no longer being profitable.
Sure, but passengers would still want a human pilot to take over in case the automated system is having malfunctions.
Onlinehero
Member
From the "future of employment" study:
Bittersweet.
I think the further down the ages you go, the less likely it is to be automated. Then I think about how kids are amazing at adapting new technology. You will probably (inevitably) end up requiring fewer kindergarten teachers as well. You need someone to plan activities and keep an eye on how the kids are developing. Wiping their bums and making sure the kids don't run into stuff probably won't need humans for long.
TheSpoiler
Member
This is from 2015:
Now imagine 2030.
Oops, by digital marketing, I mean the backend creation of all those elements. The graphics, the copy writing, the program, and anything else that goes into attracting the consumer.
What you've posted is the final product, but I guess that means it's a job that'll continuously evolve as products get more advanced.
umop_3pisdn
Member
Yeah, a lot of jobs are basically predicated on a shared human experience.
TheSecondSpitter
Member
According to this website, my job has a 3.2% of being automated.
The Albatross
Member
I'm a software and web developer. I have no doubt that a lot of my work could be automated, hell it already is. Using a library like jQuery automates a hell of a lot of the work I used to do with vanilla JavaScript; Using pre-processors like SCSS, compiling systems, and the dozens of other tools that go into my development workflow are forms of automation. From a design perspective, designers used to think that the act of design could not be reproduced and for sophisticated design projects, sure, it can't be, but for web design, you already have template generators and color template mixers, and you combine those things with building tools and AI can already make decent looking websites in a few milliseconds.
There are already systems in place that allow project managers to do a lot more than they could have done 10 years ago without a developer. Even looking at something like RSpec... A well written RSpec matches up pretty closely to a requirements document, and it's not a huge leap of intellectual faith to think that some machine could take a requirements document written by a non-technical person, translate that into an RSpec, and then translate that RSpec into deployable code.
If the machine can tell another machine what is wrong with it, it becomes more probable that it can be fixed by that machine. It's just that a lot of machines are old machines and can't do that, but as new machines come out, this ability is baked in.
Think about it with a car. Cars have hundreds (thousands?) of diagnostic codes that are read by another machine to tell the mechanic what is wrong or what needs to be done with the car. 20 years ago, this didn't exist, 15 years ago it kind of existed, and now it's in every car on the road.
For smaller devices, even think of printers. When a printer malfunctioned 10 years ago, you had to figure out what was wrong with it... Is it jammed? Does it need ink? Is there some other issue? Now, even the cheapest printers give you a status message either on the LCD screen or send it to the computer they're plugged into ... Low on ink? You get a notification. Printer is jammed? It tells you where and gives you instructions on what to take apart. Out of paper? It gives you a notification. Now, a person still usually has to go up and put in paper, replace the ink, or open up a cavity and remove some paper that's jammed in there, but 10 years ago, many of these tasks could only be done by office specialists, and now they're expected of the most tech-unsavy administrative assistant.
Newspaper editor or Newspaper journalist probably said the same thing 30 years ago. It's not only about a robot automating what you do, but automating tasks about it that then make you less valuable. A major portion of a newspaper editor's job 30 years ago was choosing which articles to run, where to print them, and where to lay them out. Today, people have so much choice in consuming news how they want to consume it, using algorithms that pull news from thousands of sources, targeting their specific interests, that the algorithm has enabled consumers to replace the job that the newspaper editor used to do. While Flipboard has turned to shit pretty quickly, there was a moment 2 years ago where I thought "This is the most perfect version of a newspaper and magazine," and most of it was on content discovery using an algorithm based on my interests.
A television news anchor might have said, 20 years ago, "How could I be replaced by a talking robot?" But technology has empowered people to be able to get their own news, find their own sources, and enabled other people to share news in a way that is faster and (may be) more authentic than the television news anchor.
Heck, podcasting itself is an example of technology enabling some people to replace other people. 20 years ago, a radio DJ or radio talk show host may have thought "People would never want a robot to tell them the news or tell them news stories!" And yet, today we have popular podcasting distribution algorithms that find interesting stories and programs based on your interests. While the touch of the human voice will be hard to reproduce digitally, some of those things that you would have previously only been able to turn to the music DJ for or the radio talk show host -- like choosing guests, topics, outlining a program, syncing stories together -- could be automated using an algorithm.. And then your job could change where it might not be profitable for you to do it anymore, or people become disinterest in it because technology has enabled other mediums to deliver what they want more effectively.
There are already systems in place that allow project managers to do a lot more than they could have done 10 years ago without a developer. Even looking at something like RSpec... A well written RSpec matches up pretty closely to a requirements document, and it's not a huge leap of intellectual faith to think that some machine could take a requirements document written by a non-technical person, translate that into an RSpec, and then translate that RSpec into deployable code.
If the machine can tell another machine what is wrong with it, it becomes more probable that it can be fixed by that machine. It's just that a lot of machines are old machines and can't do that, but as new machines come out, this ability is baked in.
Think about it with a car. Cars have hundreds (thousands?) of diagnostic codes that are read by another machine to tell the mechanic what is wrong or what needs to be done with the car. 20 years ago, this didn't exist, 15 years ago it kind of existed, and now it's in every car on the road.
For smaller devices, even think of printers. When a printer malfunctioned 10 years ago, you had to figure out what was wrong with it... Is it jammed? Does it need ink? Is there some other issue? Now, even the cheapest printers give you a status message either on the LCD screen or send it to the computer they're plugged into ... Low on ink? You get a notification. Printer is jammed? It tells you where and gives you instructions on what to take apart. Out of paper? It gives you a notification. Now, a person still usually has to go up and put in paper, replace the ink, or open up a cavity and remove some paper that's jammed in there, but 10 years ago, many of these tasks could only be done by office specialists, and now they're expected of the most tech-unsavy administrative assistant.
Newspaper editor or Newspaper journalist probably said the same thing 30 years ago. It's not only about a robot automating what you do, but automating tasks about it that then make you less valuable. A major portion of a newspaper editor's job 30 years ago was choosing which articles to run, where to print them, and where to lay them out. Today, people have so much choice in consuming news how they want to consume it, using algorithms that pull news from thousands of sources, targeting their specific interests, that the algorithm has enabled consumers to replace the job that the newspaper editor used to do. While Flipboard has turned to shit pretty quickly, there was a moment 2 years ago where I thought "This is the most perfect version of a newspaper and magazine," and most of it was on content discovery using an algorithm based on my interests.
A television news anchor might have said, 20 years ago, "How could I be replaced by a talking robot?" But technology has empowered people to be able to get their own news, find their own sources, and enabled other people to share news in a way that is faster and (may be) more authentic than the television news anchor.
Heck, podcasting itself is an example of technology enabling some people to replace other people. 20 years ago, a radio DJ or radio talk show host may have thought "People would never want a robot to tell them the news or tell them news stories!" And yet, today we have popular podcasting distribution algorithms that find interesting stories and programs based on your interests. While the touch of the human voice will be hard to reproduce digitally, some of those things that you would have previously only been able to turn to the music DJ for or the radio talk show host -- like choosing guests, topics, outlining a program, syncing stories together -- could be automated using an algorithm.. And then your job could change where it might not be profitable for you to do it anymore, or people become disinterest in it because technology has enabled other mediums to deliver what they want more effectively.
I could see us getting downsized sometime in the future. It would actually be pretty awesome to not have to clean or feed assuming I would not be on of the staff getting cut.
Onlinehero
Member
It'll require some human input, sure. But that's not to say that it can't be automated at all. Today they have administrative tasks that have been automated to some degree, which will only improve with time. Then you have the "human" bit, where the clergy perhaps takes a lot of time to prepare a ceremony, select texts, prepare a speech, and so on. Just creating a database from the bible isn't a huge task, though a smart machine would need to analyze a lot of cases to see how say, a speech, is received by a group of people. After a while you can free up a lot of time for a clergyman to do other tasks, either new ones or by replacing another worker. And who knows, maybe the church of tomorrow doesn't have a human head.
And I, for one, support improved animal care! You'll likely have a golden age where you won't need to do the menial tasks and can focus on improving the wellbeing of the animals instead.
Pantaghana
Member
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
that's where universal basic income and standard 20 hour work weeks come in.
Onlinehero
Member
Unless we really start to think about how the increased production and yield can be used for the benefit of all. If it's basic income, sharing of jobs (the ones that are left) with shorter work days, or what have you. Keep in mind that a lot of the jobs that are getting replaced, like healthcare, care of elderly, transportation etc., are within the government. You'll be freeing up a lot of resources for the state in the future. Disregarding the promises of increased lifespans, even if we just continue like usual, that will change society a lot.
Alligatorjandro
Banned
Pig milk milker
There's no job that's immune to this. There are ones that are harder like "comedian" but those are problems that are solvable given we develop an appropriate learning model for it (jokes tend to take particular forms and you can develop context from things like social networks). That's why it's most important to figure out things humans like to do and let them do that.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
yup, when programs can program themselves we'll have hit the singularity and shit hits the fan in one way or another.
programming / computer science will probably be the last non-strictly artistic field to be automated.
moka
Member
Code:
[B]for[/B] post <- forum.posts filter (_.timestamp > lastCheck); user <- post.user [B]do[/B]
[B]if[/B] user.name != "ElTorro" [B]&& user.name != "moka"[/B] && random.nextInt(100) == 0 [B]then[/B] moderator.ban(user)FIXED
witchedwiz
Member
they are gone as soon as middle//small business go ahoy..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quWFjS3Ci7A
amazon warehouse..
believe..
Just in case anyone else is debating watching -- it's not a good documentary and the core thesis is comparing humans to horses and how horses are no longer used... Which might be true if robots weren't essentially property to produce human-driven demands. Taking care of our basic demands via robots primarily free up even more human time and resources on things that are not easily automated, like every technological change since before the Industrial Revolution.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
i'd say it's a good watch. and the horse comparison was simply to illustrate the simple idea that we won't have an equivalent number of human jobs to "maintain" the jobs taken over by robots.
Nuclear tech. My job is to test/repair systems that are automated. Think I'm safe.
Nah. They'll replace you with a more intelligent, more efficient, more polite and more handsome robot as soon they can. My advice is sleeping with the management. Especially if they're a robot - they can't fire you after that or they'll risk turning you into a martyr for robosexual liberation.
Any job that has to do with animals and farming is horrible if automated. You get the produce/production, but the animal gets to be mistreated more.
And really, anyone who has been to a really good restaurant will know how awesome really good passionate service is.
If you think that can be automated, then so can friends. And if friends can be automated, then why even have humans?
And really, anyone who has been to a really good restaurant will know how awesome really good passionate service is.
If you think that can be automated, then so can friends. And if friends can be automated, then why even have humans?
But those are not robots, but DALEKS!
Pantaghana
Member
Humans do two things; use their muscles, and use their brain.
The industrial revolution significantly reduced the need for human muscles.
The revolution on the horizon is going to significantly reduce the need for human brains.
The whole point of the video is that once that revolution happens, there will be no jobs that are not easily automated.
TwntyOneTwlv
Member
I'm a plumber. I have a really hard time seeing a future where robots could do all the things I do on a daily basis.
Onlinehero
Member
HR has a ton of administrative work. Cut all that away and you'll only need a handful of HR managers compared to how it is today. Scheduling, wage administration, recruitment (sifting through applications, already automated), legal advice, they can all be automated. The more difficult stuff, like the long term strategic planning, is more difficult. Still, even a lot of that work is collecting surveys and doing statistical analysis, economics and whatnot, which can also be automated, an it’s already happening! Somewhere down the line you might find a couple of tasks that can't ever be automated, but the total amount of labour required will be less, which means fewer jobs, even disregarding fewer jobs due there not being as many humans to manage.
The focus of HR work could move over to coaching, where – I think – automation would be the most difficult, and increased coaching could lead to more efficient production. Though I don't think there's enough to gain there by hiring more HR staff.
Makes me wonder why HR is so high on the list in that study posted earlier.
VenomousCoffee
Member
I teach at a prep school and trust me, our admins are working hard to make us an "iPad school," which basically means the iPads babysit the students. They want the faculty to do as little as possible.
Iorv3th
Member
You haven't seen the episode of TNG were Data becomes a stand up comic?
They are used as an aid though where I have seen them. Not being used to replace a teacher. Thing a teacher can do that a video/machine can't is modify curriculum so different students can learn it.
Aztechnology
Member
It's definitely looking like teachers are moving towards the facilitator route. Where a few teachers are in charge of looking after a large group of students who are on Ipads/computers and are there to answer questions and help them. Basically maybe like one master teacher and the a bunch of aids instead of a teacher to every ~30 students.
Onlinehero
Member
I guess we could all become sports stars and be safe.
Aztechnology
Member
I mean the kids in the Hunger games were kind of sports stars right?
velociraptor
Junior Member
All jobs involving finances, banking, IT, engineering and manufacturing. So basically, lots of jobs.
CadetMahoney
Member
More likely they wouldn't be able to afford to buy the products before the population decreases enough to make an impact on sales.
I think your finally understanding the point of automation!
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