Humans Need Not Apply

[sparks]

Catchy little tune, innit?

[Abdul Alhazred]

[Witness]

First they came for the weeds…

[Abdul Alhazred]

So is this one of those jobs we need illegal aliens for?

[Abdul Alhazred]

< Libertarian_rant >
Economic protectionism masquerading as health code enforcement!
< /Libertarian_rant >

Italy's first sex doll brothel is raided by police and SHUT DOWN just nine days after opening amid fears dolls were not cleaned properly after each use
Daily Fail

[xouper]

< Libertarian_rant >
Economic protectionism masquerading as health code enforcement!
< /Libertarian_rant >

Italy's first sex doll brothel is raided by police and SHUT DOWN just nine days after opening amid fears dolls were not cleaned properly after each use
Daily Fail

Why would any human want the job of Doll Washer™?

Someone call Mike Rowe.

[sparks]

I think there's an opportunity here: Yes! It's the new Vag-Vac! While applying sanitizing washing fluid, it sucks (no pun intended) away all lube, washing fluid, and ... anything else in one simple operation!! A must have for every doll owner.

[Abdul Alhazred]

It occurs to me that a sex doll "brothel" could charge extra for "virgin" dolls.

They wouldn't call it that of course. They'd call it unboxing.

[Grammatron]

It occurs to me that a sex doll "brothel" could charge extra for "virgin" dolls.

They wouldn't call it that of course. They'd call it unboxing.

First come, first serve

[sparks]

It occurs to me that a sex doll "brothel" could charge extra for "virgin" dolls.

They wouldn't call it that of course. They'd call it unboxing.

I wonder if .... no. Never mind.

[Witness]

Labor automation coming faster than we thought

The new age of automation is building global momentum much faster than many thought, with more than half of the tasks done by human workers on pace to switch to machines in just seven years, according to a report released today.

Why it matters: Earlier this month, we reported that the impact of artificial intelligence is happening only slowly, but will pick up to a rapid clip in the late 2020s. But with automation, we are already there, according to a report by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum.

• Examining large companies in 20 advanced and developing economies, the report said that by 2022, machines will carry out 42% of the labor — and an accelerated 52% just three years later.
• That's up from a 29% automated share last year.
• The people, employers and governments in these countries have barely begun planning the fundamental reordering of work, education and society needed to absorb this coming new blow to the global system.

https://www.axios.com/authors/stevelevine

We'll see…

[Anaxagoras]

I wonder exactly what counts as "automation". Any tool that allows a worker to be more productive?

A shovel allows a worker to excavate more dirt from a ditch than he could with his bare hands.

A backhoe allows the same worker (assuming he has the skills to operate a backhoe) to excavate much more dirt than he could using a shovel. Does a backhoe count as "automation" though?

[Doctor X]

Depends on whether or not the shovel can satisfy the Turing Test.

--J.D.

[xouper]

I wonder exactly what counts as "automation".

I don't know what precise definition is used by those who compile global statistics on the matter, but I would use something like this definition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation

Instead of the productivity factor (as implied by your shovel question), I would say the relevant metric is the percentage of human assistance required and whether the system has some kind of feedback loop to guide its behavior.

Applying that to your shovel question, it is easy to see that the shovel does not do anything on its own without a lot of human assistance. Same for a backhoe. Whereas if you have a backhoe that you type in the location and size of the hole and it proceeds to dig it without further human assistance, then I would call that automation, even if the operator is still sitting in the backhoe monitoring the operation.

Here's an example from my own professional experience. In the late 1980s, I helped develop the software in a driverless forktruck (more specifically an automated guided vehicle) that we installed in various factories throughout the US. Although the system required human assistance to tell it where to go to pick up and deliver loads of stuff, the vehicles themselves did not have any operators on board and made their way about the factory floor without any further human assistance. So I would call that automation.

I assume there are examples where the level of automation is so low compared to the required level of human assistance that it might be arguable whether that counts as automation (or even partial automation). A common industrial sewing machine, for example, where the operator does not directly control the behavior of the needle (as compared to controlling the fabric going through the machine). I would say that is a very low level of automation. Is a simple conveyor belt or water pump an example of automation? It performs its job continuously without further human assistance. I would call those a low level of automation.

Perhaps it's like asking how do you know when it's a hill or a mountain, or what frequency does it stop being red and is now orange?

Clear as mud, eh?

[Anaxagoras]

Labor automation coming faster than we thought

The new age of automation is building global momentum much faster than many thought, with more than half of the tasks done by human workers on pace to switch to machines in just seven years, according to a report released today.

Why it matters: Earlier this month, we reported that the impact of artificial intelligence is happening only slowly, but will pick up to a rapid clip in the late 2020s. But with automation, we are already there, according to a report by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum.

• Examining large companies in 20 advanced and developing economies, the report said that by 2022, machines will carry out 42% of the labor — and an accelerated 52% just three years later.
• That's up from a 29% automated share last year.
• The people, employers and governments in these countries have barely begun planning the fundamental reordering of work, education and society needed to absorb this coming new blow to the global system.

https://www.axios.com/authors/stevelevine

We'll see…

Let's look a little deeper into the article:

Meanwhile automation is already happening fast — 75 million workers could lose their jobs to automation by 2022, the World Economic Forum report said.

I assume that means worldwide? 75 million workers sounds like a big number, but it's only 1% of the world's population. OK, if we assume that roughly half of the population are "workers" in the traditional sense, it's about 2% of the working population.
But, of course, other new jobs will be created:

If those workers are given "significant" reskilling, and a pipeline of new workers is created in schools and colleges, companies could create 133 million new jobs by 2022 — more than compensating for those that vanish, the report says. By significant, the report means an average of 101 days of retraining, a little over three months.

Three months of training sounds like a lot less than say, 4 years of college.

But the operative phrase, is "if," says Saadia Zahidi, the study's lead author and head of the forum's Center for New Economy and Society.
The future job forecast is based on a conceptual idea of new skills that, if learned by a single person, could result in a new occupation. If such skills are compounded out, the economy could have a slew of new emerging occupations. "But they won't emerge if we don't give people the right skills," Zahidi said.

Sounds pretty abstract. It's not clear what sort of jobs these "new jobs" will be.

[Witness]

Artificial intelligence weaponry successfully trialled on mock urban battlefield

A cutting edge weapon that uses artificial intelligence to scan the battlefield for enemy movements has been successfully tested for the first time.

The system, that was developed by British experts, uses space age technology to monitor and track opposing forces in built up areas.

It can then rapidly flag dangers to soldiers, giving them an “edge” in a warzone, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The technology, developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and UK industry partners, known as SAPIENT, also reduces human error and frees up other soldiers who currently have to man live CCTV-type feeds to monitor enemy movement, it is claimed.

It was tested by Canadian soldiers on a mock urban battlefield in Montreal alongside a range of experimental military technology created by other nations, including robotic exoskeleton suits, night vision, and surveillance systems.

Stuart Andrew, the defence minister, said: "This British system can act as autonomous eyes in the urban battlefield.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... lled-mock/ (more gadgetry)

[Grammatron]

"space age technology"

The fuck does that even mean

[Abdul Alhazred]

Backlash in Texas.

https://www.change.org/p/elijah-rising- ... of-houston

[xouper]

Backlash in Texas.

https://www.change.org/p/elijah-rising- ... of-houston

From that article:

Sex robots sexually objectify women and children.

Do they also argue dildos sexually objectify men?

[Pyrrho]