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Longjumping-Tie-7573 t1_jczedvs wrote

Reply to comment by michaelnoir in What jobs cannot be done by machines? by Spirited-Meringue829

Forever and ever? Or until an AI is assigned the task to maximize a robot's dexterity and associated programming?

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justahandfulofwords t1_jczn9pj wrote

There's always going to be a material and maufacturing cost associated with robotics, no matter how advanced. I think it will be more reliant on economic changes than technological capability. We wouldn't see humans mixing concrete by hand in half the world given concrete mixers currently exist, if this were the case.

I hope it isn't forever and ever though!

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Turbulent-Pea-8826 t1_jczogny wrote

Robots don’t complain to HR. Robots don’t fail drug and background checks. Robots don’t ask for raises or start drama with their coworkers. Robots will work 24/7 without complaint and if they get damaged won’t file a workman’s compensation claim.

Given the choice most companies would switch to robots due to these reasons alone.

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justahandfulofwords t1_jczqo6x wrote

Just like they've switched to mechanical concrete mixers across the world due to those advantages and you could never find it mixed by hand if you looked :)

People are cheap in much of the world. I don't like it, but its how it is

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Turbulent-Pea-8826 t1_jczvukf wrote

And there are not nearly as many people mixing concrete by hand today as there were before the invention of the mechanical concrete mixer.

Sure not every instance of manual labor will go to robots for example when the job is too small to bother with just like someone might mix up concrete by hand for a small batch that is not worth renting a mechanical mixer.

But also, just like I can rent a concrete mixer from Home Depot for the weekend we will probably be able rent robots for the weekend too.

Personally I don’t look forward to the day when I am competing with 100 other people for the job of mixing up one bag of concrete because it’s not worth renting a robot to do it. Doing back breaking labor for Pennies because I am competing against robots and a ton of other people out of work.

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justahandfulofwords t1_jczwwbx wrote

Oh ya I'm just saying the pace will largely be dictated by economics, not just technical feasability.

I picked concrete mixers because machines are great at it, and yet it's still done by hand in much of the developing world because the economic situation hasn't caught up. Human labor is cheap is what I meant by people are cheap, sorry if that was confusing

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