Automation 2/28

Automated technology has surrounded us for the longest time now. We see in McDonald’s with their introduction of automated kiosks where one can place their order without having to interact with an employee. We see it in the car industry as explained in the reading, where they are taking in the manufacturing jobs and contributing to the rapid product lifecycle; in the medical field they are making advancements for the introduction of robots into the operating rooms, CNN reporting in March 2016 that a team of surgeons at the Children’s National Medical Center showed for the first time how a supervised autonomous robot could perform soft-tissue surgery (on a pig) and stitching doing so better than a human surgeon. The introduction of automated robots allows our manufacturing system to be more competitive but at what cost? Martin Ford provides the negative impacts that will com with such advancements the disruption of the service sector being the one most affected. The introduction of robots will reduce labor costs but it will also reduce the space needed for workers in the field affecting their economical and living conditions. With the example of the robot that can produce 360 burgers in an hour, the co-founder of the machine said that with its introduction, “reducing the amount of space required in the kitchens will allow restaurants to spend more in high-quality ingredients…”. If we make it more general and not only apply it to the quality of the food but the overall quality of the products we use and consume,  by eliminating those jobs that provided an income to many, how will people be able to afford these “high-quality” commodities? The introduction of automated robots will eliminate those jobs that once was the sole income of a family. I think that the advancements occurring in technology nowadays are not bad; in fact their involvement in manufacturing is allowing for more precise products and for a faster production in greater quantities but I also thinking that as a society we have to evaluate where will these advancements take us and how it will affect the living conditions of the working class. Where will our society be driven to in the upcoming years if we shift to a system solemnly dependent on automated technology?