Automation is nothing new, but what is new is how affordable automated devices are becoming. In my last journal I discusses how robots could potentially cause a divide between the world’s wealthy and the world’s poor; however, Ford’s article has made me somewhat change my mind on that stance. Something very relatable that he brought up was the cost of the Xbox Kinect. This motion detecting device would typically cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, but Microsoft was able to produce it for retail sale at $150. It also brought up how Tesla (automated cars) are made by robots very efficiently. This has lead to a massive cost decrease for Tesla and now you can buy one for as little as $35,000. What is ironic is that the solution to making robots affordable is robots. We now even have humanoid robots like Baxter who can be trained (not programmed) to perform a variety of repetitive tasks.
Soon Robots like Baxter will have all of our jobs and the question of if we should pay them or not will be a tough one. If we don’t then the question of Universal Income will become important. If there are no jobs for humans, how will we make money? Automated technology is advancing at a rate that is too quick for us to answer all the questions it brings a long with it.
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