Robots

How jobs will be replaced by robots. I’m also including jobs replaced by a computer without arms or legs.

Manufacturing jobs have already been replaced. The robots there are getting smaller, faster and cheaper. They are also getting more versatile.

Quantifiable effort

Watching the soda guy fill the machine this morning I had a thought. His job is completely quantifiable from top to bottom. Someone can document his job to the single step. How many of what kind of sodas got put in what machines? Truck drivers deliver how much to which places.

Intellectual effort

These are the jobs that robots will take next. Believe it or not, the more intellectual a job is, like doctor, educator, engineer and others will be replaced by automated systems. IBM is falling over itself trying to replace all doctors with a robot that can have access to every drop of current medical data and trends at a moment’s notice.

Interpretive effort

Jobs that require on the spot decisions based as much on emotion as qualifiable rules will be the most difficult to replace without redefining the job completely. Law enforcement comes to mind. There will be great tools to help law enforcement. I’m thinking of Robocop and the gigantic robot that shoots the guy in the conference room and can’t go down stairs. There have been TV shows covering this exact limitation of robots in law enforcement.

Oh, and I really do believe that an increase in the minimum wage is all it will take.