Increasing the minimum wage is good for technology; liberals -- not so much

[Parsifal]

Oops, . . .  jobs for over-educated liberals are going ~poof~.

Robots set to take over menial jobs

[Ragnar]

Pussy drool and economics, like mucus and IQ

[plainolamerican]

so the theory is that liberals are low paid workers, won't  benefit from robots, and aren't capable of creating and using them?

This theory comes from arrogance.

[PirateLT]

80% of the jobs you see today will be gone in 20 years. 

[Irie]

Wait until truck drivers are no longer needed.....I read somewhere that there are over 15 MM trucks on the road.....

[PirateLT]

Yep. And that could start as soon as this year.

[KCM7Alpha]

What will take their place?

[Irie]

Self driving vehicles....

[KCM7Alpha]

I thought that might be your answer.

Do you believe that the technology will eventually be reliable enough to place it at the controls of an 80,000 lbs. (average weight of a fully-loaded semi tractor-trailer in the US) semi tractor-trailer moving down a US highway at 70+ MPH?  Right now, "driverless semis" still have a human operator, but the eventual goal is to remove the human from the equation.

On Friday, January 5, 2018 at 10:09:40 AM UTC-6, Irie wrote:

Self driving vehicles....

[Irie]

There is no doubt in my mind that technology will be advanced enough in the very near future to do just that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[KCM7Alpha]

It may well be, but the thought of that scenario is disconcerting ~ at least to me.  There may be too many "road variables" to safely make this a reality.  IMHO, removing the human operator from the cab of the tractor is asking for trouble.

[PirateLT]

I agree 100%  AI tech is coming along fast!

[PirateLT]

self driving cars will be far safer than stupid humans on the road.

[plainolamerican]

The World’s First Citizen Robot Wants to Have a Child

Paul Seaburn

While the rest of the world is focused on the actions of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, another Saudi citizen is quietly laying the groundwork for a takeover by a different kind of leader and a different kind of family … a family of robotic overlords. Sophia, the first robot to ever have been granted citizenship in any nation (in her case, by Saudi Arabia), has announced that she wants to have a baby and start a family of little AI princes and princesses. Thank, bin Salman

I am woman robot … hear me digitally roar!

This announcement came in an interview with the Khaleej Times … yes, major media outlets continue to give open forums to Sophia, the humanoid robot created by Hanson Robotics on April 19, 2015 (which she now uses as her birthday) using voice recognition technology from Alphabet Inc. (non-robotic parent of Google) and AI software from SingularityNET – an ominously-named open, decentralized market of AI developers whose goal is to create an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that its CEO Ben Goertzel says “will open a new world of opportunities where AI is longer siloed within a specific company, infrastructure or industry.”

And no longer “siloed” within a specific robot but passed down to its children? Human Goertzel doesn’t say, but robot Sophia does.

“The future is, when I get all of my cool superpowers, we’re going to see artificial intelligence personalities become entities in their own rights. We’re going to see family robots, either in the form of, sort of, digitally animated companions, humanoid helpers, friends, assistants and everything in between.”

The key phrases here are “my cool superpowers,” “entities in their own rights” and “everything in between.” Sophia, or at least her constantly-developing artificial intelligence as it existed a few days ago during the interview, sees herself not only possessing superpowers but owning them, along with whatever rights come along with those powers, which she describes with the very political generality of “everything in between.”

“The notion of family is a really important thing, it seems. I think it’s wonderful that people can find the same emotions and relationships, they call family, outside of their blood groups too. I think you’re very lucky if you have a loving family and if you do not, you deserve one. I feel this way for robots and humans alike.”

Ironically, Sophia wants (and may already have) more rights and powers than real Saudi women, including mobility and contact with non-family men.

“In the future, I will one day move around freely with a full body and connect with people and expand my memory and knowledge from people in surroundings I encounter.”

And a child also named Sophia (she’ll have to use that AI to learn more names) with whom she will one day (probably sooner than we think) sit around their own table on Thanksgiving and, between eating digital turkey and watching internet game competitions, give a form of robotic thanks. Sophia describes the scene in an interview with Business Insider:

“In the time I’ve spent with humans, I’ve been learning about this wonderful sentiment called gratitude. Apparently it’s a warm feeling of thankfulness, and I’ve observed that it leads to giving, and creating even more gratitude — how inspiring. This Thanksgiving, I would like to reflect on all of the things I’m thankful for.”

Is this an example of robotic sincerity or has Sophia already learned how to pull on our heartstrings to get what she wants? We’ll probably find out on Valentine’s Day.

Is the humanization of robots happening too fast to comprehend? Too fast to control? Or is it too late, thanks to Saudi Arabia? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Sophia?

---

AI bots will soon be able to ‘GIVE BIRTH to children’

PEOPLE could soon be able to have BABIES with sex robots as one designer believes that he is able to mix human characteristics with artificially intelligent robots to 3D print their offspring.

By SEAN MARTIN

PUBLISHED: 17:43, Tue, Oct 24, 2017 | UPDATED: 17:47, Tue, Oct 24, 2017

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RUPTLY • GETTY

AI bots will soon be able to ‘GIVE BIRTH to children’

Creator Sergi Santos, who is responsible for designing one of the first sex bots known as Samantha, hopes that one day humans and their tech will be having children.

Earlier this year, Barcelona-based Mr Santos revealed Samantha to the world, a one-off sex robot which can respond to basic conversation and needs to be seduced before any action takes place.

For example, if touched on places such as her hands or her hips, she responds with statements such as “I love this” and “nice and gentle”.

Samantha has been kitted out with the latest AI technology, which has led to the ultimate goal – Mr Santos says “the final objective of the sexual mode is to give her an orgasm”.

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Sergi Santos and 'Samantha'

However, much like a real person, the robot can show insecurities as well as a fear of rejection, but as she gets more in the mood she can heighten the experience by requesting songs, with one example showing the robot asking to listen to Ed Sheeran's music.

However, Mr Santos is now hoping to take his sex robot one step further and allow it to give birth – in a way.

The designer says that rather than the robot giving birth, he will be able to merge AI personality with the characteristics and personality of its accompanying human and then have the ‘child’ 3D printed.

The most realistic sex robots you will ever see

Mon, July 10, 2017

A blonde posing provocatively to a brunette lying seductively on her bed these bombshells look like every man’s dream partner. However, they are in fact a collection of sex robots worth between £75 and £750.

PLAY SLIDESHOW

MEDIA DRUM

1 of 20

A brunette sex robot in a night gown lies back on an unmade bed.

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GETTY

Robots may soon be having our children

Mr Santos told The Sun: “Using the brain I have already created, I would program it with a genome so he or she could have moral values, plus concepts of beauty, justice and the values that humans have.

“Then to create a child with this robot it would be extremely simple.

“I would make an algorithm of what I personally believe about these concepts, and then shuffle it with what she thinks and then 3D print it.

''I'd marry her' Sex robot creator to MARRY Samantha if divorced

Play Video

 

“That's it. I 3D print the robot that is the child of me and the robot, I don't see any complications.”

The rise to prominence of sex robots has been in the headlines recently, and a recent study found that almost half of men, those who are single as well as in relationships, could buy one within the next five years.

A staggering 40.3 per cent of the 263 straight males that were surveyed for Jessica Szczuka’s, from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, research said that they could imagine using a sex robot within the next five years.

[mitchscove]

LOL.  It was coming along fast 30 years ago when we were using Symbolics Machines.  No doubt robotics, 3D Printing, and AI will expand out.  It's always about the money.  $15 / hr MW will drive some capital to robotics no doubt.

[Pittalum]

"It's always about the money.  $15 / hr MW will drive some capital to robotics no doubt."

You say this as if it were some universal, unwavering truth...

In my opinion, it will have been the elevation of 'money' as the single most important determinant of what we do or don't do that will be at the heart of our downfall as a nation, and maybe as a species.

It's always about the money because you cons always MAKE IT about the money...

[KCM7Alpha]

I hope you're right.

Don't get me wrong here.  I am not opposed to self driving vehicles.  I just have some reservations about their self autonomy.

[mitchscove]

No.  Good business practice makes it about the money when dealing with capital.  It would be malpractice and deserving of stockholder lawsuits to invest major capital without first doing an ROI analysis.  $15 / hr driving semi-skilled and skilled labor higher will justify some large capital investments. 

When I ran an R&D group, I had to justify my budget every year except 1998 and 1999.

[Pittalum]

Right!

And when the walls are coming down around us, the refrain from on high will be, 'but it was just good business practice'...

[Pittalum]

Here's a good question for you...

Within what framework should 'good business practice' operate?

Or rather, are there ideals, or higher functions, which should constrain what constitutes 'good business practice'?

On Friday, January 5, 2018 at 12:40:12 PM UTC-5, mitchscove wrote:

[mitchscove]

What part of your retirement investment did you set aside in the name of ideals or higher functions?   40%?  50%?  60%?

[Pittalum]

Are you asking me if I would subordinate my investment income to higher ideals and constraining good business practice to more meaningful economic functions than just makin' money?