I find the whole “robot apocalypse” argument strange. It seems like the sortof tasks robots are very good at doing — dull, repetitive, linear — are exactly the tasks that human beings are not good at doing long-term.
If you look at rates of boredom and job satisfaction among factory workers and corporate office workers, there are very few people who are energised by rote tasks.
Also, our brains just aren’t very good at it.
One of the things that’s very interesting about psychedelics is that our brains are tuned for novelty, and for good reason. It’s very adaptive to respond to new things in the environment, changes in your environment, threats in your environment. We’re tuned to disregard the familiar or take it for granted, which is indeed what most of us do.
– Michael Pollan
I understand the fear of not having a job, of robots replacing you and this leading to increased unemployment. There are only so many “knowledge economy” jobs out there, after all.
But if the robots replace these dull, menial roles then maybe that leads to opportunities elsewhere….
There are currently 465 of you on this list. This is I-465 outside Indiana. Going round and around and around.
On we go.