Are Humans Really Ready For The Automation Of All Things, Including Self-Driving Vehicles?

July 31st, 2018 by Nicolas Zart

The advent of automation means we went from foraging grub with our nails millions of years ago to regularly flying across nations. Automation has been heralded as the freer of time, opening a world of creativity over mindless drone-like activities. While automation certainly has eased many tasks, it has also offered a new set of complex problems mostly due to adaptation. Humans want changes, but are we ready for the automation of all things? Moreover, what does this mean for the future of electric mobility and how will we use it?

Self-Driving Cars, The Automation Of All Things, & The Economic/Job Challenges That Follow

The Verge recently shared a valid question from the US think tank Center for Global Development (CGD), referencing a new paper dealing with the potential effects of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) on global labor markets. The group asked if we were we focusing too much on analyzing job slashings and not enough on fixing the problem the coming wave of automation introduces?

Although the authors of the research, Lukas Schlogl and Andy Sumner, can’t predict exactly how many jobs will be destroyed or disrupted by new technologies, they believe there will be significant effects felt everywhere and for everyone. It gets particularly worse for developing economies with a routine manual labor market. Their 1.8 billion workforce is two-thirds of the current labor force of developing countries. These countries are highly susceptible to automation, which you can read more about on page ten of the PDF version of the paper.

The paper shows the new radical change and evolution about to hit our society, right down to its fabric and underpinning structure. And the question still remains. How will humans adapt to the automation of all things and how will this shape the future of our electric mobility world as well as our economy?

Automate This, Automate That, And You Have An Automated Life

We don’t know if we’re dead smack in a Brave New World scenario but the question is certainly valid in these days of miraculous technology and record-high levels of diseases, mental and physical.

The paper is a great read and should give you enough to practically out-talk anyone at a party and impress the crowd with your knowledge. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the highly complex world of automation where we transition from human decision making to an AI world. Although we love the idea of automation, who has truly thought it through? (Hint: plenty of writers in the early 1900s and 1960s did.)











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