The New York Times has an article today The Coming Superbrain: The Future of Artificial Intelligence about the changes caused by the growing adoption of a collection of AI based and agent-based technologies in workplaces, collectively leading to a global adoption of automation, and later, machine intelligence and eventually, self aware machines.
the short term implications of these new technologies are fairly mundane, basically, the replacement of many, eventually, most humans in jobs by machines that think, to ever growing degrees. We've all dealt with them, for example when calling tech support centers, or when being billed by various companies, like health insurers.
Ultimately, people are going to need to figure out new ways to define themselves, because the old question "what do you do" wont apply to most of us in the same way.
Google is also setting up a sort of university to help give people a background on what is changing and why.
Anyway, read the article and the articles links.
SciFi author Vernor Vinge on the singularity
Ray Kurzweil on AI
Wikipedia on Moore's Law
The impacts of these changes on all workplaces globally will be HUGE. People will no longer be needed no matter how little they are willing to work for, UNLESS THEY HAVE THE SKILLS NECESSARY IN THE NEW ECONOMY.
Technical skills will be foremost. Multidisciplinary engineering skills, at the PhD and postdoc level will be the skills that build the new AI based technologies.
A good film that offers a glimpse of the workless future many will enjoy (or not) is Spielberg and Kubrick's film "AI".
Definitely worth seeing!
Over the last few weeks, Ive been trying to impress on people the urgency of passing SINGLE PAYER health care within the next year, The reason I think should now be obvious, the money and political power most of us have as "working people" have now will be gone in just a few years, people will be dependent on their investment income or charity, and we will really need FREE, REAL not FAKE UHC.
Public option is a trap, it is not sustainable. Its designed to fail and kill UHC once and for all.
Expanding Medicaid loans to end the free riders is also a bad idea.
People can not continue to live on credit, wont go to hospitals if they represent involuntary enslavement, and outstanding loans will force people out of the economy, creating a new underclass of marginalized, disenfranchised people who cant shop at most stores, vote or travel.
Google health insurance death spiral
Note: This is an important issue, SO, look at how some people try to bury it with noise. Thats probably intentional, and its a common reason many people are so starved for real information.
There are (organized?) groups on the net who spam with the purpose of blocking out and frustrating important discussions on many different subjects. Right now the big issue is health care affordability. Watch and learn. And Question!