Robots are taking over the world and soon we will all look like we are in the movie Wall-e.
Think about it, for a number of years, people have been able to order desired items on the internet and have it shipped to their homes, giving them a reason to not have to go to the store.
More so, people actually used to go to stores, get what they need, have a person check them out, pay and then leave.
Recently, we have been able to go to a store, get what we need, check ourselves out with self-checkout, pay and leave.
Now, Amazon has created “Amazon Go”, a store where you can walk in, grab what you need and leave. A minute or two after you leave the store, a receipt pops up on your phone for the items you bought. Some participating McDonald’s are even putting kiosks in their restaurants for customers to order their own meals without much human interaction. What?!
Researchers from Oxford University have estimated that 47 percent of jobs in the U.S. could be automated by 2038. That seems like a long time, but it’s only 20 years.
Researchers say that jobs in office and administrative support, transportation, logistics occupations and labor in production occupations are “at ‘high risk’ of automation.” The study was based from another study completed by The National Bureau of Economic Research, stating that each new robot added to the workforce from 1997- 2007 resulted in a loss between three and 5.6 jobs in the local commuting area. More so, the addition of robots is associated with a decline in wages.
I would say there are some pros and cons to robots taking over the workforce. Some of the pros include increased worker safety, a solution to labor shortage, higher volume of production and creation of a wide range of new jobs for humans, like maintenance. However, some of the cons include less versatility, loss of some human jobs to machines, more environmental pollution, unpredictable costs and significant investment.
Personally, I love some of the things robots have the ability to do. Although, I do find it scary at times.
I love self-checkout and I use it every time I go to Walmart because I don’t like the way most people bag my groceries and items. I’m just a little picky.
However, I know of a handful of people who either only use it when they have a small number of items to buy or they don’t use it at all. Let’s be honest though, Walmart usually has more self-checkout lanes open than cash registers!
The bottom line is we can expect safer labor and more environmental pollution, and possibly a robot war.
So if you are concerned about robots taking over the world, change your major to engineering!
