"The robot economy" by Arnold Brown is an excerpt from his book of the same name. It was published in the October 2006 issue of Current History.
"The South Korean government intends to roboticize that country, based on a vision of robot-centered intelligent society."
The U.S. military is working on robotic units for battlefield surgery and would eventually like to have autonomous robot soldiers. Congress, quick cut the funds for this! Do we want the berserkers of science fiction whose mission is to destroy all that they come across? Who is to say who will have control of these robots?
The article quotes Neil MacDonald of Gartner, "Over the next 10 years, the rate of IT job loss that can be attributed to automation will be about double what we think will be outsourcing." Arnold Brown calls this "othersourcing".
As I read the article, I pondered how much we've seen this othersourcing with software programs that have become everyday tools for many people and have become increasingly sophisticated.
The word processor has replaced the secretary in many offices, including highly-skilled secretaries. I remember that I tried to direct my memos to secretaries who would give clean uncorrected copy on the first try without any weird right margins. Now the average office worker can produce a clean, nicely margined memo at any time. And with a few minutes more work, have the grammar and spelling checked and corrected.
Spreadsheet programs have replaced many specialists who worked with special paper, sharp pencils, and calculators. Now anyone who can organize numerical data can produce a spreadsheet using some very complex functions.
Brown sees a trend from humankind to mindkind. Communication technology is causing a shift in how people are utilized. Companies can reach out to a network of creative types, some even volunteers, such as customers, for ideas instead of hiring people.
The shift is from managing people to project management, "putting together all the varied resources and components, wherever available and in whatever form, to accomplish the desired task or vision."
