These are the jobs that are most likely to be automated by AI

I would not say that. All those layoffs in the tech sector is mainly due to AI. I am an electrical engineer working in project management to implement cyber security systems, and even if it is far fetched for now, I would say that in 5 years my job will be compromised.
My job looks significantly more generalized than yours. The team I’m part of takes equipment from the concept phase, thru design, documentation, fabrication, and final assembly to commision for production. I work for a major Tier 1, if you have a car you have subassemblies which were tested or assembled by equipments I made.

I’m not saying that all of those could not be supplanted by AI one day but the conceptual and electro-mechanical design part of it will be tough to automate. Tough, not impossible but tough enough the AI “industry” will push to a lot of other lower hanging fruits before making it to my disciplines. I will probably retire in the meantime if it ever happens.
 
Last edited:
I believe The Expanse future for our planet is the most likely thing that’s going to happen. A literally insurmountable chasm between the very rich 1% and 70-80 % of the population living on UBI at the threshold of poverty. The rest of roughly 20-30% or so being a class of selected people serving as government employees, doctors, engineers… and so on living a decent life entirely at the whims of the 1%. (Avasarala threatened someone “do you want to be back on basic assistance?”)
The thing is, if we reach that point where automation takes over so much, there won't "be" a 1% as the systems we have setup simply won't be able to survive the economic fallout. It's more likely that government collapses and you have essentially a true Anarchy then a small segment maintaining power. You need some illusion of control to keep a populace in line after all.

The ideal end-goal is 95% of all things get fully automated in a way where supply roughly matches demand, making the very concept of money becomes an irrelevant concept. The few people who would still be needed to design/build/maintain things would get some additional benefits (bigger house/better car?). The problem, of course, is not destroying ourselves between point A and point B.
 
My job looks significantly more generalized than yours. The team I’m part of takes equipment from the concept phase, thru design, documentation, fabrication, and final assembly to commision for production. I work for a major Tier 1, if you have a car you have subassemblies which were tested or assembled by equipments I made.

I’m not saying that all of those could not be supplanted by AI one day but the conceptual and electro-mechanical design part of it will be tough to automate. Tough, not impossible but tough enough the AI “industry” will push to a lot of other lower hanging fruits before making it to my disciplines. I will probably retire in the meantime if it ever happens.
Same boat here.

AI is very good at very bounded tasks with very refined input datasets. It does far worse at unbounded tasks or with less accurate data. Basically: Any repetitive task can be made redundant with AI. Anything involving Design is safe in the short term.

The next generation that follows us is going to be in for a hell of a time. We're probably in peak humanity right now; I can't see things not getting worse the next 20 years, probably significantly so.
 
You'll need an Android like Lieutenant Data before my job is threatened. By that time, humanity will be on its way out. I am near retirement so I'll be able to retire before the isht really hits the fan. Spend my remaining days in Southeast Asia on the beach. I have no aspirations beyond that.
Call it Lieutenant Dan.

lt-dan.jpg
 
The thing is, if we reach that point where automation takes over so much, there won't "be" a 1% as the systems we have setup simply won't be able to survive the economic fallout. It's more likely that government collapses and you have essentially a true Anarchy then a small segment maintaining power. You need some illusion of control to keep a populace in line after all.

The ideal end-goal is 95% of all things get fully automated in a way where supply roughly matches demand, making the very concept of money becomes an irrelevant concept. The few people who would still be needed to design/build/maintain things would get some additional benefits (bigger house/better car?). The problem, of course, is not destroying ourselves between point A and point B.
Have you watched The Expanse? If not please do. It starts a little slow, but by the second episode it is likely it will hook you.

You are partially right in The Expanse only around half the population was on Basic Assistance so there were a larger proportion still working alas the situation of the world is rather dire.
 
The ideal end-goal is 95% of all things get fully automated in a way where supply roughly matches demand, making the very concept of money becomes an irrelevant concept. The few people who would still be needed to design/build/maintain things would get some additional benefits (bigger house/better car?). The problem, of course, is not destroying ourselves between point A and point B.

That ideal goes in against the personal interest of quite a few people, and against the mental programming of millions or even billions of people. American dream, anyone?

Provided we overcome that hurdle, I'm afraid 'not destroying ourselves between point A and point B' will be a tough one. Well, maybe some will survive. Whether they then can and will go to B is another question. And there still will be the fast death and slow suffering of many that didn't survive. It's easy to see them as a an aggregate, as data. But in the end these are still people like you and me. (It could even be us.)
 
Back