Human employes vs Robot employes - Research Paper Example

? Human employees versus Robot employees – How is the use of Robots affecting our economy and our lives? Using human employees versus robot employeesis a controversial subject. As there are several advantages and disadvantages to using both types of employees in the workforce. it is sometimes hard to choose which is actually better for the economy, the society and individuals themselves. The history of robot use for roles that human employees once carried out exists for a period of at least the last two centuries. Humanity has arrived at a whole new level of existence because of the use of robots and their employable functionalities. Even though robot employees have not affected the human employee force to the degree that there are severe job shortages occurring, some experts fear that there may be an upper limit as to how many robot employees the economy can sustainably employ before human labour losses are experienced and people are negatively affected. After observing the history and the present day scenario that using robot employees are in effect having on society, I feel that the use of robot employees offers too many benefits than to conceive of a world that does not use them. In this article I will discuss the historical context of the use of robot employees, their advantages and disadvantages, their effect on the lives of people and explain why my argument is in support of the use of robots as employees. For more than two centuries the effect that using robotic employees has had on the work force has created a positive overall economic benefits to society. Although in theory, jobs that were once performed by humans are now being performed by robots, does not fully reflect the true circumstances of the labour market. What has happened is that jobs that have been transferred to robot employees have now freed the previous labourers from simpler tasks so they can do other jobs, and put a greater focus on the development of new aspects of technology and business. This effect has actually created more jobs due to an increase in the production of new industries, technologies and businesses. The standard of living has risen in many areas in the world. Jobs that were lost in one particular sector or niche were in number replaced by jobs that were able to have been created in other areas. The use of robots as employees has led to an increase in gained employee time for companies to use their workers; to focus on other tasks that have allowed for the development of new aspirations. Since the labour force has not been devastated by the use of robots over such a long period of the last two centuries, it is more than likely it will not happen in the near future. The use of robotic employees was first evident in the textile industry around the year 1811. A group of textile workers called the Luddites first proposed the idea to economists that their jobs would be taken over by robotic employees or more simply put, by automated processes. The traditional weaving jobs that they were doing were being taken over by the automated weaving machine. In the 1930’s it was predicted that in a time frame of about one thousand years, the new work week would be approximately 15 hours long. There was expected to be a problem that people would have too much leisure time on their hands rather than having to work long hours. This was proposed by John Maynard Kennedy, however in the future years that have already come and past, this theory has obviously been inaccurate. The world wars did see a disruption in employment, however post world wars actually proved to be economically expanding. Between the years of 1950 to 1990, again fears arose which were similar to those of the Luddites that again human labour forces would be taken over by robot employees (Rifkin 1995). Companies experienced a large degree of resistance from their employees to preserve their jobs and create contracts that were protective in the event that a job was lost to an automated machine. Smaller companies that were not subject to unions did not have to comply with these limitations. However, the larger companies faced problems with the lack of implementation of robot employees; this led to a shrinking of their shares and eventually had a detrimental effect on their success. Economic growth continued to increase into the 1960’s and workers have experienced a shorter hour work week, which has remained fairly stable since this time. It seems that as large portions of jobs have closed in certain sectors such as the manual labour and assembly line type jobs, which were a large part if the industrial labour sector in the U.S., in other areas there were massive booms in job openings. The IT industry is a good example of this in the United States. Some of these jobs even required more skillful employees and in turn were able to offer a higher pay which was of course a benefit to the employees. The term structural unemployment has been used to explain the large scale effect that robotic employees could have if an upper limit of job saturation occurs because of the use of robotic employees. However if one looks at this issue from another perspective, it is recognised that many of the jobs that have been taken over by robot employees were actually lost a long time ago. One example of this is in the industry if telecommunications. Telephone operator jobs were taken over by robot employees and eliminated many of those types of jobs long ago while preventing new jobs of that nature from ever existing. Louise Tutelian discusses how robot employees could be coming closer to taking over the skilled jobs that are currently occupied by human employees. However, skilled jobs are still occupied by human employees because there are simply some things that robotic employees cannot do and will probably never be able to do. For example in the field of social psychology and psychiatry, there is no way to offer the qualitative functioning that these types of professionals do with the use of a robotic employee. There are both advantages and disadvantages to using robots employees and human employees. The main advantages of using robot employees are as follows: Robots are able to work continuously and complete work which may at times seem too physically hard for a human employee to carry out, and or too monotonous. An example of this type of job would be a manufacturing assembly type of job, a high level of brain skill is not required to carry out this repetitive manual labour. In fact it is so consistently repetitive, these types of jobs may actually cause the worker to lose focus and make a mistake because they are bored and challenged minimally. Robots also have the ability to fearlessly enter dangerous work situations and complete the tasks at hand, whereas a human may not be able to focus fully on the task to complete it safely. For example in the military, robots are used to fly airplanes into dangerous situations and by being able to use them, lives may be protected and saved. Robots can do things that humans are simply not capable of doing for physical reasons. They are able to move faster, lift heavier objects and perform tasks our bodies were not designed to do. Robot employees may actually improve the economic environment, increase benefit to society overall, and humanity itself. What investments are made in automated employees and the implementation of them at the expense of human labourers, are usually gained in technological advancement. This in turn has a positive effect for society. The time to complete work is much faster, and allows for industry to advance as human employees can spend their time in other work roles. Robot employees require development, maintenance and control, this aspect of their use provides jobs for the people who work with them. However, there are also disadvantages to using robot employees instead of humans. A robot employee only has a certain level of intellect or intelligence and it is possible that error could be made due to the lack of judgment that a robot employee will possess. There are costs associated with robot employees, including their purchase, usability or functionality and maintenance costs. Robot employees are not able to perform all of the tasks and skills that a human would be able to in terms of social, reasoning and qualitative aspects of their robotic mentality. Robot employees also consume energy and effect the environment differently than a human labour force will. Some forms of robotic machines require large amounts of power supply and may create waste products from their operation as they are not organically made-although humans are. The main fear of the disadvantages of using robot employees in the labour force is that they may be taking away from human employment possibilities when they become implemented to a certain degree of saturation. Although over the last two centuries, there is no conclusive evidence that robot employees have managed to create extreme job loss as of yet, it may be a possibility in the future. When looking at the 2000 census figures in the U.S.A., you will see the extent of the problem of which robots could cause if they take over the lower paid and less skilled jobs across several different industry sectors. The census indicates that there were 114 million employees working for 7 million companies back in the year 2000. The employees earned almost $4 trillion in salary that year. Most of these jobs are able to be performed by robots. There could be a considerable take-over of jobs in the manufacturing, construction, transportation, hotel, retail, and restaurant type of jobs. Some people argue that the economy simply cannot absorb such a large number of jobs which people have traditionally occupied at this level of skill. Where are these people going to go? if they are not able to move into other jobs that require more skill. There will be jobs that require higher skills and that offer higher pay, but there will not be enough. If one looks at the current state of our society and witnesses the use of robots on a daily basis, it is quite significant to consider how robot employees could continue to take over jobs that humans currently hold. For example, many gas stations have employees that pump the gas on a customer service basis, however most of these gas stations now have automated machines that process billing and complete the entire transaction including asking you if you want a car wash. Bank machines also carry out the functions that people one used to do. Certainly not all of human’s roles in these specific jobs have been taken over by robot employees, but the critical point to ponder remains that developments may be heading in that direction. As technologies improve, one can only wonder what the new capabilities of robots will be in the future. If we look at the past, not many would have believed how far we as a species have advanced even in the last millennium. We are now developing new technologies faster than ever and inevitably this will bring change into the lives of all humans. Society has witnessed this phenomenon in the past. For many years the belief was held that computers would never beat humans at the game of chess. And that notion remained true for a while. However, chess computers could not overtake humans playing the game until there was a higher level of CPU power to use. In our present age, a desktop computer will overtake almost all humans playing this game. The fact is that when there was enough CPU power available, it was nearly impossible to not see the computers outperform humans. However humans will always have more power than computers, their abilities are limited to the power that we choose to give them. Even when using the game of chess as an example there still remains ways to outsmart or shortcut the thinking of the computer robot. I believe that even if there are a large number of people that were displaced by the new presence of robotic employees, if the economy could adapt to a new form of social structure as is discussed by Marshall Brain in Robotic Nation, then people would still benefit from the use of robots. If there was a fair economy in which social assistance ensured the welfare of all members, then there would not be disparity between those in highly paid human employee roles and those who were forced to carry out some other form of labour in society. Everyone could benefit from the advantages gained from using robots in traditionally occupied human employment roles. Although some people have questioned if people are losing their ability to think critically for themselves and maintain their jobs, due to the heavy use of human robots employees, I feel this is not the case. With the assistance of the robot employee, we are able to think at a higher and faster level of operation. In turn, we are able to be more productive in our everyday lives. According to Dan Bricklin, the creator of the first business application for the PC, what took 20 hours per week of work for some people was able to be completed in 15 minutes (Greengard 18-19). Computers are also able to do mathematic calculations without making mistakes, something humans will never be able to do. Sometimes mistakes are not acceptable and lives depend upon accurate calculation. This accelerated ability to operate more efficiently and without error is both necessary and evident in the technological advantages we have gained in the aviation, medical, architectural and military industry with the use of computers. The combination of human intuition with split second calculations is the method in which humanity will truly excel. Clearly the ways that robot employees have enhanced the life of humans so far is indisputable. Robots will never be able to completely replace the full spectrum of tasks that human beings are able to do, but they can do things that we cannot do. Robots would not exist and will not continue to exist without the humans who program them, service them and firstly are able develop and create them. We are in effect in full control of how much power we wish to give to them and in which job positions they will be allowed to fulfill. What has happened is that humanity has advanced it its entirety because robot employees have simply become an extension of the abilities and have ultimately enhanced the lives of humans. Works Cited Brain, Marshall (2003), Robotic Nation, Raleigh, North Carolina, US: Marshall Brain, http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm. Ford, Martin R. (2009), The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future, Acculant Publishing. Foroohar, Rana (2010-03-18), "Green Technology Won't Create Jobs. 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(2007, January 12). State & county Quickfacts: Allegany County, N.Y. Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://quickfacts.census.gov. . Read More