Home of the free, land of the - robots?

"We are either at the beginning of the end or the beginning of the beginning of a new age. Work is only part of it. What we will learn in schools will have to be different than what is taught today. But here is the scary part. As AI evolves from AI to AGI, and onto ASI, robots will not only work repetitive jobs for us - they will also begin to think for us. And then what?" 

Saw an interesting interview with a young man who was just let go from Amazon. He lived a long way from the distribution center, so he would sleep in his car until the weekend. He worked hard and believed in the company. Then all of a sudden - he was let go. Why? Did he not work hard enough? He did, but he was replaced. By a robot.

We can talk all we want about adding thousands of well-paying jobs to our payrolls. This next week, our president will be in the Middle East trying to woo some more companies to come over and do business with us - here. Remember - no tariffs if they do. But here is where the clash of realities come together. Currently, we have many, thousands in fact, good jobs which are unfilled. Why? No takers. Or the takers who are interested do not have the right background, skill set, or attitude. Thus, many of these well-paying jobs go unfilled.

Buckle up for this one. This is only the beginning. Soon many jobs will be replaced by AI and robot fueled automation. Just about every futurist will parrot that fact. Jobs will come back to America, and some will be done by Americans. The others will be filled by non-humans. Robots, filled with AI. 

But don't we want as many manufacturing jobs brought back here as possible? Absolutely - it is part of our national security. But know that in all probability, these American manufacturing jobs will filled by a mixture of humans and non-humans. In addition, more and more jobs in agribusiness will be done by non-humans.

Can't we just turn back the clock, and have things the way they once were? Dad going to work at a factory, working a forty-hour week, maybe some occasional overtime? But that was then and this is now. Work is going to change. Society is going to change. Leisure time is going to change. Basically, once AI and robots become more prolific, everything will change. Even warfare will change.

We are either at the beginning of the end or the beginning of the beginning of a new age. Work is only part of it. What we will learn in schools will have to be different than what is taught today. But here is the scary part. As AI evolves from AI to AGI, and onto ASI, robots will not only work repetitive jobs for us - they will also begin to think for us. And then what?