How to prevent a robot from stealing your job?

The robot came and wanted to steal your job. Savioke has recently developed a three-foot-tall robotic savione that can replace waiters and deliver snacks or toiletries to hotel rooms. In addition to automatically finding your room and delivering things, it can even take the elevator by itself, without having to sleep or go to the bathroom. In addition, robots will not resign-according to the American Hotel Industry Association (Anglo Hotel & Lodging Association) estimates, in the United States hotel industry, the management of staff turnover rate of about 50%.

In addition to the hotel industry, momentum Rogue also invented a hamburger-grilled robot that could make a hamburger every 10 seconds. The robot can replace three full-time kitchen staff, occupy less space, is expected to reduce costs. Momentum Rogue, co-founder of Arisandros Valdaxtas, said in an interview recently in Limno Laboratory (Lemnos Labs) that his robot "is not designed to make employees more efficient, but to replace them completely." ”

Savioke and Momentum Rogue robots are early signs of the coming technological revolution. Thanks to the great strides in robotics, large data, cloud computing and mobile technology, this technological revolution could replace the work of millions of people. In this revolution, the picture we see may be no different from the industrial revolution. In 1920, British companies hired about 240,000 handmade cotton weavers. And with the rise of mechanical looms, 99% of the jobs disappeared in less than 40.

A recent study by the University of Oxford (Oxford University) shows that 47% of existing jobs could be replaced by automation over the next 20 years. Since the industrial revolution of the early 19th century, new jobs of new inventions have been sufficient to cover the lost occupations. But given the ability of today's tech-innovators to make great achievements with the fewest numbers, the situation could be very different. In 2012, for example, Instagram registered 30 million people and was offered a 1 billion dollar purchase by Facebook, with only 13 employees at the time. By contrast, Kodak (Kodak) filed for bankruptcy in 2012, with 145,000 employees at its peak.

Great subversion is really coming, so what should we do?

If history is a mirror, some people may promote protectionism, and some jobs will not be replaced by automation in order to maintain short-term employment levels. In the next 10 years, with the development of driverless cars, 233,000 taxi drivers and 1.7 million truck drivers in the United States face the risk of losing their jobs. Now many cities in the United States have tried to block the use of Uber, so we may also encounter the same opposition on the issue of driverless cars. In the long term, however, the blockade innovation is short-sighted and will make the country uncompetitive and fall to countries that are receptive to more efficient new technologies.

Over the next 20 years, unskilled workers are more likely to feel the pain of being taken away from work by robots. The gap between rich and poor will increase further. That could further exacerbate tensions and spur more lobbying to raise the minimum wage. But, like protectionism, raising the minimum wage may end up being counterproductive. Raising the minimum wage for employees in the hospitality and fast-food industries, for example, could further increase the company's interest in automation because they feel that it will undoubtedly save companies more money.

So instead of promoting employment protectionism and raising the minimum wage, we should seriously consider how to improve America's outdated education system. In the 19th century, it was education that saved the country. This time, education is also the determining factor.

"By the end of 19th century ...," said David Otte, an economist at MIT. Many Americans are aware that employment in agriculture is declining and industrial employment is rising. And their children need extra education to feed their families. The World Bank also points out that the high school enrolment rate of 14-17-year-olds in the United States rose from 10% to 75% between 1900-1940 years. Therefore, as the economy matures, millions of of workers are able to get higher pay jobs when they leave the countryside ugly.

But this time, we don't need more schools, but different schools. Schools need to devote more effort to imparting new skills to the next generation so that they can benefit from the new technological revolution rather than "stand aside". It is particularly important to note that the robot's ability to communicate and solve problems remains poor. Therefore, schools should focus on strengthening students ' critical thinking and social skills. In addition, in the next ten or twenty years, robots may also be difficult to master the design and self-management capabilities, so schools should focus on cultivating students ' creativity and management skills.

In addition to focusing on imparting different skills, schools should also teach students how to work with machines and other emerging technologies. Today, those who conquer computers have a greater chance of success. And in the future, so will those who have mastered robots and large numbers. "People often exaggerate the substitution of machines for human beings, ignoring their strong complementary role," he said in a recent paper. "In the next 20 years, our success will not necessarily depend on our quantitative skills or effort, but on the ability to work well with robots."

Two years ago, one of my relatives was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Ironically, he was an outstanding urological surgeon who had done more than 3,000 cases of prostate cancer, but he could not operate on his own. When he chose a doctor, he chose a surgeon who was said to be the most adept at operating the da Vinci Surgical System (DA Vinci Surgical System, a robotic surgery). His medical skills are of course still important, but the robot can make the doctor's hands more micro-more precise cutting operation. Although the revolution in technology, like the Industrial Revolution, will bring challenges to mankind, robots will eventually help us to do a better job and solve problems that we cannot even solve today.