Rise of the Robots – Events – September, 2015

by econfuture

I will be speaking about the rise of robots and artificial intelligence and the resulting impact on jobs and the economy at several events in September, including:

The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

September 5-6

There are many interesting speakers presenting provocative ideas, including Paul Krugman and Naomi Klein.

Industry of Things World, Berlin, Germany

September 21-22

This conference is focused on the “industrial internet of things.”

Kings Place, London, UK

September 23

This is a discussion about my book, The Rise of the Robots, which is releasing on the UK on September 3.

Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), London, UK

September 24

This is a discussion about my book, The Rise of the Robots, which is releasing on the UK on September 3.

14 thoughts on “Rise of the Robots – Events – September, 2015”

  1. Loss of life’s meaning
    My great granddaughter said, “I wanted to become a doctor, my grades are good and I like school but now thanks to IBM Watson that looks like a stupid goal. Watson already knows more about the diagnosis and treatment of cancer then most doctors. What you, my parents and teachers ignore is the fact that Watson is doubling in power every 11 months so by the time I became a doctor Watson will be 8,192 times smarter than it is now. Oh there will still be some old doctors but what will disappear will be entry level jobs. Just look at how e-discovery software has wiped out thousands of entry level legal jobs.”
    “Today it’s not the robots who are the bellwethers, for they’re still too costly and are not yet adjel enough to replace minimum wage humans. It’s the exponential advances in deep learning, and new hardware like the IBM SyNAPSE chip that will wipe out at least 90% of white collar entry level jobs.”
    “Lee if you’re so smart what should I study? It will take me at least 8 years to get a masters degree. Look at the software that is available today not just for medicine and law, but accounting, architecture, engineering, logistics, journalism, management, and most other white collar jobs. In the next 8 years that it would take me to finish high school and get a masters degree these programs which are advancing exponentially and will be 128 times more powerful. So it looks like college for everyone but the super-geeks is a very bad investment because cognitive computers are already better than people at so many things and the list is growing rapidly.
    Silly to be ambitious, because the rat race is over, for me a total commitment to hedonism looks like the only wise choice. I’ll attend college as long as possible because it is more fun than working at McDonalds. I’ll live on student loans and pay them back, if those good jobs show up that the dinosaurs assure me will be there. Ha”
    Comment: I also wonder about the impact of a guaranteed income on people emotionally. The death rate goes up sharply for some retirees.

    Thanks for your great book! It is the first one to look at the bigger picture.

    Lee Coburn

    Reply

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