There is a popular trend being witnessed online with claims that robots willsoon replace people in the performance of many tasks that currently provide employment to millions of human workers. But are these claims pure speculation or is there adequate basis to suppose that this is an eventuality that will become reality in the near future? Only a detailed examination of technology as it exists at present can give a definitive answer. Quite plainly there are many tasks that have been automated in the past a trend which continues to happen with rapidity that can be hard to trace today. An in depth look at the kind of tasks that have been automated show them to be quite basic. The mainly involve repetitive tasks that would have been far too boring for humans to perform anyway. There are also pretty adept at carrying out tasks that would involve a fair amount of danger for humans to perform safely. By the beginning of the industrialization of the world a lot of very mundane tasks were carried out by human workers. Typically, these tasks involved very little intellectual skills but required a fair amount of attention to minutiae of detail that can be pretty tasking to the human mind. Soon some automated methods were crafted to replace people in performing tasks with accuracy not possible before. These early advances in automation were called for and necessary in every sense of the word. A detailed look at what has been achieved over the decades shows that this change worked out for the better. In particular reference to motor vehicle assembly where today most of the tasks are automated, there is a number of understandable benefits. In the early days of computer automation, there was some level of unrealistic expectations about what robots were capable of achieving in the real world. While the technologies deployed today were in some ways inconceivable during those formative days, the capacity of even the most capable robots fall short of the heightened expectations. While there are many advanced examples of robotics that are quite capable of achieving impressive automation they still fall short in a number of senses. For instance, they are still not capable of replacing human workers in performing tasks that would require informed decision making and judicious making of choices. They may be capable of pretty intricate tasks but only as far as they have been designed to anticipate. What enthusiasts of the theory of robots replacing humans fail to distinguish is that automation is one thing and dexterity quite something altogether. Even a two year old toddler will beat the most advanced robotic creations when it comes to spur of the moment dexterity of the hands. This is a distinct hurdle that will have to be overcome. If the past is anything to go by, human workers have very little to fear from increased automation of tasks. Even in the industrial revolution there were fears of people losing jobs to 'machines'. Now as then, the fact that robots will soon replace people in low level skilled work cannot be disputed, but efficiencies will lead to more wealth and the rise of new areas of work for humans.
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