Having seen the ways in which our species took its first steps into the era of agriculture and civilization as we know it, we ought now look at how this is related to our current position.

We have a constant fear, it seems, of the lack of gainful wages for all of our citizens. And why not? We have all been in the position of being unable to find employment at one time or another in our lives. Like anything else, our fears are driven by our need to survive. We each know that a failure on our part to secure income may mean the end of one”s life as it has come to be known. Lets think about that for a moment, why do we have this fear?

Continue reading Among the Ants →

This episode is going to talk about what it means to be human, and what it means for our species when we become obsolete. Our technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, how will this affect us? Are we doomed, or are we approaching a turning point in human civilization?

It is not unreasonable to believe that eventually we will develop robotics and machine learning to a point when it will become possible to replace human laborers. Already we have replaced humans on factory assembly lines and in factories. Chances are likely that you have even spoken to a robot recently. When was the last time you called a major corporation and spoke immediately to a human? When was the last time you went to the bank and had cash handed to you by a human? How many times have you used the self checkout at the grocery store, or ordered pizza online? When was the last time you handed a letter to a postal worker instead of writing an email? When was the last time you stopped to ask directions rather than check your gps? Any law enforcement out there? When was the last time you mailed fingerprint cards to the FBI for manual lookup? How many of you had your soda mixed by a man behind the counter last time you bought lunch? How many of you went to a CPA for your taxes this year? How many of you instead used an online tax service? How many architects still build foam models rather than 3d renders? How many machinists still manually control their lathes rather than use a multi-axis cnc machine? How many gardeners’ hours have been replaced by automatic sprinkler systems? How many of our spy planes or tactical bombers have a human pilot in them today?

What happens when our technology is capable of replacing us?

Continue reading The Robotic Dawn →