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From: Bjoern Guenzel <b.guenzel@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: The point of A.I.. and who will benefit?
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Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 13:12:39 GMT
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Patrick Juola wrote:
> 
> In article <3295C91F.41C6@ucl.ac.uk> Bjoern Guenzel <b.guenzel@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
> >Greg Miller wrote:
> >>
> >> >:    Given the business downsizing trends of the 1990's in the US, the
> >> >: most worrisome issues are the socio-economic implications of increased
> >> >: use of dumb and smart machines.  When the coal miner is replaced by a
> >> >: robot, will the former coal miner still be able to earn a living, or
> >> >: will all the financial benefits of advanced automation go to the
> >> >: stockholders, leaving large segments of the population unemployed and
> >> >: in poverty?  Wall Street has shown that it cannot be trusted to apply
> >> >: advanced technology in a responsible way.  The big question is whether,
> >> >: for the average person, the advent of real AI will mean winning the
> >> >: lottery or losing your job.
> >
> >The coal miner could be trained to program robots,....
> 
> Assuming, of course, both that the coal miner has aptitude and interest
> in robot training and that it takes as many people to train robots
> as it did to mine the coal in the first place.  What you're more likely
> to see is that the five brighest miners will program robots and the
> rest will be on the street.

Another five bright coal miners could be hired to program a computer
coal mine simulation, and the rest of the miners could be paid for
bug-testing it ;-) 
Still much more healthy than spending every day 1000 meters below earth
surface, breathing coal dust...

Seriously, I believe it always leads to misfortune to keep a dead
business alive artificially.

> 
>         Patrick

Bjoern

