The year is 2080 and there are no more human employees. The factories are still running churning out nifty gadgets and equipment, new design are constantly being made, and marketing strategies being devised, yet not one human being is working, instead its all run by strong artificial intelligences. How would humans make money? would we even need money? Assuming that such a scenario is possible how would the human race live if machines are doing ALL the work for us? 2080 is a safe estimate but already machines are doing more and more of our work: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/11/02/when-machines-do-the-work
The same way the ruling class lived when slaves did most of the work. Btw, there will always be jobs only humans can do...even most housework.
Can you prove that? Can you prove either scientifically or philosophically that there are tasks that can only be done best by humans, across the universe and for all eternity? Assuming that all functions of humans are purely products of this physical reality (and not supernatural), no function of the human body or mind could not be replicated or surpassed given enough time and research. And there is certainly interest in replicating and surpassing every function of the human in order to do things cheaper and more efficiently (more profit). But let me stay on topic, what percentage of functions that ONLY humans can do will be needed in order for us to still have a stable economy? In short how to we make sure everyone has a job?
I'm amazed that accountants still have jobs...considering that accounting is primarily calculation which can be done by computers. The work doctors and nurses do is extremely difficult to replace with machines...although some forms of surgery will be done by robots far more accurately. Even renting a robot that could paint your house would probably cost more than a human painter.
There are types of surgery that already implement robotic arms operated by a surgeon in another room. I'm sure there will come a time when such things can be completely automated. It's an interesting thought. An unsettling one, as well. Imagine there comes a day when instead of bemoaning companies that hire illegal aliens, we're bemoaning companies that replace human laborers with robots. I supposed we could pass a law regulating the use of synthetic employees, but then companies would just outsource those jobs to countries with lax android laws.
That day arrived decades ago. This is why we are manufacturing more stuff than ever, but employing far, far fewer workers in manufacturing than we used to. Politicians prefer that we blame this on China, but the fact is it's mostly automation. The jobs simply do not exist any more.
I think psychology will still be needed to be done by humans. I have a hard time believing that AI could empathize, relate to, or understand the human mind on any level. I could be wrong I guess, but I wont be here in 2080 so I'm not overly concerned about it. Besides, I doubt humans in general would allow robots to take over entirely. Too many people have seen Terminator to allow that.
True, these days you can't even get a live operator on the phone when you call customer service. And its not always someone in India that answers when you finally get through jumping hoops to get a person on the phone. More often than not its impossible to get a live operator. I hate it.
