Governmental control and general education are the ways for society to gather wisdom faster than science gathers knowledge.
In today's lecture, Prof. Breyman talked about people losing their jobs because of the advancing machinery which reminds me of the self-service checkout in Walmart near the campus. In fact, I have never seen such checkout in my home country, where shop assistance always does the job. Last Sunday was my first time trying this self-service. Unload groceries, scan the code, swipe card, bag them up. Everything goes fast and smoothly with the absence of a smiling face and a "have a nice day".
I did imagine some future self-service before, like inserting notes into a machine and picking up McDonald's from a belt. But after today's lecture, I start think a little further. Cashiers could be replaced by a coin machine. Caterers' job could be done by a belt. Who else is replaceable? If possible, machine will make burgers simply by piling patties and vegetables. If possible, machine will fry french fries and package them into the size chosen on a screen. For me, the customer, that is what I want: fast delivery, less words, and stable quality. Yet people who worked hard but still less superior to machine would lose their jobs. That is not what I hoped for, neither what government hoped for.
Asimov: "Science gathers knowledge faster than society
gather wisdom." Human has a instinctive desire to create, to discover and to make full use of available resource and knowledge. That is why it is hard to stop the improvement of technology, to stop more advanced machines from being created. How to replace human labor by machine, and at the same time make sure they will not be unemployed?
In short term, designer, creator, manufacturer and distributor of such game-changing machine should be responsible and thoughtful. Guarantee the labor a new place before replacing them with machines, or just simply investigate the market and use technology to do assistance instead of replacement. Government also plays an important role when estimating whether or not a revolutionary machine is too radical to the society and the era, It has the ultimate power to judge the innovation and to punish those that would lead to undesirable consequences.
In long term, individuals should try their best to gather wisdom. The most vulnerable employees are the most physical labor, and in other words, the most non-education-required labor. Machinery is amazing, but human is even better. Machine would replace us in physical works such as shipping, loading and repeating, but it may never replace us mentally. Jobs which require higher education or human intelligence (in the loop) are definitely not vulnerable, and which create or control machinery (on the loop) are even securer. In this competitive environment, better general education is needed. Education is the only way to make sure wisdom of society not fall too far behind the contemporary knowledge of science. Personally speaking, what I can do for me and my children are to learn more about technological tendency, to predict what the key to survival in the computerizing future would be, and to guide my children technologically ahead of their generation.
