AI

Wasn't it Jeff Goldblum who, in Jurassic Park said "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should".

IMHO this quote could easily be mirrored to any discussion regarding AI

There are two lines of thought to AI  - the first one concerns that, from a manufacturing point of view, AI can do things quicker, easier and considerably less expensive that we - mankind - can. The quality will most likely be superior as well

AI doesn't need holdiays, can work 24 hours a day, will never ring in sick, or cause unrest amongst its colleagues in the workforce - and all for no weekly or monthly pay, PRSI contributions or pension scheme payments

It really is a Godsend - isn't it ? 

Well.... no actually .... it isn't 

There were similar arguments when computerisation came along sometime in the late 20th century but the amongst the compelling arguments was the one that told us we - again mankind - would not have to work so hard, could take longer holidays, and generally enjoy live to the max

Only, that really didn't happen - for people to be able to enjoy such a lifestyle, they would need the filthy lucre, moolah, cash, readies etc etc. The irony here is that in order to have some lolly in our pockets, we had to work - and work hard

AI might do everything quicker and better but what really happens to 'us'

In the mid 20th cent there were many thousand of factories producing a wide range of goods, from cars to toys and clothes to furniture - where are they now ? Most, if not all, replaced their 100 workers (a random figure) to replace them by a computer and 5 staff to run it. This may be a simplistic view, but the foundation argument holds fast

From industrialisation to computerisation the key statistic was people - but people cost more and more, they needed paying every week or month, they needed holidays (initially unpaid) and sometimes they were sick, or worse, went on strike - ironically for better working conditions

There is no doubt that early working conditions for factory workers (and others) were appalling, with little or no support - but where once the employer exploited the workforce, that cannot be said to be the case today

Many hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost to the East and Far East, where companies could simply not compete with the low cost of producing high quality and so, as a consequence people were found to be very expendable

And now we have AI ......