Bill Gates wants to slow down automation. Why? – TRT World

Could machines really steal jobs?

Gates thinks so.

He's concerned forthe millions of people working in jobslikely to see automation in factories and warehouses, truck and taxidrivers and whether they will be able tofindwork if robots take away their jobs.

In aninterview with the Quartz, Gatessaid industriesand governments needto start looking intothe social consequences of replacing people with robots.

Gates's suggestionhastechnology buffs concerned.

His commentscome at a time whenUS President Donald Trump has ignited debate on how peopleare tired of the government's inability tostem job losses and addressgrowing income inequality.

The tech billionaireandphilanthropisthas proposed an additional taxon companies where robots replace humans. Gates said the tax revenueshould be used to train people for jobs that are available.

A million people who work as delivery truck drivers risk losing their jobs as more companies opt for self-driven vehicles to cut costs. (AP)

There will always be work where human interactionis important, such as teaching and nursing, Gatessaid.

A robot tax, really?

Companies that automate production and serviceswill paythe tax, Gates explains.

But these companieswill also be saving as they won't payincome tax, contribute to social security and have disability insurance. This means that despite the tax, theywill still see increased profits.

Should people be afraid of technology?

The threat that new technology will take away jobs from humans goes back 200 years.

But recenttechnological advancements haveraised anxiety. Half of the jobs in developed countries such as the US are atrisk of being automated,research fromOxford Universityshows.

There was a time when telephone companies employed people to operate switchboards but then came automatedsystems, ending the need for humans.Tractors and mechanical harvesters forced millions of farmers to migrate tocities.

It's not just assembly-line jobs that the fast-learning algorithms threaten to take over. It seems the work that requireshuman thinking and knowledge will alsobe taken overby computers in a few years.

University-educated radiologists now face being replaced bycomputers that cananalyse images accurately and faster, writes Martin Ford in his bookRise of the Robots.

News organisations are using the algorithm of Automated Insights to produce reports faster than journalists. (Getty Images)

But is automation all that bad?

Opinion is divided.

Critics argue that slowing down automation could stallgrowthand hurt the economy. And machines are more efficient and can produce more.

Amazon opened a store last year where customers walk in, pick up products and walk out without stopping at the cashier. The payment is charged to their online accounts. Such stores can eliminate millions of jobs around the world. (Getty Images)

There are somelike financial columnist, Matthew Lynn,who arguethat technology that destroys jobs hasthe potential to create new ones.

"Gates, who destroyed the typing pool with word-processing software, should know that better than anyone."MicrosoftWord helped millions of people become writers and online content developers.

The Economist said Gates's proposal could help maintainsocial stability but it would also mean higher costs for services such as healthcare.

Gates's backers say immediate action needs to be taken.

QuincyLarson, who runs the Free Code Camp, said in hisblogthat the threat of automation displacing millions of workers is very real.

He cites the example of Amazon Go stores where people can pick up their grocerieswithout going through cashier lines. The bill is charged automatically to a customer's Amazon account.

This Wired video shows the efficiency gains warehousing companies can have by employing robots

Workers should be trained for emerging engineering jobs such as programming work with a portion of taxpayers' money that at the moment is used to subsidised industry, Larson said.

Do other tech giants support Gates?

He has some support.

Business tycoon,Elon Musk,who is at the forefront of self-drivingvehicletechnology, alsowants asafety net for people who are replaced by robots.

The founder of Tesla suggestsauniversal basic income for people who become unemployed as a result of automation.

"There would be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cant do better," he told a conference recently. "These are not things that I wish to happen. These are things that probably will happen."

Waiterscould lose jobs as the restaurant industry adopts automation, according to an Oxford University study. (Getty Images)

In Europe, politicians are already discussing the repercussions of increased automation.

French presidential candidateBenoit Hamonwon the primaries of his socialist party on the back of a promise to establisha universal pay of $810 funded by atax on industrial robots.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is also a strong believer of "civilising capitalism."

"If you take an iPhone apart, every single technology in it was developed by some government grant, every single one," he said at a discussion with Noam Chomsky last year.

Earlier,a Luxembourg politician,Mady Delvauxsaid in a report that basic income could be funded by a tax on robots.

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Bill Gates wants to slow down automation. Why? - TRT World