Michael Kahm

August 25, 2014

CS 1030
What human activities have gone untouched by computers?

The easy answer is none. The way we answer this question today is different than it would have
been only a few years ago as we have experienced an explosion in the proliferation of computers
imbedded in devices and in our use of them in our daily personal and work lives. There is no field of
study that has not been touched in some way by computers and smart technologies recently from
predictive farming algorithms to 3-D animation, big-data to nano materials. Advances in adaptive
technologies like AI and neural networking that make it possible for code to improve and debug itself.
People are realistically talking for the first time about the advantages of self-improving software and
even self-improving, re-generating nano hardware based on the design of biological systems. Its heady
stuff and creates ethical dilemmas surrounding our ability to comprehend a machine more intelligent
than us, let alone contain or control it. [1]

Another question arises of whether increases in technology actually benefit society. That is, are
the jobs lost through automation going to be picked up somewhere else and if so, what kinds of jobs will
those be? A recent PEW Center poll of 1,900 technology professionals and academics revealed half of
these experts look into the future and see a dystopian society that is characterized by ever-increasing
income inequality due to the fact that there just wont be that many unskilled jobs to go around. [2]
This combined with the idea of self-improving/regenerating machines and one is left to imagine a
potential future where all of humanity becomes classified as unskilled and the machines dont need us
anymore. From the perspective of an economist, technology gains in the past (like the agricultural
revolution, industrial revolutions, etc.) brought on increased productivity, profits, jobs, and wages. But

to some observers the digital revolution seems to be different; the increase in productivity from
digitized and automated industries is not translating into more jobs or higher wages for everyone. One
reason may be a gap in education. The current educational system may not be adequately preparing
students to face an increasingly technological world filled with automation. In past ages of technological
improvement, society and the workforce have been forced to adapt to changes in productivity with new
innovation and increased education. What kind of education should we be providing to prepare future
generations to harness the ever increasing computing and reasoning power? Even if it is theoretically
possible to have machines do all of our work for us, we havent figured out as a society what we would
do all day instead. Would the sudden lack of employment create an unequal and unstable society or one
in which we are freed to pursue higher interests?

For now, there are an increasing number of jobs that are being automated for the first time.
Tasks that were previously considered impossible for computers are being solved at a rapid pace.
Examples include Googles driverless car and programs that can create art. My former profession of
financial advising is seeing increasing competition from web-sites that use algorithms to help clients
build optimal savings plans and portfolios based on their investment goals and preferences. They are
programmed to provide the best advice available at a fraction of the cost of a real advisor and free from
errors, biases, or perverse incentives. Another recent Pew study took a look at the different types of
jobs in the marketplace and measured how susceptible they are to automation. It then showed how this
routine task intensity of job function corresponded with a decrease in relative employment over the
last 25 years [3]. One takeaway from these observations is we should cultivate the skills that we alone as
humans possess intrinsically that could never be replicated by a computer. This takes us into the realms
of psychology, neuro-science, and philosophy. In order to create a better machine, we are trying to
understand what it means to thinkto keep one step ahead of the machines, well have to understand
what it means to be human.

References
[1] S. Omohundro, "Self-Improving AI and the Future of Computing," Stanford Computer Systems
Colloquium, 24 October 2007. [Online]. Available:
http://selfawaresystems.com/2007/11/01/standford-computer-systems-colloquium-self-improvingai-and-the-future-of-computing/. [Accessed 23 August 2014].
[2] A. Smith and J. Anderson, "AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs," Pew Research, 6 August 2014.
[Online]. Available: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/06/future-of-jobs/#key-findings.
[Accessed 23 August 2014].
[3] D. Desilver, "Pew Research Center FactTank," Pew Research Center, 15 August 2014. [Online].
Available: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/15/as-machines-take-on-more-humanwork-whats-left-for-us/. [Accessed 23 August 2014].