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Showing Original Post only (View all)This is why we are not about to be replaced by robots [View all]
I have seen and commented on a number of stories in the last few weeks where people were posting stories about the imminent replacement of humans in manufacturing by robots.
Folks, it is not going to happen any time soon, and by "soon", I mean any time in the next century. People constantly undervalue the marvel of engineering that is the human body and the human brain. Humans are flexible, agile and clever, something robots simply are not.
And here is an article from Popular Mechanics underscoring my point precisely. Here is the world's most powerful computer, trying and failing at a task a five year old can pull off without breaking a sweat: Identifying objects from a picture. Watson, IBM's genius computer that won a game of Jeopardy against human champions, fails epically when asked to "look at" pictures and identify what's in them. My favorite one is where it identifies a John Deer tractor as a "gazebo" with 61% confidence.
Robots have a use in the world, but at this time, and for some time to come, it will be in very specific tasks, in very controlled environments.
Humans rule!
(P.S.: Actually, the biggest fail is where Watson cannot identify a picture of itself.)