Decio Gomes

In “Robotic Nation” by Marshall Brain, there is a lot of information that today’s generation should be aware of. In this essay Marshall Brain focuses on robots taking over the American workforce in the nearby future. He starts off by sharing his experiences with some automated systems such as a self-check out lanes or ATM machines. Systems he believes are “the tip of the Iceberg”. Systems that are becoming so common, that more and more are being developed to benefit the economy in the long run. This not only affecting the economy but also the workforce drastically. As common as the newer technology gets the more it is going to evolve and get perfected.
This power of technology and robotics is believed to change future generations drastically.

Marshall briefly states how much technology has evolved throughout time. With facts such as “ It only took 51 years to go from a rickety wooden airplane flying at 10 MPH, to a gigantic aluminum jet powered Stratofortress carrying 70,000 pounds of bombs halfway around the world at 550 MPH.” In such little time, this tremendous change affected trades, wars, transportation and etc... This being predicted to happen in “Robotic Nation” by Marshall Brain. Within the next 51 years Marshal predicts for Robots to have CPU chips and memory systems that will reach parity with the human brain and maybe even surpass it.

Marshall Brain predicts by 2030, robots that can clean bathrooms, take out trashes, wipe down tables and perform other unexperienced jobs, will be for sale at prices that a economic vehicle will be. For ten thousand dollars, employers will be able to purchase robots to take entry level job. This would save money in labor, and still be able to run the business without having to deal wit raises, or employee conflicts. Imagine what a robot for 50 thousand dollars would be able to do. Senior management teams would be the only positions left in the restaurant business.

In my opinion Marshall is a very intelligent author. I can see a lot of what he talks about happening in the future, maybe not exact dates but definitely see it happening. He used very good examples bringing up the airplane, and how labor works now and how it will work in the future. He hit the nail on the head when bringing up the 1900. Stating “Imagine that you could travel back in time to the year 1900, as your standing on a soap box on a city street corner in 1900 and you say to the gathering crowd”, “By 1955, people will be flying at supersonic speeds in sleek aircraft and traveling coast to coast. Me personally I wouldn’t believe it because I have never seen it. Now in today’s generation airplanes have become something you see daily. Maybe on your way to a major city you see one arriving or taking off. This can be similar to 50 years from now. Robots are already being developed as we speak, some with different causes and purposes. All of them being worked on to be perfected. In a way this is good, but in another it is not. Employer’s will rather pay a robot to work 24 hour shift, half price and get a better job done by robot, then the human himself/herself. This is something serious that needs to be passed around. I know I will not want to be one of the employees that will get laid off for a robot. This also needs to be researached carefully because robots can have malfunctions and may effect how the business runs.