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RE: America Is Unprepared For The Coming Jobs Apocalypse
This graph is kind of terrible:
But if I'm reading it right, are they actually saying that truck drivers are only at "low" risk from automation? That doesn't make sense... autonomous vehicles are way closer to mass implementation right now than burger-flipping robots.
you underestimate truck drivers and the difficulty of the job.
Even if the technology existed today, regulation means that it will be years before it is fully implemented.
The chart focuses upon "immediate" which could mean in the next couple years.
Sure, regulation is going to slow that process down. But regulation in that industry is only so heavily discussed right now because the basic technology exists in a vaguely usable state right now, and could feasibly be used to some extent more or less immediately in the absence of regulation.
Whereas burger-flipping robots are so far out from a usable implementation right now that no one's even seriously pondering what regulations might apply to them in the future. Once burger-flipping robot technology ends up in a usable state, I guarantee you there'll be just as much talk of regulation slowing down its adoption as well. Same with "Cleaners"... I'm pretty sure cleaning robots any more advanced than a Roomba still only exist in video games.
Now, are they considering "Cooks and servers" to include fast food counter cashiers? Because that's certainly one task where humans are indeed competing with "robots" as we speak, with all the fast food chains adding customer-facing ordering terminals now. (Not that there's anything particularly "robotic" about a program that lets you push buttons and records your choices...)