You're assuming that displaced people should, or need to, work. Also, that they can work.
I'd say, not necessarily.
Think about the impending disappearance of professional driving. Automation may not be total, but it will probably reach a point where a single human for 50+ trucks is enough (just have the truck communicate with its command centre). So basically, the professional driving profession will likely shrink by a factor of 10 to 100.
Now, what's a ex-driver to do? I doubt Google could, nor should, have an answer.
Anyway, the reduction of necessary labour, which technology permits, should be good news. If it's not, that's probably because our societies are ill-equipped to deal with such progress.
Right, but an engineer/creator of such a service that realizes the impact of that technological advancement should at least give forethought to what will come about as a result.
If you're going to make an atomic bomb, you should consider the devastation it might cost. While this ISN'T an atomic bomb, if you're going to so heavily disrupt a field such that many people will find themselves out of work, at least giving those people some thought seems to be the responsible choice.
On your last point, societies are always ill-equipped to deal with rapid progress. In fact most of it is dismissed until it can't be ignored. However, the problem of introducing change in a way that will not hurt/severely degrade the life quality of large parts of society is worth tackling -- I don't think people should just throw care to the wind and disrupt areas in which displaced employees are unlikely to be able to bounce back.
Not that you shouldn't release the technology, just that some thought should be given to the effects of your innovation.
Comments
You're assuming that displaced people should, or need to, work. Also, that they can work.
I'd say, not necessarily.
Think about the impending disappearance of professional driving. Automation may not be total, but it will probably reach a point where a single human for 50+ trucks is enough (just have the truck communicate with its command centre). So basically, the professional driving profession will likely shrink by a factor of 10 to 100.
Now, what's a ex-driver to do? I doubt Google could, nor should, have an answer.
Anyway, the reduction of necessary labour, which technology permits, should be good news. If it's not, that's probably because our societies are ill-equipped to deal with such progress.
Right, but an engineer/creator of such a service that realizes the impact of that technological advancement should at least give forethought to what will come about as a result.
If you're going to make an atomic bomb, you should consider the devastation it might cost. While this ISN'T an atomic bomb, if you're going to so heavily disrupt a field such that many people will find themselves out of work, at least giving those people some thought seems to be the responsible choice.
On your last point, societies are always ill-equipped to deal with rapid progress. In fact most of it is dismissed until it can't be ignored. However, the problem of introducing change in a way that will not hurt/severely degrade the life quality of large parts of society is worth tackling -- I don't think people should just throw care to the wind and disrupt areas in which displaced employees are unlikely to be able to bounce back.
Not that you shouldn't release the technology, just that some thought should be given to the effects of your innovation.