Gyroscopic Investing

It's been a while since I created a random Friday Fun thread, so here's one.  Ritholtz had a link to a cool story on robotic warehouse workers that find and move inventory so humans can be more productive.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/no ... arehouses/

Of course, this also means less jobs--which scares the hell out of people who work in warehouses and factories.  I thought it was a good snapshot of the fear people might have of "robots taking over all our jobs" in some circles.  As with any disruptive technology, you're going to have disgruntled workers who resist the idea that their jobs are never coming back and will need an update on their skill set to find a new position.

Just some food for thought.

Great tech!  I love this stuff.

I liked that he emphasized how this augments the work of the human.  They're simply more tools that transform humans from weak, nearly hairless apes into the kings and queens of the world.  Whether it's a spear, a plow, a screwdriver, a car, a factory, the internet, a smart phone, a cute little warehouse robot, or bionic limbs, these tools make us much, much more than our mere biology.

The great part is that this makes us all much richer.  The bad part is that it really tends to freak some people out.

I believe that our future will be less about robots replacing us so much as becoming more and more a part of what we are.  As they begin to excel at various tasks we currently rely on biology for, we'll integrate more and more with them in order to build better versions of ourselves.  I think that process has already begun.

It looks like a cyborg future to me.  Strange and exciting days ahead.