The Second Machine Age
The day is fast approaching where we as a human species will make ourselves obsolete. How will we function in that new epoch?
The first machine age, as MIT professors Andrew Mcafee and Erik Brynjolfsson state, was what most of us know as the Industrial Revolution. It was the period during which humans augmented muscle power with machines. Instead of relying on the power of our own muscles or the muscles of animals to get things done, we created engines to move us around, light our homes, etc.
The second machine age, they argue, began when IBM built a computer that could beat a chess grand master. In other words, the second machine age is one in which we humans use machines to replace mental power. The most simplistic expression is in the use of calculators. What the professors are talking about, however, is more macro than that; akin to the automation of the workplace or our economic systems.
What does this mean? Well, you only really need to look back at history. Pre-industrial revolution when we still relied on human or animal power to do everything, what was that transition like? The most significant aspects were the alleviation of the demands of physical labor, and the changes in the economic system that followed.
This presented itself mainly in agriculture, where machines could do more work in an hour than large numbers of people could do in a day. The development of engines and powered machine driven mobility allowed for goods to expand beyond local outlets. Now farmers and businesses of all sorts could move their goods all over the country, and the world, in much less time. This allowed for a surge in economic production.
There are those that believe the second machine age will usher in the same sort of change. By reducing the burden of mental activity, the theory is that mental energies can be put to use on other endeavors, and that further these new machines will be able to solve problems that we humans have not been able to.
However, there is reason to be concerned about the way this new revolution is taking place. When the first machine age came about, there were any number of new endeavors that were created as opportunity for humans. Many of these were fields merely awaiting an opportunity to take off. In other words, the first machine age was in direct response to an existing need. It was a technical struggle to meet productive demand, the machines created as an answer to that pent-up demand.
At the moment that does not exist for this second machine age. There are a few lofty ideals concerning possible applications, but few are concrete or nearly as universal as the basic ideas such as speedier travel so goods aren't region-bound.
Moreover, the fact that due to the advancements of this machine age, combined with those of the last machine age, we are close tot he point now where we are eliminating more jobs through technology than the machines we are creating are making. When the internal combustion engine came about, animals were more readily replaced. The trainers and handlers loss their line of work. However, we now had a growth of a new industry for manufacturing of various types of machines that use those engines, construction for railroads and highways, construction of buildings and communities along those new avenues of commerce, and then the numerous additional industries that came about to utilize these prior creations.
At the moment the machine age either fills a passive desire (the likes of Facebook) but has limited function in creating a new industry. That is not to say that the benefits don't exist, only that the nascence towards the drawbacks is a terrible flaw. The machine age has enabled the creation of machines that can conduct the functional capacities of a human.
As humans, our economic systems, and to a great extent our identities, are tied to our works; to our ability to complete a task for which we receive compensation. If we replace the humans in this equation with a machine, where does that leave humans? We haven't quite figured that out yet. We need to.
The first machine age, as MIT professors Andrew Mcafee and Erik Brynjolfsson state, was what most of us know as the Industrial Revolution. It was the period during which humans augmented muscle power with machines. Instead of relying on the power of our own muscles or the muscles of animals to get things done, we created engines to move us around, light our homes, etc.
The second machine age, they argue, began when IBM built a computer that could beat a chess grand master. In other words, the second machine age is one in which we humans use machines to replace mental power. The most simplistic expression is in the use of calculators. What the professors are talking about, however, is more macro than that; akin to the automation of the workplace or our economic systems.
What does this mean? Well, you only really need to look back at history. Pre-industrial revolution when we still relied on human or animal power to do everything, what was that transition like? The most significant aspects were the alleviation of the demands of physical labor, and the changes in the economic system that followed.
This presented itself mainly in agriculture, where machines could do more work in an hour than large numbers of people could do in a day. The development of engines and powered machine driven mobility allowed for goods to expand beyond local outlets. Now farmers and businesses of all sorts could move their goods all over the country, and the world, in much less time. This allowed for a surge in economic production.
There are those that believe the second machine age will usher in the same sort of change. By reducing the burden of mental activity, the theory is that mental energies can be put to use on other endeavors, and that further these new machines will be able to solve problems that we humans have not been able to.
However, there is reason to be concerned about the way this new revolution is taking place. When the first machine age came about, there were any number of new endeavors that were created as opportunity for humans. Many of these were fields merely awaiting an opportunity to take off. In other words, the first machine age was in direct response to an existing need. It was a technical struggle to meet productive demand, the machines created as an answer to that pent-up demand.
At the moment that does not exist for this second machine age. There are a few lofty ideals concerning possible applications, but few are concrete or nearly as universal as the basic ideas such as speedier travel so goods aren't region-bound.
Moreover, the fact that due to the advancements of this machine age, combined with those of the last machine age, we are close tot he point now where we are eliminating more jobs through technology than the machines we are creating are making. When the internal combustion engine came about, animals were more readily replaced. The trainers and handlers loss their line of work. However, we now had a growth of a new industry for manufacturing of various types of machines that use those engines, construction for railroads and highways, construction of buildings and communities along those new avenues of commerce, and then the numerous additional industries that came about to utilize these prior creations.
At the moment the machine age either fills a passive desire (the likes of Facebook) but has limited function in creating a new industry. That is not to say that the benefits don't exist, only that the nascence towards the drawbacks is a terrible flaw. The machine age has enabled the creation of machines that can conduct the functional capacities of a human.
As humans, our economic systems, and to a great extent our identities, are tied to our works; to our ability to complete a task for which we receive compensation. If we replace the humans in this equation with a machine, where does that leave humans? We haven't quite figured that out yet. We need to.
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