On 11/1/2016 4:26 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Oren:
"Fastbrick Robotics says its Hadrian X robot will build the shell of a
building in just two days — replacing weeks of work by masons"

"...will be capable of laying approximately 1,000 bricks per hour...

http://www.marke****ch.com/story/this-robot-could-build-much-of-your-next-house-2016-11-01

Back in the mainframe days, we used to joke about media treatments of
"Artificial Intelligence" - calling it "Artificial Stupidity".

Looks to me like The Real Deal is here - and I would think the next huge
shakeup economically is going to be the unemployment created by AI
machines.


Word. I attended a talk by a Pew Research fellow who said we are only
in the middle of the Technical (as opposed to Industrial) Age, the
effects of which we are only beginning to see. He said the new
robotics will eventually mean the automation of most jobs. Already
more jobs in the US manufacturing sector have been lost to automation
than have gone overseas. You don't need to send the work to China when
robots can do it even cheaper here.

He said the next big shakeup will be in the commercial trucking
industry. Robotic trucking is being rolled out in Europe now, and will
come to the US soon. The biggest expense in transportation is labor
costs. Robotic trucks don't need to take rest breaks, meaning a
massive cost savings. But that's an awful lot of jobs lost. And
white-collar jobs are not exempt; in many cases, they're even more
vulnerable to automation.

It was both a very interesting and very grim talk.