Cloud Technology,Advanced Robotics,Autonomous & Near-Autonomous Vehicles

Using the readings you have done, the videos you watched, and your own experiences, discuss our book chapters four, five and six on pages 61 to 85 and the related videos.
For Advanced robots topic include one of the videos on robots. Name the video and summarize several key things you learned from the video and your reaction in a paragraph.
For Autonomous and Near-Autonomous vehicles, include one (or two) of the videos and summarize several key things you learned from the video and your reaction in a paragraph.
If your last name begins with M-Z: Discuss each technology only from the perspective of the "harms" each technology can have on your local (where you live now and/or Chicagoland) area and the global environment, harms to your own local economy (where you live now and/or Chicagoland) compared to the global economy, and "only the harms" each technology is or will have in transforming business and social life in your community and globally. Include ideas and information from the related videos. Title your post: [M to Z Last name]: Harms.
WATCH:
Knightscope at the Velodyne Lidar Booth, CES 2020
https://youtu(dot)be/66FGfoiqIPY
Five ways China is using robots to battle Covid-19
https://youtu(dot)be/JzthGASSxxM
Top 5 Japan's Coolest Robots - Technology of the Future Today
https://youtu(dot)be/PamN-0BZwyE
The Pros and Cons of Self-Driving Cars
https://youtu(dot)be/G2OU_lzsMdE
Self-driving trucks are the future of supply chains
https://youtu(dot)be/f8PnCAYkcMY
STUDENT EXAMPLE 1:
Cloud Technology
There are numerous security and privacy concerns related to cloud technology. Massive amounts of data and personal information are stored using cloud technology and the slightest software failure makes these systems vulnerable to hackers. A lesser discussed issue related to cloud technology is the cultural resistance to using the cloud because folks do not know or understand where their valuable information is going. Therefore, folks who work at companies who utilize cloud technology are less inclined to share valuable information with their company.
As far as, Chicagoland IT companies go many of them are missing out business because oftentimes cloud technology eliminates local IT opportunities. My own Chicago-based employer outsources our cloud storage to a company in Portland, Oregon and now that I am learning more about cloud storage, I am not terribly comfortable with that. Since moving to cloud technology requires new IT budget discipline and skill sets, I can only imagine the Chicago companies that are outsourcing their cloud storage to inexpensive international IT companies.
https://youtu(dot)be/QJcRkpzW8Mw
Advanced Robotics
Advanced robotics is one of the leading causes of human labor losses in manufacturing, service jobs, like cleaning and maintenance. Robots can work round the clock without getting tired and companies do not have pay robots, so when possible, they are forgoing hiring human labor. In factories across the country, especially in assembly line robots are replacing human labor. Companies like Lowe’s uses a robot called LoweBot who greets customers in multiple languages, stocks inventory, and monitors inventory in real-time. These are all jobs that used to be held by humans, but Lowe’s says that LoweBot is meant to free employees to deal with complex customer issues. In my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Veterans are the greeters at Lowe’s, if LoweBot makes its way to Pittsburgh, what will happen to those jobs? Similar questions arise here in Chicago, big manufacturing companies have been utilizing robots for more than a decade, but now smaller and mid-size manufacturing companies are using what they called Cobots (Collaborative robots) designed to operate alongside humans. However, for smaller and mid-size companies it is becoming too expensive to maintain Cobots and pay for human labor so, employees at Fusion OEM in Burr Ridge have reported a decrease in hours. As advanced robotics grow in popularity and purpose there will continue to be job losses particularly in the manufacturing industry and other service jobs.
Robots: Not just for the big guys anymore https://tinyurl(dot)com/4hjj7557
Autonomous and Near Autonomous Vehicles
As more companies test the waters of autonomous and near autonomous vehicles the potential for human labor loss increases. Delivery service companies like Postmates, Doordash, and Nero and ride-share companies are actively testing autonomous driving vehicles. In Chicago, ride-share services are essential for folks like me who do not drive. During the pandemic, I know countless folks that lost their jobs at local hotels or restaurants so, they picked up jobs with Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and/or GrubHub. If autonomous vehicles become the norm, these folks will lose what has become their second job. Another potential harm is related autonomous and near autonomous vehicles lack of knowledge to navigate unexpected infrastructure changes (detours, lane marker obscurities). Their lack of know how can result in vehicular accidents which can harm other drivers and pedestrians. Lastly, autonomous and near autonomous vehicles will undoubtedly increase wealth for the wealthy either through investments, stock options, or ownership all of which widens the wealth gap locally and globally among the haves and the have nots.
https://youtu(dot)be/T-ogV-02ELM
STUDENT EXAMPLE 2:
Cloud Technology
Cloud technology has the potential to decentralize storage and processing across the entire internet. It allows individual devices to no longer rely solely on their internal hardware. This is a large and significant innovation that has the potential to be worth as much as $6.2 billion by 2025. Sadly, this technology comes with the possibility of being devastatingly destructive.
The non centralized nature of cloud technology results in more venerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. Information is not stored on local servers and transferred to and from devices. This creates a system with a greater number of access points for potential hackers. It is much simpler to secure a single server at a single location than to rely upon all users to safely interact with the cloud. When using a cloud service from an outside company you are fully reliant upon their web security setup instead of relying on your own. Cloud technology also opens the door to moving jobs away from local businesses. Chicago based companies can take advantage of global cloud based services. This reduces the availability of local jobs by pushing companies to spend money on outside cloud services.
Advanced Robotics
On the surface level it appears that advanced robotics offers many advantages as it becomes more widespread. By 2025 they offer the potential to have a global economic impact of $4.5 trillion dollars. Advanced robotics can greatly reduce costs in both manufacturing and health care. It even offers the possibility of increased safety by limiting the number of factory workers needed to perform potential dangerous job roles. However, this is a short sided view that does not focus on the harms which it will cause.
Advanced robotics will eliminate manufacturing jobs across the Chicagoland area. Factory workers will quickly lose their jobs as they are replaced by assembly lines focused upon advanced robotics. Factory workers have already suffered a vast reduction in available jobs and the trend will be accelerated by robotic advancements. Chicago still has many factories within its limits and the surrounding collar counties. Most of these jobs will be lost if we do not regulate the growth of robotics. I have already seen the elimination of factory jobs across the region. While working in construction we have built several warehouse storage facilities that no longer primarily rely upon human workers. Instead, robots are used to do a majority of the work both unloading and loading trucks. Some may few driving a forklift as a job that is not a priority but is a steady source of income for many under educated individuals. These are the jobs that are most at risk.
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=66FGfoiqIPY
Knightscope is one company in a quickly evolving industry. They utilize lidar, radar, GPS and internal meters to allow their robots to operate safely around obstacles and living objects. This leaves the future potential of these robots to be almost endless. Knightscope may plan to focus upon improving the rates of crime but will instead eliminate many jobs in law enforcement. Law enforcement is incredibly complex and by relying upon robots and leave an enormous potential for failure. Robots will invade human rights and do not have the ability to function based on morals or reasoning. As the technology improves and the robots are given a greater responsibility, the risk of them injuring a human accidentally grows. Kinightscope is one company within a larger industry that is solely focused upon taking jobs from people and reducing humanities role in society.
Autonomous and Near Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous driving vehicles are quickly being introduced to society with the hopes of removing human error from driving. Vehicular transportation is critical to modern society and is a primary method of moving both people and products across great distances. Autonomous driving vehicles plan to take control from truck drivers, ride share drivers and soccer moms. Placing the vehicle in charge of making the decision on the best and safest route between point A and B. Autonomous and near autonomous vehicles have the potential to have an economic impact of $1.9 trillion by 2025. This may seem significant but fails to fully capture the destructive impacts that the technology will have across the nation and locally.
As autonomous vehicles take hold anyone that currently holds a job that focuses upon driving will eventually be left unemployed. There are many local delivery drivers, long range truck drivers and ride share drivers. These rides will be shifted from people to autonomous vehicles. Ride-share is currently one of the most accessible job options for many Chicago residents. As autonomous vehicles begin to leach these jobs away they will distribute the benefits to the more elite members of society. An autonomous vehicle has the ability to drive and make the user money almost 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This will allow those wealthy enough to purchase them an efficient path to increase their wealth. While eliminating the opportunity of those less fortunate to receive any money off of driving people and products.
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=f8PnCAYkcMY&t=1s
Uber and Walmart and other large companies understand the significant savings they will see by relying upon autonomous vehicles. They boast a 28% savings on the cost of delivering good to customers. This savings is nothing but money being taken out of the hands of individuals and into larger cooperations. These trucks may claim to be safer due to their sensors and programming. However, one error in programming can lead to massive destruction and even death. There have already been deaths seen in autonomous vehicles and as they used more widespread. It is almost impossible to factor in every variable and as a result there will be safety failures. This technology may seem attractive and useful but is not worth the risks it presents. If we allow mass adoption I can think of about 15 jobs that could be eliminated within my own company. This is not taking into account the hundreds of suppliers drivers constantly delivering supplies and materials who would be left without a job. Just because an idea is going to lower costs does not inherently mean it is the correct decision.
STUDENT EXAMPLE 3:
Hi all,
There are a lot of harms and benefits that come with these different technologies, but I will summarize based on the harms.
Cloud Technology
Based on the text script, the cloud has the potential to have an economic impact in 2025 “across sized applications of $1.7 trillion-$6.2 trillion. 15-20% potential productivity gains across IT infrastructure, application development, and packaged software”. While the impact is great the ability to be faulty is also there and might not be as reliable as we would hope. There are a number of things that could go wrong including a software disaster that could have a great negative impact when depending on the cloud to store valuable information and data. Another thing that could go wrong is that the whole system could be hacked. People dedicate their time to doing this and when a company is relying on the cloud it can cause a lot of issues that can even result in the downfall of a company. Chicago is a big city full of many opportunities but when using the cloud, it can possibly take away from the local opportunities Chicagoland companies have to offer the people of the Chicago land area.
Advanced Robotics
While advanced Robotic technology seems to be the direction, we are heading and there is undoubtably a lot of benefit there is also a lot of unknown. Similar to the cloud it is technology that needs software’s and might not always be running at 100%. On top of that and probably my biggest critique on robot technology is the fact that we are starting to remove human interaction. An example I have mentioned before is the self-check out at grocery store. This might seem convenient, but it has eliminated a lot of jobs and is also normalizing our interaction with humans. Our ability to interact with others and our social skills are at risk if we continue to replace more human jobs with robots and technology. I feel that we will eventually get to a point with people’s emotional health and intelligence is very low because of how much experience they will have around robot technologies. Knightscope is very interesting with many great features and can potentially help people avoid some hazardous situations. With that being said it can also help eliminate some of these jobs in law enforcement and will lack judgment calls based on human emotion.
Autonomous and Near Autonomous Vehicles
Cars have been developing greatly over the years from back up cameras to practically driving themselves. It is very exciting to go into the dealership and checking out all the new features the developers came up with. While the features can be very exciting there are a lot of things to take into consideration. The video “The pros and cons of self-driving cars” brings up the point of accountability. Thinking of car insurance companies is a nightmare and with practically self-driving care there is now a new party to blame, the manufactures. This makes things that much more complicated. Another thing mentioned in the video that I have mentioned before is the fact that this will reduce the number of jobs that we need actual people to do. With self-driving cars there is not the same need for bus drivers and taxi drivers. This would directly impact the Chicagoland area as a big way of transportation is bus.