Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[Helgoland]

I don't really see how the potential for post-scarcity is so far off.  Politically, yes, but not materially.

Do you see construction work being automated any time soon? Daycare? Any sort of job in R&D?

[Descan]

Construction work, yes. Daycare, maybe. R&D, certain aspects, yes.

Regardless, aside from construction work, those aren't required for a post-scarcity society. For one, daycare wouldn't necessarily need to be around if most people don't need to work while having young children, and for another, the people interested in research and development would do it regardless.

[DJ]

I see you've never been anywhere near a construction site. Oh, and there's also medicine, I think we're still a far way away from autodocs. And education, you need a real person to push the students, most people are too lazy to get anywhere with self-education.

[Descan]

It's a failure of the imagination to not see a myriad of ways to create self-constructing, self-raising structures.

[penguinofhonor]

There's a difference between "imaginable" and "not far off".

[Angle]

I'm afraid it'll take more than just developing technology, or even politics, to bring about lasting change. You need cultural change, too.

[DJ]

There are a million things that go wrong in construction, and you really need skilled construction workers to stop them from turning the building into a deathtrap. Starting with foundations, which you definitely need for any sort of building. There's just no telling if there's problems underground until you dig and run into a cavern, or an underground stream, or a layer of soft rock.

[FearfulJesuit]

There are a million things that go wrong in construction, and you really need skilled construction workers to stop them from turning the building into a deathtrap. Starting with foundations, which you definitely need for any sort of building. There's just no telling if there's problems underground until you dig and run into a cavern, or an underground stream, or a layer of soft rock.

I could see construction work being automated for pre-planned, mass-produced housing units-a few steps up from trailers. Even then, there are just so many things that can go wrong that you'll need supervisors around the robots to make sure they don't screw up.

[Descan]

I still don't see anything here that a particularly sophisticated system can't automate.

Whatever it is that construction foremen and experience construction workers DO to ensure the building is stable, a system would be able to do as well. Especially if it's a learning system, and ESPECIALLY if it's a strong-A.I. system.

[Sergarr]

Full automation and AI is a century far off.

However, partial automation can be achieved pretty soon. i.e. exosuits and such would really help in construction works. They're already being used in South Korea ship construction facilities, so it's not just a science fiction.

Probably also some controlled from a distance robots in about 20-30 years, for especially dangerous zones.

[andrea]

it is not that they absolutely can't be automated, it is that they can't be fully automated right now.

[Helgoland]

I still don't see anything here that a particularly sophisticated system can't automate.

Whatever it is that construction foremen and experience construction workers DO to ensure the building is stable, a system would be able to do as well. Especially if it's a learning system, and ESPECIALLY if it's a strong-A.I. system.

Do note that I'm not claiming it's impossible - it certainly isn't -, but that it's still far away.

Also note that it would be quite hard to print brick or any other kind of stone; carbon-based polymers generally have characteristics unsuitable for use as a building material and need to be produced from increasingly scarce fossil fuels.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Also note that it would be quite hard to print brick or any other kind of stone...

It is too bad we don't have enough Tungsten to make a magma-based 3d printer.

[Frumple]

I was under the impression we already had teleoperation?

So far as I'm aware, yes. Sees particularly notable use in medical and military fields, that I'm aware of. Looks like we're starting to see an increase in civilian usage, even. Y'know, beyond RC cars and whatnot.

[Descan]

A brick-laying machine doesn't need to create the actual brick itself on-site, of course. It just needs to be able to see where a brick needs to be, get itself there, modify the brick if needed, and place the brick.