机器人对人类工作力的影响

 

Technology activists¹ are appealing to tech companies and their leaders to build a future in which the effect of machinery² on humans is lessened³.

Some workers have long feared that machines are coming to take away their jobs.

Robots now are doing more work than ever before. Lasers being used to cut cloth at factories, while drone aircraft water crops.

Tim O’Reilly heads O’Reilly Media, a technology advisory⁴ service. He says it is important for people and machines to work together. He says most computer software depends on human beings to keep it operating and current.

“It’s so important that we have to think about not using technology to replace people -- but to augment⁵ them, to do something that was previously⁶ impossible,” O’Reilly said.

He spoke⁷ last week at conference in Ho Chi Minh City. The meeting was a project of the Asia and Pacific Internet Association and APNIC – the Asia-Pacific registry for internet domain⁸ names.

With more skills, people can work with machines, O’Reilly noted⁹. For example, the ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber use software designed to help human drivers. Most large airplanes are now flown by computers. But passengers will likely always want a human pilot on the plane.

Jonathan Brewer¹⁰ is a trainer at the Network Startup Resource Center, a non-profit group based at the University of Oregon. He believes the next step in technology should improve on the one before it.

Speaking at the conference, he noted that when factories began to be built in large numbers, many people were left with undrinkable water and unbreathable air.

Today, Brewer said, technology experts must consider how their inventions can help people. He noted how sensors¹¹ can warn people an hour before a mudslide takes place. There are other “life-saving devices that cost very, very little money.” He added there is not much reason to have machines do difficult work if people are not able to use and enjoy the results of their labor¹².

O’Reilly said the world needs people. He told the conference’s delegates that “all of you, in some sense, are inside the internet. (If) you go away, it stops working. It’s not like a piece of software in (the) PC era where if you had a copy of Microsoft Windows running on your personal computer, it would keep running without the original programmers. Almost all of the software we depend on today is a service that depends on the work of people like you.”

While some experts believe robots will help in the future, others are worried. In 2015 the consulting service McKinsey & Company said machines will someday perform 45 percent of the jobs humans now do.

That may be why many technology experts support the idea of universal guaranteed earnings¹³. Under the plan, a small monthly payment would be made to each person, even if they do not work.

Brewer hopes that people and machines will continue to cooperate. He said there is technology that tells city workers when street lights need to be repaired or when trash cans are full. That means the workers do not need to examine the lights or cans, as many now do. But he said when the technology tells when repairs are needed or containers must be emptied, humans must still provide the service.

Many delegates at the conference support technology and the changes it will bring. But many are also starting to think about its effect on humans and how to help people live in a world where machines do so much work.

Words in This Story

aircraft – n. a vehicle for traveling through the air

software – n. a set of programs and related documentation ties to a system, usually a computer system

augment – v. to make greater or more numerous

era – n. an important date or period

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

3 lessened   

减少的，减弱的

参考例句：

• Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来，多少削弱了演讲的力量。
• The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行，住在城内的中产家庭减少了。

4 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

5 augment   

vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张

参考例句：

• They hit upon another idea to augment their income.他们又想出一个增加收入的办法。
• The government's first concern was to augment the army and auxiliary forces.政府首先关心的是增强军队和辅助的力量。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

11 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

12 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

13 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。