Noodle Robots

[Wes]

A few days back I read an article on Slashdot about how noodle-making robots are replacing low-wage workers in Chinese restaurants. Here's a video of it on Youtube. t got me thinking: Robots should be all over the place in the more affluent and even some of the poor places of the SARP universe.

But even more thought provoking are some of the comments:

...can we please finally now get on with dealing with the fact that we don't need 100% employment anymore? How can we ensure a quality life for everyone now that we know machines can do a lot of the work? By all means, people should still be able to work, but why yank away everything from someone who'd rather do something else?

In the SARPiverse, aren't some of the civilizations post-working or at least with lowered expectations the amount of work people are expected to do? Especially since there's not a lot of death in Yamatai, I imagine it would be one of the first factions moving in a direction where people have a lot of free time to be creative (or hedonistic) and not be wage-slaves like most of us are in real life. The Zaibatsu gets stuff and makes stuff for almost nothing because it's all automated and thus the citizens of the empire are not expected to be out there doing labor. Basic needs like a small living space and food can be provided, giving the lazy Yamataian a "floor" for his/her quality of life, while the innovative and driven people can increase their living and resources by working. In a futuristic society, any menial labor that can be automated by using robots probably will be, from toilet cleaning to growing oranges. Something to think about and for GMs to keep in mind when describing the setting.

PS: What happens when robots become the managers?

 

[Nashoba]

Well, that is a role that my EM androids and Mari drone are being used on TC installations.

But I also see people working, not menial jobs perhaps, but ones that bring them a sense of accomplishment. I can see a portion of the population wanting just the easy life, but I am sure there plenty who do some form of work to keep them busy.

 

[Edto Xar'Sivaree]

When robts start to become managers, corperations are trading out efficiency for employee moral. If I had a robot keeping track of everything I did? Gave no lee-way? Would send me a "You're fired" notice over email if I hit a certain amount of infractions no matter how small or what have you? I wouldn't work there in the slightest. Would rather an asshole manager who isn't a computer keeping track then a non-existant person and a computer eeping track with mindnumbing accuracy.

 

[Navian]

I imagine that robot managers would be much like human ones. The funny thing is, there are already human managers who meticulously keep track of everything and are unbelievably inflexible and hidebound. An AI that has no problem with giving the employees free drinks and constantly enthusing about their 'creative energy' doesn't seem any less plausible.

 

[Wes]

When you have robots managing things, you could end up with a situation like Manna (read this!).

Yamatai's solution to automation taking up all the jobs was to go with LACY, the Living Allowance for Citizens of Yamatai, which is a type of minimum income/Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) that means even if you can't find a job, you will still have a place to live and enough money to buy food.