Bill Gates: People Don't Realize How Many Jobs Will Soon Be Replaced By Software Bots

[jakeXT]

Big changes are coming to the labor market that people and governments aren't prepared for, Bill Gates believes.

Speaking at Washington, D.C., economic think tank The American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, Gates said than within 20 years, a lot of jobs will go away, replaced by software automation ("bots" in tech slang, though Gates used the term "software substitution&quot .

This what he said:

"Software substitution, whether it's for drivers or waiters or nurses ... it's progressing. ... Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set. ... 20 years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don't think people have that in their mental model."

He's not the only one predicting this gloomy scenario for workers. In January, the Economist ran a big profile naming over a dozen jobs sure to be taken over by robots in the next 20 years, including telemarketers, accountants and retail workers.

http://www.businessinsider.in/Bill-Gates-People-Dont-Realize-How-Many-Jobs-Will-Soon-Be-Replaced-By-Software-Bots/articleshow/31969522.cms

[jtuck004]

1. He oughta know. A bot probably couldn't do worse than Micro$oft is doing, so there goes the CEO. n/t

[Petrushka]

2. Oh, wow! Somebody had a "mental model" and "...it's progressing."?

All that's needed, now, is for somebody else to figure out how long it'll take to program one group of "bots" to purchase, consume (or discard) whatever some other group of "bots" produces . . . meanwhile, imagining a "mental model" that makes it possible to convince each "software substitution" that no "bots" are exempt from paying taxes.

[MisterP]

6. as the aero"space" sector runs on "the WMDs are north, east, and west of Baghdad," the tech sector

expands its money currents through constant vaporware like this (or Hyperloop, or...)

[Petrushka]

7. Sh-hush! Someone might hear ya, MisterP.

[MisterP]

8. "any day now we'll be Raptured--but by computers, so it'll be for real!

get on their good side with your investments!"

[Petrushka]

10. "Beam me up, Scotty."

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Takes one to know one. But.....

... I think he's probably right about this.

[GeorgeGist]

4. And as the bots evolve ...

There will come a day when hoomins are not needed at all.

[AnneD]

5. He must have started...

smoking early. All the auto bot in the world won't buy a product.

"Gates believes that the tax codes are going to need to change to encourage companies to hire employees, including, perhaps, eliminating income and payroll taxes altogether. He's also not a fan of raising the minimum wage, fearing that it will discourage employers to hire workers in the very categories of jobs that are most threatened by automation.

He explained:

"When people say we should raise the minimum wage. I worry about what that does to job creation ... potentially damping demand in the part of the labor spectrum that I'm most worried about."

So here is a thought for you Bill. We will do away with that pesky ol tax system.Since none of us will have a job our money, how about we nationalize everything. Your ill gained profits will feed, clothe, and educate everyone. Let's make it a real socialist system.

Bet that minimum wage increase seems trifling and a tax increase of 50% on gains and profits looks really good right now.

[snot]

9. This is an issue of, if less work is needed to create more wealth,

we need to spread more of the wealth.