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Comment Threads

• scentofviolets commented on Sheepskin
  On a related note: how would one go about automating dishwashing in a restaurant, and at what point would the most human intervention occur? Assume that all the dishes, flatware and stemware have been swept more or less indiscriminately into a tub placed on top of a trolley. Is this something that could be done right now? Five years from now?...
• scentofviolets commented on Sheepskin
  @ 258: One thing that has not been mentioned here is that relying on loans to pay off increased university fees will have unpleasant side effects. Expect to see graduates shun less remunerative, but socially useful jobs because it will become harder to pay back their loans. Here, what you see is that in some cases those high loans are at least partially forgiven if you put in five years or so effectively working for the government as a contract laborer. Teachers who work in "at risk" environments for example. I could see a trend arising very easily where government-subsidized...
• scentofviolets commented on Sheepskin
  @ 262: Then that's not really automated, is it? In fact, what you describe is pretty much how we used to do it thirty-odd years ago[1]. The hard parts, the sorting and the putting up still haven't been relegated to the machines yet. Is this yet another technology that's been coming Real Soon Now for some time? [1]Actually, what we did was sort everything out first. Then the racks went down the conveyor belt into the washer and stacked up when they came out the end. This last part could very easily have been done by machine even then....
• Charlie Stross commented on Sheepskin
  For example, medical students will be more likely to become a well paid specialist instead of say becoming a GP. Minor nit: GPs are really well paid in the UK right now -- GP partners earn, on average, £105,000 a year. Which isn't a lot by US standards ($170K), but medical liability insurance is a lot cheaper in the UK. I'm more worried about nursing, which is now a 100% graduate-entry profession, but not remotely as well paid. A lot of the grunt work is done by lower-level nursing auxiliaries, and we're in danger of seeing patient care professionals priced...
• scentofviolets commented on Sheepskin
  @ 270: I haven't seen/used a professional dishwasher for a long time, but you did still have to put the items in, then the machine ran and dried if you wanted (less electricity if it doesn't dry and you don't need the dishes, etc. too soon) and then you put the items away. Right. At some point human judgment and human skill at manipulating arbitrary objects placed haphazardly together kicks in. That's a really tough thing to automate, at least so far. I ask because, inevitably, after such machinery becomes a technical and economic reality, the only reason not to...