The Future

with
Robots
New Internationalist Ready Lesson
Upper Intermediate
 This lesson:
speakin
g

prionsedcti

readin
g
What do you think her job is?
 What is your definition of a
robot?
Add a synonym or synonyms.
robot
[ˈrəʊbɒt]
NOUN
a…
synonyms: au-------
robot Dictionary definition
[ˈrəʊbɒt
] NOUN
a machine capable of carrying out a
complex series of actions automatically,
especially one programmable by a
computer.
synonyms: automaton · android · machine · bot
· droid
How likely is it that robots will
replace these jobs and why/why
not?
interpreter
travel agent
care worker
farmer dentist
cashier fast food
cook
legal assistant taxi
driver soldier
social worker surgeon
 Predictions
Make 3 sentences using one of
the coloured words in each
sentence:
There is… It is…

likely likelihood a good

highly a strong chance replace

robots that will

cashiers
Another prediction sentence. Put
the words in the correct order:

robots of

are cashiers by risk

being at replaced
great
Complete the grammar summaries with:
at risk strong chance -
ing highly little likelihood
1) There is a likelihood that ……………………………
2) There is very little that……………………………
3) It is (un)likely that …………………………………….

4) There is a good that

……………………………………
5) There is chance that ………………..

6) Subject + are of +
What about the likelihood of
these jobs being replaced by
robots?
Job
automation
Chance of clergy
taxi driver 89%
fast food cook 81%
social worker 0.3%
surgeon 0.42%
• likelihood

• chance

• (un)likely

• at risk
a) controlling something using machines k) doing the same thing again
and
and again
not people
l) to find what is wrong
b) describes computer technology
especially the Internet m) aircraft that flies without
c) mathematical instructions given to a human control
computer to give an answer to a
problem
d) information stored on a computer
e) selling f) far away g) making
rules
h) large building to store goods for selling
i)
j) the way you send goods to people
 Match:
1) data
2) digital
3) drone
4) automation
5) remote
6) retail
7) diagnose
8) repetitive
9) distribution
10) algorithm
11) warehouse
12) till
13) regulation
 What do you think and why?
1) Robots have done the work of a dentist and
replaced teeth. True/false?

2) Artificial Intelligence is better than doctors at

finding health problems. True/false?

3) A report suggests that there was a likelihood

that American workers who used technology
voted for Trump. True/false?

4) Technology will make us more equal. True/false?

Text 1
1) Farming changed more quickly than industry. True/false?

2) Algorithms enable computers to recognise pictures

more effectively than people can/. True/false?

3) Robots can do the work of a dentist. True/false?

4) It is impossible to predict the future of

technology. True/false?

5) Most jobs are at risk. True/false?

Text 2
1) One report say about a third of jobs in Britain are at risk. True/false?

2) World Bank data predicts greater jobs losses in India than in

China. True/false?

3) The Global South may lose more jobs than in the West. True/false?

4) In the USA a lot of workers have found new jobs when

technology replaced theirs. True/false?

5) Artificial Intelligence is better than doctors at finding health

problems. True/false?

6) Drones are the solution to all health problems in Malawi. True/false?

Text 3
1) A report suggests that there was a small likelihood that
American workers who used technology voted for Trump.
True/false?

2) Last year the USA manufactured less than before. True/false?

3) Last year the USA manufactured more then before and with
about a third fewer workers. True/false?

4) Robots will be able to pick oranges and strawberries. True/false?

5) Workers will suffer because of automation. True/false?

Text 4
1) We may need to adapt our skills to the needs of robots. True/false?

2) Oxfam says there are 8 rich people who are as wealthy as all of the world’s
poorest 50%. True/false?

3) Technology will make us more equal. True/false?

4) The data from our internet use can be used to affect who we vote for.
True/false?

5) The richest nations want rules to stop the misuse of data, True/false?

6) According to the President of Russia, Russia is leading the

world in technology. True/false?
Text 1
Today the speed of change is so very fast. In the past changes in technology happened slowly over
thousands of years, like farming, or hundreds of years, like industry. Today big changes happen in a few
years and it is difficult to predict them. And with progress in automation, we need to think about robots in
industry and driverless cars but also about the many ways computers and digital technology are changing
our work and our lives. We are now at the beginning of a new age of very big and maybe very difficult
changes.
Now we see sudden solutions to old problems. Researchers spent years trying to get computers to identify
object
but then machine-learning solved the problem. Computers use algorithms to learn from examples, data,
and
experience. Google’s technology to recognise pictures is now better than humans.
We thought that automation could not do the job of a dentist. But in September 2017 in China, a robot
dentist pu in two teeth without help from a human dentist. The teeth were 3D printed.
Of course, Silicon Valley believes in big changes. Completely changing industries means making big money
for one company. Mark Zuckerberg says for Facebook, ‘Move fast and break things.’ This is now true for
capitalists makin money from technology.
Some people are worried about this. In October 2016 Klaus Schwab from the World Economic Forum was
unhappy and said, ‘Society is facing the “new unknown”.'
Fewer jobs?
Most of the problems of automation are in work and jobs.
Citi and Oxford Martin School says 80 per cent of retail jobs are at risk. It’s not just machines replacing the
people
at the tills in shops but more internet shopping and automation in warehouses and transport.
Text 2
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) says that in
Britain, w may lose jobs in finance and accounting, transport and distribution, and media marketing
and advertising.
Another report says we may lose one in three British jobs.
And for the Majority World things are no better. A study using World Bank data says we may lose 77
per cen of jobs in China, 69 per cent in India, and 85 per cent in Uzbekistan. These ideas about the
future are because there may be no more low-wage labour in the Global South with automation
making manufacture cheaper in the West. And more automation in poorer countries may replace
more jobs than in the West.
Others disagree and say with new technology there will be different kinds of jobs, or life will be better
and work will matter less. But in the US, only 0.5 per cent of workers have found new and different
jobs.
There is also the idea that it is better to have automation in jobs that are boring, repetitive, dirty or
dangerous.
But there are very good technological advances. Artificial intelligence can now find cancers better than
doctors and is better than doctors in diagnosing symptoms. Robots can do surgery with steady hands.
This is good news of course for patients but not so good for the doctors.
It is likely and maybe possible for computer programs to study case law better and faster and suggest
lines o defence in court. But do we want them to be the only possibility? Algorithms can find illegal
financial transactions in a millisecond. But they can also do fast buying and selling on the stock
market. At the same time they can compete with other computers. It’s very good that drones can
deliver medicines to remote rural areas in Malawi. But there is a problem if the areas stay remote and
that is the only health care they
Text 3
We always need to think about the effects on humans. And we are not doing that enough.
A new report showed that US workers who used automation at work were more likely to vote
for
Donald Trump. It is possible they were thinking about Trump’s plan to bring manufacturing back
to the US again. But in 2016, the US produced more goods than ever (85 per cent more than in
1987). And with one important difference: it did this with 30 per cent fewer workers.
Manufacturing was already back in the US but more and more machines did the work. Maybe
Trump blamed globalization for losing jobs but today many people say that automation is a
bigger problem.
Orange growers in California are, worried about not finding enough cheap migrant workers. They
are investing in an orange=-picking robot. And in Britain with Brexit, farmers are thinking about
automated strawberry-pickers costing $250,000 each.
Bad for workers
Many predictions about work make a few unhappy points. More and more we will divide jobs
into low- paid/low-skilled and high-paid/high-skilled, with only a few people doing the high-
paid/high-skilled jobs. Workers will have less power and wages will go down. Algorithms in
management will lead to more robotic working conditions for humans; and maybe many people
will do work that is just betwee machines.
Willem Schinkel is a Dutch sociologist. He says, ‘If we think that work will disappear, that is a
very good way to make us work more cheaply.’ This means we will be at work 24 hours a day.
Then weour
to have willboring
want 9-to-5 jobs
back.
Text 4
Another idea is that more and more jobs will not be necessary. So we must learn new skills again and again
to have a job. And perhaps most of us do not want to do this or cannot do this. So we must fit our skills to
the needs of the intelligent machines and those who control them!
Another prediction is that inequality will increase with technology. This would be very bad for the Global
South. At the beginning of 2017 Oxfam said that just eight rich men now control as much wealth as the
world’s poorest 50 per cent.
Social critic Curtis White said,, ‘Robots are very good at supply but they don’t create demand.’ Techno-
capitalism would make most of us economically worthless for our labour, and there would be a few very
rich people controlling us..
We can see this power grab in the world of Big Data. Many people complain that all our digital activities,
and the way the internet watches us, are making a rich bank of data, And only a few mainly US companies
are using this data. They can use this data to influence our political behaviour, what we buy, and many
other parts of our lives. Critics say that governments are giving public statistics to the big data companies
and they are doing it without thinking. But at digital trade talks the rich countries make sure that they stop
any kind of regulation.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In September 2017, Vladimir Putin said, ‘Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for the
world… The leader in AI will be the leader of the world.’ Putin was talking about the AI we will have in the
future - gener artificial intelligence (AGI). AGI could possibly do what humans do and do it better – in
financial markets, in research, in controlling human leaders, and making weapons we cannot understand.
The future of robotics
and
automation in 2030.
future simple future continuous future perfect future perfect
simple continuous
medicine transport dirty
jobs communication
A leading cause By 2030 we will Many jobs like By 2030 we will
of death in the be conversing refuse collection have been using
US is medical directly with will have been driverless taxis
error. This will humanoid replaced by for years.
be eradicated by robots. invisible robots.
robots.
Homework

The advantages and disadvantages

of robots and automation.