Computers have always scared people. Not just because they can be confusing and hard to
operate, but also because how they affect peoples everyday lives. What jobs should
highly advanced computers be able to run? This question can involve ethics, privacy,
security, and many other topics.
What jobs can and can't we leave to the computer? As computers grow more and more
advanced, not to mention complicated, so grows the number of job applications that can be
filled by computers. But can we leave a job such as doctor to a highly advanced computer
system? There are a great deal of moral issues involving that. What would happen if the
doctor made a mistake? Could you sue the computer? What about the computer programmer?
One error in the program could mean death for a patient. One job that I'm sure many
people would give to a computer if they had the chance would be a lawyer. This
eliminates the problem that occurs when someone with money is in trouble. They buy the
best lawyer money can buy, but the person without any money cannot afford the great
lawyers the other guy has. With this system, one single lawyer program could be provided
to everyone so that the process of dispensing justice is much more fair. What about a
judge and jury? Could a computer replace them? Is it right for a computer to pronounce
sentence on an individual?
Because computers don't have any kind of actual thought or will, some jobs would be
perfect for computers. Security would be a good job for a computer to handle. People
like their privacy and don't want to be watched over by someone all the time. If
computers could tell if a crime is happening without a human to point it out, it might be
alright to install these systems everywhere to detect crimes taking place without
interfering with someone's privacy. I'm not talking about "Big Brother" from 1984, but
something that would be fair to everyone.
There is also the problem of changing jobs due to advancements in computer technology.
There will be the same number of jobs available, but not at the same levels. More
education will be needed for these new jobs. Computers might take away quite a few jobs
from people doing manual labor on an assembly line, but at the same time, if something
breaks down, there will have to be someone to come in and fix it. This is the affect
computers will have as they become more and more advanced. The only problem with this is
that some people may be unwilling to change. It would be hard for someone who has worked
in manual labor all their life to suddenly become a computer technician. That is one of
the costs we must have to live with though if there are to be advancements. But what
about even further into the future? Will by that time, computers be so advanced that
they can fix themselves and "evolve" on their own? Certainly then there would be job
scarcity due to these technological advancements.
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