Is 60 Minutes Right?

While most of the electronic press was at CES, 60 minutes did a 13 minute segment on robots replacing human jobs in this ongoing recession.  While this argument has been made as conjecture on the campaign trail, Steve Kroft enforced the point with the credibility of two MIT professors…

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

While typically, I report on new inventions in the field of robotics, I feel compelled to respond to the absurd notion that robotics are making American unemployed.  While the examples Kroft gives are powerful, his conclusions are like bemoaning the loss of the buggy whip manufacturers. Yes, cars did replace horses on the America roads, but they also created one of the greatest economic expansions in history. Therefore, I would like to proport that anytime a disruptive innovation makes jobs obsolete it adds jobs on the top of the ecosystems.  Of course, this forces the American job training and education system to evolve with technology.

Next week, I will return to the normal post with some observations of from CES coming soon.  Until then, let’s stand up for the robot industrial revolution from the pedestrians that protest too much…