I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords...
MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
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Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#22We let robots give order all the time. The traffic light is one example.
The research is related to artificial intelligence, not pure automation.
I think it's a fine line. The article did mention that the robots were guided by an algorithm, and traffic lights are, too, controlled by algorithms, so what's to say this situation isn't the same as following traffic lights?
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#23I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords...
I came here to say this.
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#24Robots also don't play favorites or office politics. If there is a more efficent/better way, it will do it. Even better when it is allowed to re-calculate with new parameters.
The issue with this is the efficient way is not always the better way. If you keep assigning the same menial and crappy task to a worker because they get it done quick, yay efficiency! Except if you're asking the same worker to clean the bathrooms three times a day every day, it's not going to take long before he goes "fuck this, I'm going to work somewhere else!" The robot will assign the next most efficient person,…
All of the logic and anecdotes you presented could be computerized.
Retention is something you could optimize for in the long term.
Reliability for covering shifts is a number too.
I think you're right on a small scale, humans can make generally reasonable judgement calls with little data.
If you think about the future though, if a big corp can optimize middle management robots with 100,000 employees worth of data, they probably will.
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#25immediately thought of manna - http://www.amazon.com/Manna-Two-Visions-Humanitys-Future-ebo... . (FWIW, don't think it has aged too well)
I liked it, although I was annoyed at the end after the author spent an entire chapter sermonizing about the developed world's failure to help out the developing world. And what do they do, after they end up in Aus, to help out people still stuck in a dystopian nightmare? Well, fuck all, as it turns out.
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#26Robots also don't play favorites or office politics. If there is a more efficent/better way, it will do it. Even better when it is allowed to re-calculate with new parameters.
I'd invert that. You can't complain, whine, or plot social solutions in response to getting assigned tasks by a robot. There's a lower mental load in response to getting a task, since you don't have to worry about how your response to task assignment gets interpreted by your boss.
And I'd invert that: unlike a robot (unless programmed to be cruel), you can see your boss getting off on commanding you to do ridiculous shit. With a robot, you can just think, "Well it's just a brainless robot." With a boss, you think, "Why doesn't that glib asshole use their brain... or better yet, let me use mine?"
(Pardon if my language seems salty; "asshole" and "shit" are actually popular technical terms when dealing with the domain of bosses.)
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#27Robots also don't play favorites or office politics. If there is a more efficent/better way, it will do it. Even better when it is allowed to re-calculate with new parameters.
The issue with this is the efficient way is not always the better way. If you keep assigning the same menial and crappy task to a worker because they get it done quick, yay efficiency! Except if you're asking the same worker to clean the bathrooms three times a day every day, it's not going to take long before he goes "fuck this, I'm going to work somewhere else!" The robot will assign the next most efficient person,…
While you're correct in that bad algorithms will produce bad outcomes, forward thinking companies will improve the algorithms with feedback from the workers.
If previous Lean / Six Sigma studies are correct, this feedback loop will lead to improved employee morale as they become the drivers of decision making and less likely to feel disenfranchised.
A layer of management can be removed and it is mismanagement that generates the most workplace animosity, as you say yourself.
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#28Robots also don't play favorites or office politics. If there is a more efficent/better way, it will do it. Even better when it is allowed to re-calculate with new parameters.
The issue with this is the efficient way is not always the better way. If you keep assigning the same menial and crappy task to a worker because they get it done quick, yay efficiency! Except if you're asking the same worker to clean the bathrooms three times a day every day, it's not going to take long before he goes "fuck this, I'm going to work somewhere else!" The robot will assign the next most efficient person,…
Hopefully over time the system could also optimise retention, if it can correlate being assigned certain tasks often with quitting. You could also have employees fill out satisfaction surveys and weight efficiency with enjoyment, perhaps better employees could be rewarded with more weight given to enjoyment.
Naturally there's going to be more variance in employee performance on some tasks rather than others. For example being a cashier during a quiet time will have less variance than toilet cleaning. A workaround might be to pay a bonus for good performance on high variance tasks.
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#29This could be because, robots don't have ego or feel proud in giving an order., they don't have emotions too. So for human this is just a message received to act upon. than the 'order' given by a human in a tone which varies depending on his emotions. For instance if someone gives an order in an angry tone, it could be humiliating to his subordinate., so let these robots give orders in a rude tone and see the consequences for yourself :)
Re: MIT study finds that human subjects prefer when robots give the orders
#30This is just preparing us for the post terminator world :)