From Our Series, Newspaper Headlines We Can Answer

Actually, our ever popular series, Newspaper Headlines We Can Answer:

Machines may beat us in debate, but will they ever have the human touch?

No.

Next question?

In slightly more detail, the human touch is that very thing which we insist that only humans can do and given that definition it becomes tautological. Sure, machines might learn to do more and more but that just shrinks the fields of human touch, not abolishes them.

And the implication of this is that we’re not going to run out of jobs whatever the machines do learn to do. There’re 7 billion of us out here and all of us have wants and desires. Equally, we’ve all got abilities to sate the wants and or desires of others. A market is where we match those. A job is us gaining an income for doing that matching.

Assume, as above, that machines never will gain that human touch. Thus we’ve all still got jobs, and the associated incomes, so long as there are wants and desires requiring the human touch unassuaged. The machines do everything else. And then assume that all human wants and desires are sated. No one needs a job because they don’t need an income because their needs and desires are being sated. The problem with that world is?

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Tim Worstall

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  • Yes if the human touch did not have a value then we would not be informed whether something is hand painted or hand crafted.

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Tim Worstall

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