By Bloomberg
Did Bill Ackman, John Overdeck, and David Siegel give the kids a lot of money to build robots and then move machines when they grow up?
At an event in support of FIRST, the nonprofit science and technology organization they support, the answer was a categorical no and came from an authoritative source, Jeff Bezos, the man who employs more than 10,000 people working on Alexa, the Amazon’s personal support voice service.
“From my point of view, it is very unlikely that machines and artificial intelligence leave men out of work,” Bezos said during an “informal discussion” with Walter Isaacson at Cipriani Wall Street. “Each element of productivity increases our wealth as a society, increases jobs and makes jobs more interesting and better.”
Bezos used the machines to move land as an example. “We would have a lot of jobs if we got rid of bulldozers,” he said. “We could get rid of the shovels and force people to dig with spoons, but that would not enrich our society.”
Regarding expectations for the future, Bezos congratulated the science fiction writers for showing us all that was possible and criticized the rest of us for his abilities. prediction.
“We imagine so bad the future of jobs,” said Bezos. “If I had said a hundred years ago that in the 21st century, therapeutic masseuses would have made fun of me.”
The funny thing is that therapeutic massage can be one of the tasks that a robot could accomplish if Ackman succeeds. At the time of the appetizer, the founder of Pershing Square Capital said that if he could make sure that a robot did what he wanted, he would ask for a massage.
Robotics competition
Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST (and inventor of the Segway electric scooter), admitted that he would like a robot that creates human organs for transplants.
Noor Khalifa, a Grade 11 student and member of a robotics team at the Manhattan Science and Math Center in competition at FIRST, said dream of a robot able to detect cancer before it appears. His partner Loren Baret wants one that puts an end to hunger. Last year, his team built a robot with a color sensor to differentiate red and blue blocks and a claw to move and stack objects. They reached the second round.
Bezos added that the best way to prepare children for the future is to offer the greatest possible access to FIRST’s experiences. “You have to learn to learn,” he said.
Amazon will do its part via a new program called Amazon Future Engineer, announced Thursday.
“The first thing we will do is fund a game that will learn to code,” Bezos said. They also plan to fund computer courses in 2,000 secondary schools in mostly low-income communities, in addition to Offer 100 four-year university scholarships guaranteeing an internship at Amazon.
Bezos also taught a lesson on fatherhood that he learned from his mother: a benign neglect. She was protective “in a good way” because she let her children have problems and hurt themselves.
“It surprises me to be alive,” he joked.
He remembered finding an open garage door in an empty house that had been sold on a street close to his childhood. “I entered the garage, I was alone there and I noticed that the breaker panel and the large 220-volt outlet to which a washing machine was normally connected were within range. of hand. ”
He turned off the breaker, placed two spoons in the outlet. “I took a ball and threw it against the spoons so that they touched each other and an amazing set of fireworks was created.”
“I’ve done it over and over again,” he admitted. When he invited the neighbors to see the show, “they caught me, you have to let the kids get a little in danger.”
