Rise of the machines may lead to the 'fourth industrial revolution', claim experts

But it could also lead to the fourth industrial revolution.   

Experts, including scientists, economists and billionaire businessmen, believe robots will be doing more than 5 million typically human-based jobs within the next five years. 

And if this prediction comes true, inflation will continue to be slow as wages for the remaining human workforce plummet. 

However, this is likely to eventually stabilise. When the remaining workforce become more efficient, there will be a 'productivity boom' similar to that seen when the internet rose to prominence. 

In fact, the Bank of America believes robots will boost productivity by almost a third. Bankers will then be able to keep rates lower than before. 

This cycle of events could even lead to the 'fourth industrial revolution'. 

The discussions are taking place at the Davos forum in Switzerland. 

Experts contemplating the rise of the machines and how they will affect our way of life include Adam Posen, a former Bank of England policy maker, Laura Tyson from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and Angela Kane, the former German UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. 

The claims build on a recent report in which economists created a model to plot a range of possible robot scenarios to see how the machines could impact national income, capital and quality of service. 

In the paper Robots are Us: Some Economics of Human Replacement, lead researcher Seth Benzell said: 'Whether it’s bombing our enemies, steering our planes, fielding our calls, rubbing our backs, vacuuming our floors, driving our taxis, or beating us at Jeopardy, it’s hard to think of hitherto human tasks that smart machines can’t do or won’t soon do.'

With this in mind, Mr Benzell and his colleagues at the National Bureau of Economic Research asked whether 'human replacement' - the act of building better versions of ourselves - will deliver an economic utopia or leave us earning too little to buy the goods the robots are making?

Using a simulated economy, they found that the value of coders and developers will increase as the demand for smart machines rise.

As processes improve and technology advances the price to produce these machines will decline, which will deliver a 'tech boom'. This in turn will raise the demand for new code. 

The claims build on a recent report in which economists created a model to plot a range of possible robot scenarios to see how the machines could impact national income, capital and quality of service. 

In the paper Robots are Us: Some Economics of Human Replacement, lead researcher Seth Benzell said: 'Whether it’s bombing our enemies, steering our planes, fielding our calls, rubbing our backs, vacuuming our floors, driving our taxis, or beating us at Jeopardy, it’s hard to think of hitherto human tasks that smart machines can’t do or won’t soon do.'

With this in mind, Mr Benzell and his colleagues at the National Bureau of Economic Research asked whether 'human replacement' - the act of building better versions of ourselves - will deliver an economic utopia or leave us earning too little to buy the goods the robots are making?

Using a simulated economy, they found that the value of coders and developers will increase as the demand for smart machines rise.

As processes improve and technology advances the price to produce these machines will decline, which will deliver a 'tech boom'. This in turn will raise the demand for new code. 

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3415340/Rise-machines-lead-fourth-industrial-revolution-claim-experts-hit-wages-welfare-rates.html)