vtipoman Posted April 7, 2017 Posted April 7, 2017 Theoretically, shouldn't everyone but the top scientific positions (maybe even those) be replaced with cheap, company-owned robots/borgs that don't collect pay, have a very small chance of fucking up and are 100% loyal and hardworking? bonus question: How are our character's pays? (Don't need exact numbers, just say shitty/meh/ok/good or something)
Skull132 Posted April 7, 2017 Posted April 7, 2017 Not a lore dweeb, but since this topic is something I debated recently, I'll pitch my 2 cents. Because the "smart" synths want freedom and payment, same as humans. The "free" synth labour force is about as smart as current self-learning AI. Which means that wide-scale replacement of humans is not possible with them. The labour force you want, however, have developed a consciousness and want things like just reward for their work. Which pretty much puts them in the same category as human labour, maybe only a little cheaper. For a full elaboration, feel free to browse this Reddit comment chain:
Guest Marlon Phoenix Posted April 7, 2017 Posted April 7, 2017 Several reasons. Because we do not want, and I hope you would not want, an unemployment rate over 70, 80, or 90%. In the 21st century automation has already lead to a massive shift in what jobs are available - taking away specialized fields and retail would make humans irrelevant. If robots took all the jobs and humans became outdated I would definitely write a letter to my congressman. Stationbound synthetics with posibrains do not think like humans do. They require human oversight - a station of exclusively synths would be thrown into disarray after every ion law. Free synthetics, IE IPCs, are cheaper because we do not need to pay them or provide traditional services. However, their borderline sentience and higher emotions and development means like Skull said - they want to be paid, they want to be treated fair, they want to be citizens. Synthetics without laws tend to start demanding equal rights. They are already a potentially very powerful force - it would be really unsmart to hand synths control of every economic, military, medical, and political decision in our lives. There is also precedent that rampant synthetics can lead to horrible catastrophe. The Skrell did what you are suggesting here, a few hundred years ago, and a single AI nearly drove their species into extinction.
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