Our future when the robots begin to rule

THE Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) promises to make life easy for human beings is what we are told all the time.

A closer look at it reveals that it will make a few people, the originators of the technology, extremely rich and render millions of people all over the world to join the frustrated ranks of the unemployed.

Driverless vehicles will put an end to taxi and bus drivers, robotic waiters will put an end to waiting, digital tuition over the net will put an end to traditional teaching and lecturing.

Much of our sophisticated health and surgical procedures will also be done by robots.

Supermarkets will no longer need tellers because billing will be done by scans. The traditional bank will be part of our distant past as we rely only on electronic transactions. Only 10% of the people in Sweden use cash, the rest use cards.

The profit-driven mining industry is waiting in the wings to reopen dilapidated mines with its robots because the mineral resources are too deep and too costly to extract using people.

In short, almost the entire human race will be replaced by AI robotics and technology with a handful of people reaping the benefits.

Without an uninterrupted power supply, we will witness shutdowns that can cripple economies and destroy countries, if not the world.

Any scientific discovery that does not benefit all of mankind is inviting a war of mammoth proportions, so we must tread carefully how we introduce and implement AI in the world.