An unsettling report in
NATURE this week describes efforts to develop a robotic chemist. While simple
robots are widely used in chemistry labs these days, the ‘robo-chemist’ goes
far beyond that. The idea is to develop a machine that will be able to analyze
the vast array of information on molecular structures and chemical reactions
that is available in public data-bases and use that information to design
synthetic routes to new chemicals. The robo-chemist would then follow its own
plan and actually synthesize the new entity. Thus massive data crunching would
replace the creative intuition that experienced chemists currently use to
design and synthesize new chemicals.
The chemical and pharmaceutical
industries would love this of course. It would allow them to lay off thousands
of experienced chemists and increase their profit margins. Not so great for the
chemists though!
The robo-chemist is really a
wake up call for educated people who may think that their occupation is safe
from the inroads of artificial intelligence and robotics. If Ph.D. chemists can
be replaced who is next?
The explosive penetration of
computer technology into all areas of the economy comes at a time when rapid
increases in total population and in longevity are occurring in the USA. How
will our society provide continuous employment for all these long-lived healthy
people while machines do more and more of the work?
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