Cool jobs that are being taken over by robots.

mike kravinsky

I just read an interesting article in Cracked. Remember Cracked? Sort of like the poor relation to Mad Magazine. Well, they've done a fine job of transforming themselves to an on-line presence. There is a great piece on 6 jobs that were going away forever.

Look at past jobs, like switchboard operators, or elevator operators, or milkmen, or typesetters. They may of been kind of boring jobs, but in their time, they provided a solid income. Now, coming in the near future, there are actually some pretty cool jobs that may not be around too much longer. I'm talking about the kind of job that's a chick or guy magnet. The Cracked article focused on 6, but 2 of them got my attention.

The Fighter Pilot. Amazing but true. The sky jockey is dying breed. In the very near future, people may look at the flyboy as a quaint relic of a different time. Top Gun will be the cowboys and indians of the early 21st century.

What will replace them? UCAV's, or Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle. In effect, a robot in the sky. The difference with them and drones are they'll be able to "deliver" weapon attacks without a lot of human consultation. You can decide whether that's a good thing. Without a 200 pound human at the controls, the need for ejection seats, oxygen, flight controls etc., will create more room for the payload. Designers say the UCAV's will also be much more maneuverable, as humans really can't take what can be designed into flight ability.

Even military types have already been quoted as saying "The last fighter pilot has already been born".  A US version called the X-47B had this quote in an online trade:

The X-47B, in fact, will be one of the first true killer robots, able to conduct a mission using live weapons without needing to communicate with pilots or even supervisors on its mother ship or back in the USA.

The British version is Taranis. When unveiled, developers had this quote:

Asked if UCAVs would ever be allowed to engage enemy targets without human permission, air chief marshal Simon Bryan, commander in chief of the UK’s Air Command, said: ‘This is a very sensitive area that we are paying a lot of attention to.’

Very Terminator huh? What could go wrong?

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How about this dying job. The Lifeguard.

Yes, no more fantasies about Pamela Anderson leaning way over to resuscitate you. Introducing EMILY, another robot. No it's not tan, soft or has big boobs. But it does have sonar that listens and watches out for the sound and movement of a drowning person, and then can get there at speeds up to 28 miles per hour, way faster than a lifeguard. When it reaches it's target, a lifeguard on shore can speak to the victim though speakers attached.

I remember as a kid in the 60's on the beach in Atlantic City, NJ. When someone was drowning, 2 guys, in a boat would paddle out, pretty damn fast as I remember, to save the drowning person. I will tell you that that there is no memory of a sheet being pulled over anyone's head.  Apparently, EMILY will make these big guys look like slowpokes.