Are Humans Destined to be Replaced by Machines in the Financial Future
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, billionaire bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach predicts that the machines will not replace humans in the financial sector.
Gundlach's advice for beating the machines is rather comical. He says, "work hard."
The Lay of the Land
Machines and the financial sector are especially suited for one another. The need for quickly finding pertinent historical records, lightning fast transaction speeds, and the rise of digital currencies are meshing machines deeper and deeper into our financial lives.
The use of AI in loans and underwriting has seen a growing popularity in the last decade as apps such as Docusign work to displace the need for meeting with your bank.
Along with dotting your i's on a new home mortgage, machines are replacing humans in helping us choose financial products.
Amazon and Netflix can already predict what garden hose or movie we might enjoy better than any human expert. Want to find that high paying dividend stock or purchase it through a broker with no fees? Siri is in the palm of your hand for both.
The Blockchain
Blockchain is a hot topic in finance because it has numerous applications. In the cases of Ethereum and EOS, we begin to fathom the possibilities of coding every aspect of our daily lives through the "world computer."
"Code is logical. Code is hackable. Code is destiny. These are the central tenets (and self-fulfilling prophecies) of life in the digital age. As software has eaten the world, to paraphrase venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, we have surrounded ourselves with machines that convert our actions, thoughts, and emotions into data—raw material for armies of code-wielding engineers to manipulate" -Jason Tanz
Developers have a rare talent in a world that increasingly needs their skill set.
The disparity between the need and the available humans to problem solve looks to have an exponential effect on how much we entrust to AI.
Just as we are looking to automation in the workforce to alleviate costs and improve efficiencies. Blockchain tech is driving the shift to smart contracts for handling financial details.
Conclusion
Will machines replace humans in the financial future? In most cases, I think they will. One question I have, is will AI start to do the coding for us?
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Sources: Bloomberg
Tanz quote
Neural lace can save us from the fallout of AI. Developments in neural lace technology will allow us to interface with AI in real time. Like a conductor of an orchestra. AI and robotics only pose a threat to us economically because of the monetary system. if robots take over the workforce everyone thinks, "how will we make money then?" the answer to that is that we DONT. life will be free. we will create abundance. no need for jobs. A Resource Based Economy is the only way to survive the machine takeover of jobs. jobs that will still exist will exist because the people engaged in them are passionate about the task instead of the money.
This is interesting.
I am not familiar with neural lace. The conductor of an orchestra analogy makes sense though.
What are your thoughts on scarcity (such as land) within a Resource Based Economy?
Thats a good question! Scarcity of almost every kind is an illusion. Scarcity of land is also. As we develop our technology we can offset scarcity more and more. we can create offshore land structures already, which in the future, robots will build for us at no cost. They just need the energy(solar,wind, and geothermal) and resources to be in place. the only thing that will be a problem is fresh water which is somewhat finite. but we are already facing that problem ontop of every other problem spawned by our current monetary system today. back to the subject of land, Mars is going to be a colony soon. There is plenty of land there and Mars can be used as a way to offset Earth's overpopulation. In a Resource Based Economy the entire world would be working together toward progression of the species instead of the progression of wealth. This includes infrastructure for transportation to Mars. In a resource based economy, most everyday resources will be available to all and thus, responsibly and evenly distributed. Supercomputers today could adequately account for all of the world's resources and distribute them based on what would yield the best results for the entire human race. From an agricultural stand point we can create towers that harvest food because vertical space can be added without penalty, unlike horizontal agriculture in todays age. This would provide us with more living space and an abundance of food. and now back to the fresh water problem, for our ever growing population. There is ice in space and water underneath the surface of mars which could be transported on the return trips back to earth, not to mention, if we master space travel, there are huge pieces of ice within space which we can learn to harvest as well.
You have thought this through, I'm impressed.
Two questions, I have:
1- What will motivate people to work for progression of the species when the reward of money is not present.
2-What are your thoughts on graphene for filtering the ocean water here on earth?
I have thought about this for years so thank you, I appreciate that you're impressed.
Once our values have been thoroughly sifted through we will get rid of a lot of things that are harmful to society. The absence of money will get rid of the things that stand between us like racism, sexism, and classism because those things cannot take root in a system that is absent of a hierarchy between race, sex, and class. For example, with racism, people of color miss out on many jobs, resources, and, opportunities and getting rid of a monetary system displaces the control of those things and this can be applied to all of the bigotry alive today. An individual may have opinions that a certain group of individuals are less valued than them but that will bring no harm to the individuals job, resources, and opportunities.
After a gestation period, the human condition will improve and the relationships that are dictated by status within a hierarchy will flourish thus allowing the human race to see the true value in another person. Our moral perspective as a species has changed over time and when we look back at history we see how wrong we were about a lot of things. The same will be true for us when, from the future, we look back to where we are now. We will have to(naturally) change our moral perspective to fit that paradigm. there will be some people who wish to do nothing and not contribute to what projects we are up to but luckily without the advent of money they can just sit down and stay out of our way and it will harm nothing. Once the workforce is automated, the system will sustain itself largely without the interference of human beings.
85 percent of the population won't need to ever work a job in their lives if they don't want to. There will be more than 15 percent of people interested in the projects that we still have to accomplish and my guess is that there will always be a problem for humans to solve and solving that problem will be good enough for some. Right now at this very second I would do anything to further an Adequate AI system and robotics which would take a lot of work to bring about. I know that if I am successful in doing that, the human race may partake in this resource based economy which will provide them true liberty. That's really all the payment I need and I'm sure there are millions that share that same sentiment today so in a less oppressive world I would wager there will be billions who natural live within these ideals.
To answer your question on Graphene being used in water desalination, I think that is a great idea especially in a future where we use green energy. If we fully harness green energy at our current capabilities to do so today in 2017, we would have a surplus of energy which is the main setback of water desalination. Using graphene in computer hardware itself would give us a lot of different efficiencies. The structural makeup of the graphene does seem to be small enough to seperate water from salt and last I heard they were testing it in comparison to other methods of desalination. I'm not a professional on the subject but I think they should take some type of magnetic material to mix into graphene during the manufacturing stage and then manipulate a magnetic field to arrange the graphene particles and magnetic material mix to create the proper holes in the graphene to filter the salt material out. Either that or use the resonance of sound to arrange graphene particles. Making the sheets and then poking holes in it the size of a molecule is just too tedious and inefficient.
Graphene is definitely one of the tools that will be used in our near and far future for a multitude of things but, I'd say that water desalination is a definite priority.
I think people are forgetting we have always been tool-using and the degree to which we delegate labor to our creations is the extent to which we enhance our survival and improve the quality of our lives.
I envision a world where everyone will live as I do now - will choose to work if they wish - choose to be creative - choose to be involved.
We are confronting our liberty, but like denizens chained up in Plato's Cave, some prefer shadows to real things and other will continue like Sisyphus to roll that rock up the hill endlessly because only that labour defines them and gives their life meaning
You are one of the few people I can converse with in life that uses Plato's Cave and Sisyphus in the same sentence, haha.
That is well said John.
...and you are onE of the few people who gets my allusions
Haha, you and I have read a few books.
you know, lydon, starting when I was 17, I read a book a day. I slowed down when I began professionally writing, but I still covet input - recently @cryptofiend reviewed a book, Talking to Crazy. I found it on Amazon and just started to read it. I mean. we all deal with crazy people in our lives, right? I began with me :)
That is a few books....
Cryptofiend writes some great articles. And yes, haha, we deal a crazy individual or two. :)
Amen. brother...
very well said!
thank you, @alot-of-lore
Machines will replace jobs in ways we can't even imagine yet...but that will also create jobs and opportunities for humans that we cannot imagine at this time either...
Hopefully we can strike the right balance, empowering humanity not making it obsolete.
A well balanced approach you have here.
There are industries to be created that we cannot see.
Before the iPhone, there was no need for a phone case. Now companies can charge $100 for their technology.
very true...app developers, phone accessories, competitors etc...
Just look at Bitcoin...a cryptocurrency...now there are hundreds with dozens of different utilities solving thousand of different problems...exciting times!
Yes it is!
Problems are solved and new ones creep up behind them - kind of like Wack - a Mole.
Yes I see opportunities for machines to take over industries- some more than others such as finance- but the real question is what do humans have to fear about this? I don't see the real threat to humans . Curious to hear your opinion.
I am pretty optimistic about the future, especially when you factor in the advancements made in blockchain and decentralized technology.
I guess my one fear is that we build a prison instead of a platform for advancement. Technology is wonderful but it is still up to us how we apply it and whether we should apply it all, just because we can doesn't mean we should. As we continue to advance we will be faced with a lot of difficult ethical choices.
We need to use technology to highlight our humanity not minimize it.
Well said! We def need to find the balance
This was a great post. Thank you for sharing. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you future work!
Thank you for investing your time to read, and leave a kind remark.
I just looked over your bio - you are a busy man.
Following your work now and looking forward to more interactions.
I think that AI and Blockchain technologies will take over human being in the financal sector because the technologies are smarter, more reliable and adaptable.
I agree, there is a lot that the two technologies will be able to do. Will it be complete control? I don't know.
Good point, lets stay in touch
Indeed. Following your blog now.
welcome, we will certainly stay in touch
i think machine has limitted ability. So there are work to be handled by humman. example politian, doctor, soldier,...
thank you for sharing
Good examples. A political AI would be something to behold. I'm imagining Ultron as a politician.
You're welcome.
To some degree, smart contracts will replace certain tradition contracts and make new ways of trading assets possible.
I am excited to see how that plays out. Do you have any thoughts on it?
I think it may not be easy to adjust to, but it will provide some nice advantages in the form of easily verifiable agreements.
Agreed. As long as the language/coding are on point it will bring some nice advantages.
This is an interesting study released recently. There is a 10% percent chance of AI outperforming human tasks within 9 years. Our employment reality could change sooner than we think.
Hmm, that is interesting.
Thanks for including the link for the paper. It looks like some good reading for later.
You are very welcome.
I think they will take over not just finance, but potentially everything. AI has the advantage of working/learning 24/7/365. They don't care about vacations! I think it is fascinating, but I am wary. Man may lose his dominion.
Haha, no holiday for you...
It is good to be vigilant. We all seem to be wary and waiting.
Automation is happening already. I don't think is a bad think. Advance AI will bring resolutions to to the most complicate problems of our time. Health, economy, education, environment. All the sector's will suffer a exponential development. Theonly thong that corcern me the most is how quick and how well we going to change and adapt to this change.. great post !!! Keep the nice articles!!! I found your blog very interesting soo i will upvote and follow😁 maybe i can bring some ideias to my one!!! Best regards!!!
There will be some adaption to come.
Thank you my friend! Hope you find some great ideas as well!