Are Robots to Be Feared?

will robots supersede humans?...............This is a highly controversial question and if you ask a bar room philosopher, http://www.james-albus.org/are that he will erupt into a blistering diatribe against free market economics ,today s robber barons,global warming and what not!   ........................The only thing we can say is that accelerating tecnology over the last centuries has consistently erased jobs only to replace them by other jobs.True, the transition periods have caused temporary discomfort and even vicious battles.There are many examples of technophobia in history.In England,the Luddites rebelled against technological advances in the textile industry but the long term outcome has been largely positive...........................   Now,it s not because,so far,tecnological progress and automation haven t caused massive unemployment that the tables can t be turned in the future!............Until now,machines had only replaced brawn but now with the advent of the microchip,they are also replacing brain........................So far,displaced workers have found employment in services and moreover physical activities that used to be classified as leisure activities now command an income like sport .In the 19th and 20th centuries as countries industrialized,a giant market in athletics,winter sports,team sports,individual sport,popped into existence.Better living standards together with exodus from the countryside spawn a host of new services such as health care,day care centres,education,the entertainment industy,beauty parlours,pet shops,fitness centres and what not!............... The emergence of new activities will probably continue unabated   .Prospects are bright for solar energy,windmills,the protection of the environment and space conquest with the terraforming of MARS and VENUS in a more distant future!......together with birth control,what we could witness is not a surge in unemployment but a labour...