New science discoveries prompted our ancestors to ask, how much can we make invented objects behave like life forms? Maybe not much but more than we might have expected. Eighteenth-century Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721–1790) is remembered today for his workshop’s “humanoid automata” or robots, the Draftsman, the Musician, and the Writer:
The Draftsman, the Musician, and the Writer/ Rama (CC BY-SA 2.0 fr)
Also: Does automation target women’s jobs? The assumption that women need special protection from robots underestimates their creativity and versatility. Many women gain experience as employees and later start independent businesses, especially if they have observed a chronic unmet need. (Denyse O’Leary)
And: This is an illustration of how easy people are to replace, or not: Laundry robot firm, er, folds Even if robots can be engineered to fold laundry, the question of whether they threaten jobs, as a result, is more complex.