The human jobs that could never be replaced by robots

In our automated society, there are still some jobs that can never be done by a machine, writes Rita de Brún

Husband and wife team, Joe Prendergast and Esther Barron unloading a batch of pans at Barron’s Bakery, Cappoquin.

The robots are coming. Scrap that. The robots are here. They’re taking over jobs and will continue to do so. We shouldn’t be surprised and we aren’t. In predictable work environments, replacing human labour with machines can generate higher output not only faster but more accurately and economically.

The advance and growth of the technology sector advance science and in so doing, it saves lives. It also creates jobs. But workers can’t be sure whether theirs will be safe or lost. For them, that’s a bitter barter, one in which for the sake of progress - and it is that — they’re forced into a game of Russian Roulette.