[Carlhole]

NY Times

Wow and its only 2011. I think Kurzweil made the prediction in The Age of Spiritual Machines that professionals like lawyers and accountants will be mostly replaced by computers by the 2030's. Looks like its going to be a lot sooner than that.

If lawyers' days are numbered, I wonder how long it will be before hookers become obsolete? That would truly deserve a 2001: A Space Odyssey-style Black Monolith.

An economics prof quoted in the article claims that the US economy is being "hollowed out", with most of the growth in jobs occurring at the low end, says that automation creates higher level human jobs is a myth.

[Pretorian]

If lawyers' days are numbered, I wonder how long it will be before hookers become obsolete?

when Y chromosome will degrade to the point of having a need for parthenogenesis. and not a second earlier. anyway, great news

[Novus]

Imagine a Lawyer as smart as Watson on Jeopardy defending and presenting cases.

[Sixstrings]

What I wonder is.. once every hedge fund / bank is doing Watson super intelligent high frequency trading algorithms, at what point does that break down? You can only scam and fleece the retail crowd until they're all tapped out.. and Wall Street can't keep getting free .gov quantitative easing money forever.

Someone in another thread said there wouldn't be a crash at all, we'd hit an equilibrium.. but the equilibrium would have to be low, and then the economy collapses because we need infinite ponzi growth.

Sorry none of this has to do with lawyers.. in that regard, I don't think Watson is a threat. No software could come up with "if it don't fit, you must acquit" -- pure genius.

[Sixstrings]

If lawyers' days are numbered, I wonder how long it will be before hookers become obsolete?

Oh, they're working on it:

If you were an extremely talented nerd, would you invest your time and resources in building a female robot? Probably, as that is the only chance nerds have with the fairer sex! Le Trung is one such person who has created a 'fem-bot' named Alko. Alko is said to have a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, beautiful hair and dainty features. She is reported to be in her 20's while Trung is 33. She is able to speak 13,000 different sentences in English and Japanese.

She is also a math whiz and does all of Le Trung's accounts. But here's the kicker, although he did not intend for her to be a sexual partner, there is a way to make her so. He says, "Her software could be redesigned to simulate her having an orgasm and reacting to touch as if she is playing hard to get or being straight to the point."
http://www.gizmodiva.com/other_stuff/le_trung_is_still_busy_with_alko_his_robot_girlfriend.php

An economics prof quoted in the article claims that the US economy is being "hollowed out", with most of the growth in jobs occurring at the low end, says that automation creates higher level human jobs is a myth.

Wow, vindication.. I've been saying this for a couple years now.. finally some economics professor who's actually qualified to say it is saying it.