What Star Wars Robots Can Teach Us About the Future of Work

The film's robots exist to help, not replace.

The robots in Star Wars can tell us a lot of useful things about automation, like whether or not our jobs will cease to exist because robots will replace the workforce. In the movies, there are the good robots and the bad robots, but both exist to help and assist organic lifeforms, not replace them. C-3PO is a great example because it is a droid that was designed to assist in translation, customs and etiquette. Others, like BB-8, help with starship maintenance, but they have organic beings alongside them. They are there to lend a robotic arm, but they are not doing most of the skilled work. However, organic lifeforms are replaced when the work is dangerous, like mining the hostile lava rivers. Maybe this proves we will be okay giving the work that poses a health risk to robots in the future. And even in a galaxy far, far away, organic lifeforms still seem to want to drive their own vehicles.

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