Many people all around the world are afraid of having their jobs stolen by robots. A report conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that automation will eliminate 39 to 73 million US jobs by 2030. While the people whose jobs are at risk might see automation and robots as a curse, there are some countries who might see it as a blessing – countries such as Japan.
As you may know, Japan is known for being the ‘oldest country in the world’. More than 20% of the Japanese population is over 65 years old, the highest proportion in the world. By 2030 this proportion will have grown to over 33%. There are two fundamental reasons for Japans ageing population: increasing life expectancy and a declining fertility rate. While the number of retired Japanese is growing, there are not enough young people to fill this void. Japan is particularly expected to face big issues when it comes to healthcare and long-term care. Due to the shrinking workforce, there is a reasonable risk that there will not be enough healthcare professionals to deliver the needed care.
The solution for this problem could be closer than one might think. Apart from being the oldest country in the world, Japan is also known as the world’s leading ‘Robot Nation’. In 2012 Japan made up nearly 50% of the total global market share in the export of robots. Japanese nursing homes are now experimenting with different kinds of robots that support staff in taking care of their patients. Robotic animals are used as therapy for dementia and loneliness while other robots help nurses to lift heavy patients out of bed.
Japan is not the only country that encounters these demographic issues. Western countries are also facing a shrinking workforce and aging population in the future. While robots are commonly accepted in Japan, Western pop culture often depicts robots as dangerous machines that could revolt against humanity. US- and EU-citizens might not be too eager to welcome robots into their nursing homes. What would you do? Would you let a robot take care of your loved ones?
References:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/332468#:~:text=A%20recently%20released%20report%20conducted,loss%2C%20perhaps%20without%20knowing%20it.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/elderly-oldest-population-world-japan/
https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/gezondheid/wereldwijde-vergrijzing
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/whyutokyo/wj_003.html#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20robotics%20has,and%20number%20of%20operating%20units.
https://www.wired.com/story/ideas-joi-ito-robot-overlords/
Very interesting article. I myself find the idea of robots taking care of our elderly a bit unnerving. The reason for this is that it might be very hard to train robots for every possible scenario. What if a rare scenario unfolds and the robot would not know how to react or even worse, reacts in the wrong way. This could have very dire consequences. However, having said this, I do realize there is probably no way around it. As you stated, the world population is becoming older and we do not have enough working human capital to deal with this. Also, my concerns might not be entirely unbiased. Humans aren’t perfect either as we as well make mistakes. Robots might even make less. Interesting topic! Hadn’t given it much thought!
Hey Martijn, you are touching an incredibly important topic. Also Germany is dealing with an increasingly old population and as far as robots are concerned, there is still overwhelming skepticism towards their future role in society. I personally think that Japan has moved into the right direction. Although robots might not yet be advanced enough to perform complex human tasks, they are certainly capable to lift objects and execute repetitive activities. Thus, experimenting with robots is not only innovative, but at a certain point in time it will become an inevitable necessity. I hope that the Western world will eventually start to gradually remove its negative opinion towards robotics and actually start finding appropriate and feasible applications for challenging problems of our time.
Hi Svante, I agree with you on the fact that Japan is moving in the right direction. Western countries such as The Netherlands and Germany will most likely also have to deal with an ageing population and a diminishing workforce in the future. We can not overlook robotics as one of the solutions to this demographic problem. I do think that there needs to be proper regulation in place before I would let a robot take care of my relatives. I also think that a advertisement campaign, which informs the public on how and why robotics could help us in our daily lives, could help turn around the somewhat negative image of robots.
This is a super relevant article with very compelling arguments. It explains very well why Japan in general is at the frontier of technological innovation, next to their own physical work ethics of course. A question that pops up in my head when reading this article is; how come the ‘west’ is not as far developed in the robot industry as Japan is? Is that because of their average age as well? Or does this have another reason? Personally I would allocate this backlog to work ethics as well as autonomy of a certain state. Japan stands upon its own feet while european countries have to seek international assistance more often than not. Let me know what you think! Would very much like a discussion on this topic.