Who will do the dirty jobs? by Jonathan Bird (Translated by Spirit Pony)

Many people ask questions such as "who will clean the toilets?".

Well, today, in Germany, self-cleaning toilets already exist (video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us5MMi_rguA).

Furthermore, using nanotechnology, it is possible, today, to design surfaces which never accumulate any dirt, and therefore never require cleaning. For example, this liquid-resistent surface, shown here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPM8OR6W6WE.

This is why in the Venus Project, "dirty jobs" don't even exist.

Technologies such as Google's self-driving car can replace all taxi and truck drivers.The Venus Project aims to automate all of these jobs, freeing people from having to do them.

If you're still finding it difficult to understand, picture the following:A young woman stands behind a counter for 8 hours a day, asking "what would you like, ma'am?", "would you like to subscribe?".Is this "using her brain"? When she finally retires, do you know what she has on her mind all day? "What would you like, ma'am?" and "would you like to subscribe?".

We are wasting the minds of millions people who are working pointless, repetitive, useless jobs that get them nowhere.They don't learn anything, they don't develop themselves, they don't gain any more knowledge or skill.We don't need a system like that. Most stores nowadays can be fully automated, releasing people from having to do such jobs.

It is important to note that this process will take place anyway, regardless of whether the Venus Project will be implemented or not.This is because machines are becoming more efficient each year, are faster than humans, can work longer, make less mistakes, do not tire out, don't need air conditioning, health insurance or lighting, and most importantly: they do the job for a fraction of the minimum wage.Therefore, industries will introduce more and more machines whether you like it or not. It'll just happen more slowly, because the owners think about profits first, and will wait until fully automated machine labour will become cheaper than human labour.

From a technical perspective, it is possible to mechanize most jobs today.If you still don't fully understand, there are many parking lots in the Western world, with little cameras that scan car numbers automatically upon entry.

When you want to exit the parking lot, you have to pay in the payment station. If you paid, when you want to exit, the camera scans your vehicle number and opens the gate automatically.Even doctors can be partially mechanized today. In dermatology classes today, students are shown various skin conditions, their symptoms and patterns.If they encounter an unfamiliar pattern, they scratch their head and start searching for it in medical books.If we take a computer and make it scan all known patterns and conditions, we could stand next to it and have it scan our skin, and diagnose our condition automatically.We no longer need dermatologists. We can mechanize all repetitive jobs.Why would we want to put people at risk, by having them clean windows on the 40th floor? We want machines to do those jobs, since we don't want to put humans in that situation.

"We can mechanize all those jobs, and free humans from having to do them."