Nathan Visco

Professor Connie Douglas

UWRT 1104-032

9 February 2017

Are Robots Beneficial to the Environment

According to the article, published on September 25, 2015, Robotics and the Economy,

by Patrick Marshall, robots will not take over the world but they have the potential to have a

positive impact on the economy as well as society. In the article, Robotics and the Economy, the

benefits of having autonomous robots in the industry is to make sure that the dangerous jobs that

are out done safely. Although robots are viewed as an economy destroyer, it may not actually be,

for example, it will create investments.In the article, published on January 11, 2002, Future Job

Market, by Jane Tanner discusses the major issues that will arises as a result of the high paying

jobs requiring more education and training. Although this article does not specifically talk about

how robots will impact jobs in the future it does talk about how the jobs will change in the

future. Jane Tanner explains the disconnect between schools hiring properly trained teachers and

employers not providing the proper training to their employees.

The article by Patrick Marshall provided a stronger viewpoint of robots impact on

society between the two articles that the reader selected because overall it provided more detail

and examples of the impact, whether it be negative or positive of how robots will affect the

workplace. In this article, some of the positives of having robots in the workplace were that it

would increase productivity in an array of industries and to relieve humans of highly dangerous

tasks as well as tedious jobs (Marshall p. 799-800). Another positive of having autonomous

robots is that it would increase investments in the economy. According to John Tamny, he states
that Robots will ultimately be the biggest job creators simply because aggressive automation

will free . . . up capital for investment. The profit- enhancing efficiencies that robots personify

(even to their most ardent critics) foretell a massive surge of investment that will gift us with all

sorts of new companies and technological advances that promise the invention of new kinds of

work previously unimagined (Marshall p. 795). Some of the downsides to having robots in

industry is for the potential for them to replace lower skilled jobs. In the next decade or two,

there is a 47 percent chance of jobs that require very little skill involved by autonomous robots,

according to two University of Oxford researchers. Marshalls use of logos here is important

because it will have a large impact on society and the economy. Mark Andreessen believes that if

robots become more intelligent than humans, there are some aspects of the human that a robot

will not be able to do. Patrick Marshall used a lot of logos which helped to portray the impact of

robots on the economy and society. Throughout the article, there were multiple facts presented

about the benefits and consequences of having robots in the industry.

In Future Job Market, by Jane Tanner, she discusses the issues that result from jobs that

require a higher level of education and job training. Another issue is that the youth may have

unrealistic job choices. In a recent study done by Career counselors, they concluded, A survey

of more than 13,000 Charlotte, N.C., high school students, the most popular jobs were attorney

and doctor. These results are not surprising. The reason for these is that many young people are

watching tv and using what they are watching to help them make their career choices. Tanner

uses rhetorical analysis throughout the article. One thing that she points out is that students

graduating will need to be re-educated because according to the National Assessment of

Educational Progress, only 18 percent of high school seniors nationwide in 2000 were

proficient in science, down from 21 percent in 1996. Another important point that Tanner
makes using rhetorical analysis is when she makes a reference to a study in the American

Sociological Review. The American Sociological Review conducted a study and found that

almost 40 percent of men and 50 percent of women do not receive health insurance from their

main jobs, and nearly half the men and over half the women receive no pension benefits. One

example of how pathos is used in this article is when she mentions the lack of proper education

in elementary, middle, and high school. Some of the important positions, such as math and

science are not being filled with qualified teachers. This is the reason that the science scores fell

by 3 percent between 1996 and 2000. Schools are also not offering students the help that they

need to be successful once they graduate.

In conclusion, the article that proved to be the better of the two articles was Robotics and

the Economy because it provided more in depth research as to the pros and cons of having robots

in the workplace. This article had better use of rhetorical analysis features, including logos and

pathos. The other article only discussed the impact of the jobs, but never really mentioned how

robots would factor into the jobs in the future. Robotics and the Economy had a lot of logos that

made it stand out over the other article.

 Works Cited:

Marshall, Patrick. "Robotics and the Economy." CQ Researcher 25 Sept. 2015: 793-816. Web. 4
Feb. 2017.

Tanner, Jane. "Future Job Market." CQ Researcher 11 Jan. 2002: 1-24. Web. 4 Feb. 2017.