Rethinking The Robot Tax

Last week, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his latest plans to implement a “Robot Tax” in a bold effort to face the “challenge” of automation. This proposed tax is part of his larger plan to “urgently manage” the evolution of robotics and technology for the sake of society. And, while this may seem like a daring statement, it’s not exactly the first time it’s been proposed. A handful of other leaders around the globe, including Bill Gates and the South Korean government, have quite recently raised similar points. But when broken down, is this hostility towards the evolution of technology really warranted?

Modern Fear

It’s no secret that the media has had a huge part to play in the current state of automation. Since the first mention of robots hit the 24-hour news cycle, hundreds of articles have warned of a robotic takeover and an impending meltdown of society. What’s usually left out of these articles, however, is the thorough research highlighting the benefits robotics and automation have on society. For example, it has been found that use of robots within manufacturing has increased labour productivity by 0.36%. While that may sound insignificant, it’s key to point out that 0.36% accounts for 16% of total productivity growth between 1992 and 2007. And while robotisation has traditionally been adopted by financial and manufacturing sectors, its contribution is not limited to these particular verticals. For example, a report by London’s Centre for Economic Research shows that contrary to popular belief, robots have been a huge driver of productivity and economic growth within most markets. This is due to the fact that robots have been able to successful integrate within a number of professions, eliminating the costs, risks and wasted time associated with manual tasks. Yet robots still seem to be the victim of fear mongering rhetoric within the media, mainly due to one particular topic–the dissolution of jobs.

The Question of Employment

There is no denying that with the introduction of robots comes a slight shift in the overall employment landscape. With that said, it’s unfair to suggest that automation will be the be all and end all of the job market. As a society, we’ve been through this before. When the Industrial Revolution occurred, the entire job market went into a frenzy, leaving about half of workers wondering what to do next. But with time came great change. The job market rapidly began to evolve in conjunction with technology, resulting in the creation of jobs that had never even existed before.

While it’s difficult to predict the exact outcome, it seems as if history is due to repeat itself. Britain’s unemployment rate is currently at a 42-year low, showing that regardless of the increase in automation, jobs seem to be largely unaffected. Luckily, this seems to be a direct representation of the future. According to a recent report by PWC, it’s predicted that AI and robotics will both create new jobs, specifically in the digital technology area. These new jobs will generate additional wealth and spending that will then support additional jobs of existing kinds, primarily in sectors that are historically harder to automate.

Arguing Against Robot Tax

In comparison to other leading nations, the U.K unfortunately still slightly lags behind when it comes to robotisation and AI. And while this may be due to our modern fear of the robotic revolution, it’s ultimately a dangerous game to play. In order to stay competitive within the global economy, it’s extremely important to put an emphasis on the future of technology and innovation. Instead of shying away from what we’re uncomfortable with, we should be focusing on where to go next.

Continuous innovation is an essential part of a robust economy. Yes, without a doubt, technology will shift our lives as we know it today. But, why should we approach this change with fear? Measures such as a “Robot Tax” are nothing more than a step backwards when it comes to productivity and the overall well-being of society. As a forward thinking society, we have a huge amount of opportunity to utilise this innovative technology to create positive change, not only when it comes to supporting the economy, but to create new channels for society that we may not reach otherwise.

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Emirates A380 Makes Bumpy Landing During Storm Xavier

An Airbus A380 is 73 metres long, weighs around 575 tonnes and costs a whopping £335 million pounds and as such requires more than a little skill to pilot without risking the 525+ people on board.

With that in mind, watch the clip and then give a few words of admiration for the person who landed this Emirates plane at Dusseldorf Airport during Storm Xavier yesterday.

The original footage was posted on YouTube by Cargostopper, who wrote: “I have filmed a few thousand crosswind landings at several airports in Europe within the past years, but this Airbus A380 crosswind landing was extremely hard and extraordinary.

“I have never seen such a tremendous reaction of an airplane after a touchdown.

“This video shows the incredible skills of the pilots. Even after an unexpected wind gust after touchdown they managed to re-align with the runway. Incredible job by the pilots!!”

A gif of the clip made it’s way to Reddit where some of the comments were just as entertaining and a lot less terrifying than the actual footage.

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This Is The First 360-Degree Video Of A Spacewalk From The International Space Station

We’ve seen spacewalks from the International Space Station before, but it’s unlikely that you’ve ever seen one like this.

The world’s first ever spacewalk shot in 360-degrees has been uploaded by RT in partnership with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.

The footage shows Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryazansky and Fyodor Yurchikhin hand-launching a selection of nano-satellites from outside of the spacecraft.

While the clip is only a few minutes long, it is completely interactive and probably gives you the best view yet of what it’s like to be attached to a space station hurtling above the Earth at over 17,000mph.

In case you’re curious as to what the cosmonauts are launching they consisted of two Tanyusha nanosatellites that were constructed by students from the Russian city of Kursk and then a Sputnik-like Tomsk-TPU 120 satellite.

The Tanyusha will both be broadcasting multilingual messages to the world on the frequencies 437.025 MHz and 437.05 MHz.

Recently it was revealed that the International Space Station had been added to Google Street View.

Google

Google added all 15 modules of the station along with interactive annotations about key rooms, equipment as well as facts and trivia about the ISS.

The unveiling of Street View on the ISS commemorates the first manned mission to the surface of the Moon which took place 48 years ago (20th July 1969).

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Netflix Has Just Raised The Price Of Its Subscriptions Again

We’ve got some bad news. Netflix is going to become more expensive, again.

The company sent out an email to all its users informing them of the price hike that will take place across the two premium tiers that offers.

Netflix

Basic users will still only be charged £6 per month but Standard users will see their monthly price go up from £7.50 to £8. If you’re on Netflix’s Premium plan you’re going to see the bill go from £9 per month to £10.

It’s a small increase but over the year these do add up, bringing the annual cost of Netflix’s Premium plan up to £120 from £108.

Finally, we’ve got some more bad news. This isn’t the first time Netflix has increased its prices and it certainly won’t be the last. 

Back in 2015 its CEO Reed Hastings announced that Netflix would start to slowly increase subscription costs over the next decade as the company grew.

Speaking to the Independent Hastings said: “We want to take it very slow, over the next decade I think we’ll be able to add more content and have more value and then price that appropriately.”

It’s no surprise that Netflix’s costs have gone up. Big budget shows like Stranger Things, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black have all started to add up and if Netflix wants to keep offering that level of premium content it’s going to need to find a way of paying for it.

While it’s not a major increase in price, it’s the regularity of these increases that will start to make a difference. If Netflix ups its price by £1 every 6-12 months then it might start seeing something of a backlash.

In case you’re wondering what each plan gets you here’s the latest list:

  • 720p Streaming quality
  • 1 screen can be watched at a time
  • HD Streaming quality
  • 2 screens can be watched at the same time
  • Ultra-HD/4K streaming quality
  • 4 screens can be watched at the same time

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Baby sleep positioners dropped by shops after deaths warning

UK stores drop products after US regulators say they can cause suffocation and are linked to 12 deaths.

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Predicting insect feeding preferences after deforestation

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Segregation-induced ordered superstructures at general grain boundaries in a Ni-Bi alloy

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New study analyzes volcanic fatalities in more detail than ever before

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Amy Winehouse, music, arthritis and me

20-year-old Jade Carter was diagnosed with arthritis as a baby. She explains how Amy Winehouse’s charity is helping her use music to ease the pain.

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The Neanderthal In You Is Probably To Blame For Your Mood

Researchers have found that Neanderthals passed on a lot more traits than you might think including skin tone, hair colour, sleeping patterns and even mood.

Around 2% of the DNA of non-African people is Neanderthal, which means that inevitably there were always going to be some traits that were passed down.

Until now though, it had never been clear how many traits there were or indeed what they were.

Nikola Solic / Reuters

A study led by Janet Kelso at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany has revealed not only the amount of traits, but how they affect us.

What they found was interesting. All the traits associated with Neanderthal DNA were related in some way to sunlight exposure.

When humans moved from Africa to Eurasia around 30,000-100,000 years ago, Neanderthals had been living in communities for thousands of years. Their bodies had adapted to the cooler temperatures and lower light levels.

“Skin and hair color, circadian rhythms and mood are all influenced by light exposure,” the researchers wrote.

“We speculate that their identification in our analysis suggests that sun exposure may have shaped Neanderthal phenotypes and that gene flow into modern humans continues to contribute to variation in these traits today.”

That means everything from how you feel in the morning to whether or not you can tan could in some small way be influenced by the Neanderthal DNA that has been passed down.

To get a clear and definitive picture of this the researchers had to look for a large sample size. Neanderthal alleles are rare so to get the best data set they had to turn to the UK Biobank pilot study.

This contained individual genetic data from over 112,000 participants looking at physical appearance, diet, sun exposure and disease.

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