Imagine that every doctor’s office – perhaps even every pharmacy – had a low cost imaging device running on a smartphone. The scanner would be able to provide instant, real-time pictures inside damaged limbs and inside other parts of the body, significantly reducing the time taken for diagnosis. No referrals, no hospital visits and faster treatments. Read More
This talk is about the looming demographic crisis in Western democracies. Our pensions and public health-care services are funded like Ponzi schemes and, as the Baby Boomers start to draw their pensions and make greater use of public healthcare, so there will be fewer and fewer working humans to contribute to fund these services.
But robots are just about to arrive in force. I think automation and robots have the potential to boost Western economies in a way that will make up for our declining workforce, but who will pay the dues to keep pensions and healthcare going?
I think we’ll have to tax the robots.