By Liz O’Leary-SmithThe American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) has released a report on how the world is evolving toward a future in which human activities and our food supply will be controlled by robots.
In this age of automation, the report says humans will be increasingly dependent on machines for all aspects of the food supply chain.
In an interview with New York magazine, the group’s executive director, Dr. Peter Piot, said that we’re going to have to think about how to deal with food that’s grown by humans on our soil, or by robots that are able to take over our jobs.
He said, “There are a lot of technologies that we have in place to manage our food.”
In a nutshell, these technologies are:In this interview, Piot spoke about his organization’s vision for a future where robots are “responsible for every step of the production chain from seed to harvesting.”
He says these robots will also have the power to reduce food waste.
“The way we think about this is that we are looking at how we are going to manage the supply chain, but it’s going to be in a way that is also smart and automated.
And this is the way that our technology is going to work,” Piot told New York.
Piot told the magazine that he believes the food we grow will eventually be “owned by a machine.”
“It’s not going to just be the farmer, it’s not just going to look like a farmer and it’s a robot,” he said.
“We are going, this is what we’re doing, it will be our responsibility.”
The ACSH’s report outlines four key areas of concern:The first and most immediate concern is the issue of soil and water quality, which will be impacted by these new technologies.
This is likely to become even more pressing as the planet’s population increases and the global population grows.
Piot says this is going be the “biggest challenge” of all.
The report outlines a range of strategies that can be used to help control soil and stream-flow.
In a second area, Prit says, there are concerns about the environmental impacts of these technologies, which include the use of chemicals and pesticides that have been shown to have negative effects on the environment.
Prit suggests we consider reducing these practices as a way to reduce the environmental impact of these new farming technologies.
Pushing back against these technologies will require us to consider all aspects that go into the process of farming.
The final area of concern is whether humans will still be responsible for the food that we eat, Pichosaid.
He suggests that we consider how we can better manage the food and environment around us, even if it means we may not have the luxury of living a “human existence.”
“The point is that this is not a question of if we’re not going back to a world where humans are the primary producers of food.
We’re going back, it is a question, what can we do to get out of this predicament?” he said, adding, “We’re going from a situation where the world’s population is growing, it has an increasing environmental impact, to a situation that is getting worse, where we are not managing it in a manner that’s conducive to our survival.
We need to take a long-term, thoughtful approach.”