Self Driving Future of Automation

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        Today, I wanted to discuss the story: "Fooling self-driving cars by displaying virtual objects" (Paganini, 2020). 

        The ability to fool self-driving cars is well known and featured in DefCon presentations, Blackhat presentations and numerous news articles such as this one from "The Conversation" discussing how simply adding stickers to street signs or shining flash lights at cars, can fool the self-driving vehicles (Daley, 2020). Still, these are bound to be fixed eventually. Why is the topic so important?

        The answer comes from the economic impacts associated with these changes. Individuals working in IT often forget that technology doesn't exist in a vacuum. Technological factors have impacts on the economy. And the economy, in turn, has an impact on the IT industry. Computer Hope (2020) notes that the cheap cost of computers over people is already replacing significant numbers of human jobs among assembly workers, taxi drivers, pilots, stock traders, postal workers, and even doctors, among a sleuth of other professions. 

        What does this mean for the future? 

        Many people don't think it means anything. ABC news reported back in 2019, the need to address the flaws in, and provide maintenance to, such technologies will be a source of news jobs (Salemeh, 2019). This argument is often used to defend replacing humans with computers. But, as stated by the president of a company who is already producing self-driving eighteen wheelers, the long term goal is ultimately to completely remove the needs for humans (Heilweil, 2020). If technology flaws and errors are reduced so that technology doesn't need a lot of maintenance, then there won't be a lots of maintenance jobs. 

        Does this imply that fixing bugs hurts the economy? As long as these bugs exist, people are needed to fill the gaps caused by these flaws. Once these flaws are fixed, the people aren't necessary anymore. 

        Reflect upon the fact that the traditional trickle-down approach also works the other way. When companies lay off people and replace them with computers, people have less money to purchase services. As people buy fewer services, companies need to find new ways to maintain their revenue by replacing more jobs with computers, creating a spiral. At what point will the pursuit of increased profits by replacing jobs with computers lead to the very collapse of the companies and economies using those computers? This is the question affecting our future.

        This future poses additional dangers from a cyber security perspective. People will find a way to feed their families. If this means they have to sabotage computers through violence or hacking, to make these solutions less efficient and more costly than using people, they will do so. Further, they will do so even if it means endangering the lives of others through causing car wrecks and mass destruction. IT Security professionals will be the ones tasked with trying to prevent such sabotage. 

        Whatever happens, as technology moves forward, economic risks, and the challenge of overcoming the threats computers pose to the economy will have a significant impact on the future.  


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