Analysts at global investment manager Bernstein believe the "age of industrialization is coming to an end," with robots set to destroy manufacturing jobs globally. That may not sound seismic. After all, the industrial revolution happened hundreds of years ago and manufacturing jobs have been the minority of all jobs in the West for decades. But Bernstein is arguing that the nature of capitalism is undergoing a fundamental change. Analysts Michael W. Parker and Alberto Moel argue that Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, the foundational textbooks of economics, is becoming redundant because of two trends: the rise of robotics and China's modernising economy.

Technology and artificial intelligence have advanced so much that many traditionally human-held jobs are now performed by robots and this trend toward automation is only gaining strength. Thus, human workers are gradually becoming obsolete, including those with roles like restaurant workers and truck drivers. Automation has already caused an increase in unemployment, as the number of jobs available to humans simply diminishes. According to Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, eventually the only option will be a universal basic income (or UBI) for the whole country. With UBI, each person receives a regular check from the government.

This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE. Killer robots are on the agenda of a major United Nations meeting in Geneva this week. As part of a U.N. disarmament conference, participating countries are deciding on Friday whether or not to start formal discussions on a ban of lethal autonomous weapons following on from three years of informal discussions. Last July, thousands of researchers working in AI and robotics came together and issued an open letter calling for a pre-emptive ban on such weapons.

Uber's rollout of a self-driving car program in San Francisco got off to a bad start Wednesday when state regulators ordered the ride-hailing giant to shut the initiative down until it gets a $150 permit from California's Department of Motor Vehicles. Uber earlier said it didn't need a permit as humans are always at the wheel. "It is illegal for the company to operate its self-driving vehicles on public roads until it receives an autonomous vehicle testing permit," Brian Soublet, the DMV's deputy director and chief counsel, said in a letter to Anthony Levandowski, the head of Uber's driverless vehicle program. "Any action by Uber to continue the operation of vehicles equipped with autonomous technology on public streets in California must cease until Uber complies." The San Francisco-based company, which began a similar self-driving car program for Pittsburgh commuters in September, didn't immediately provide a comment on the DMV's announcement.

With the amount of published research, patents, white papers, and other written knowledge out there, it's hard to be even reasonably sure you're aware of the goings-on around a certain topic or field. Omnity is a search engine made to make it easier by extracting the gist of documents you give it and finding related ones from a library of millions -- and now supports over a hundred languages. The process is simple and free, at least for the public-facing databases Omnity has assembled, comprising U.S. patents, SEC filings, PubMed papers, clinical trials, Library of Congress collections, and more. You upload a document or text snippet, and the system scans it, looking for the least common words and phrases -- which generally indicate things like topic, experiment type, equipment used, that sort of thing. It then looks through its own libraries to find documents with similar or related phrases that appear in a manner that suggests relevance. For example, say you put in the results of your clinical trial testing a food additive on a certain strain of mice, and found it resulted in a certain condition.

'Brain-computer interface' allows people to control a robotic arm with their mind Uses signal processing, machine learning to convert'thoughts' into actions Researchers say it's the first time it's been done without use of a brain implant'Brain-computer interface' allows people to control a robotic arm with their mind Uses signal processing, machine learning to convert'thoughts' into actions Researchers say it's the first time it's been done without use of a brain implant To use it, operators must wear a high-tech EEG cap equipped with 64 electrodes. The system uses advanced signal processing and machine learning to convert'thoughts' into actions, allowing them to reach and grasp objects without ever lifting a hand Transform your selfie into a 3D avatar: Startup uses... Bizarre'Death Star' spotted over Japan: Alien hunters claim... What would REALLY happen if an asteroid struck the ocean:... The ultimate power nap: Smart eyeshade uses sensors to wake... Transform your selfie into a 3D avatar: Startup uses... Bizarre'Death Star' spotted over Japan: Alien hunters claim... What would REALLY happen if an asteroid struck the ocean:... The ultimate power nap: Smart eyeshade uses sensors to wake... First, eight healthy human subjects had to learn to imagine moving their own arms without actually doing so. They started by controlling a virtual cursors on a computer screen while wearing the EEG cap.

Three years after CEO Jeff Bezos secured a massive dose of publicity with the announcement that Amazon was working on drone deliveries, that vision is a reality. First-ever #AmazonPrimeAir customer delivery is in the books. Check out the video: https://t.co/Xl8HiQMA1S Workers at a British fulfillment center are stuffing shoebox-sized packages--in one case with a Fire TV and some popcorn--and loading them into the belly of electric, quadcopter drones, which set off to the customer. The company claims the drones, guided by GPS and flying below 400 feet, can make deliveries within 30 minutes, from click to plop.

These topics were hot in 2016, and interest in them should continue strong in 2017. However, the discussions will take new turns. I predict that three particular trends will gain real momentum and re-shape the cyber landscape in 2017. Anxiety about our machines turning on us is already running hot, as you can tell from the popularity of shows such as Westworld and Humans. In light of the recent Dyn attack, questions have been raised about the security of IoT devices.

Uber's self-driving cars are now picking up riders in San Francisco--even as regulators say they aren't allowed to. Unlike Pennsylvania, where in September Uber launched its first pilot program, the state of California requires that companies testing autonomous tech apply for a permit with the Department of Motor Vehicles, have insurance for the technology, and publicly report data like crashes and "disengagements"--when the human operator takes back control to make sure the car operates safely. Uber has been testing its autonomous cars--a few dozen retrofitted Volvo XC90 SUVs--for weeks in San Francisco, without a permit and without following those rules. "We didn't get a permit in California because we don't believe we need one," says Shari Doherty, a spokesperson for Uber. In a blog post, the company's autonomous tech chief, Anthony Levandowski, asserted that the rules only apply to cars that can drive themselves without a human supervisor, while Uber's cars have human engineers at the wheel, ready to take over if necessary.

NASA's satellite captured a polar vortex sweeping across Canada and the US Images show temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees below the average this week It is set to head for the north central and northeastern US December 14 and 15 These areas will experience wind chills ending up in the -10 to -25 degrees F NASA's satellite captured a polar vortex sweeping across Canada and the US A polar vortex is expected to deliver temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below the average this week. These predictions stem from imagery collected by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument attached to NASA's Aqua satellite that measures temperature data in infrared light Juno captures stunning image of one of Jupiter's'pearls':... Uber driverless cars hit the streets of San Francisco:... From flirty pike to mesmerising jellyfish: Stunning images... Now you can go LIVE on Twitter: New Facebook-style video... Juno captures stunning image of one of Jupiter's'pearls':... Uber driverless cars hit the streets of San Francisco:... From flirty pike to mesmerising jellyfish: Stunning images... Now you can go LIVE on Twitter: New Facebook-style video... From December 1 to 11, AIRS has been monitoring the movement of cold air traveling across the US and Canada. The TPV w/ lowest theta-DT on Earth fcast to be over Boston on Friday pic.twitter.com/se5wMzQoiL The north central to the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic are set to experience record low temperatures this week. Experts say the Arctic sea-ice loss is causing the polar vortex to shift and will cause longer winters.