Move over! Algorithms and Robots are taking over the world.

The fear of robots coming for our job is one of the many challenges confronting 21st-century workers and at the going rate, in the not so distant future, our coworkers could be a swarm of robots, researchers say.

To enable robots to predict human movements, researchers typically borrow algorithms from music and speech processing. In layman's terms, an algorithm is a step-by-step procedure to solve logical and mathematical problems. A recipe is a good example of an algorithm because it says what must be done, step by step. It takes inputs (ingredients) and produces an output (the completed dish). Informally, an algorithm can be called a "list of steps".

At their core, computers run software algorithms. At its most basic, machine learning uses programmed algorithms that receive and analyze input data to predict output values within an acceptable range. As new data is fed to these algorithms, they learn and optimize their operations to improve performance, developing 'intelligence' over time.

It almost sounds like sci-fi, when we humans used technology as a tool, and now the technology has advanced to the point where it is using and even controlling us.

We are seeing this across the industries that were once the forte of humankind. Armies of expensive lawyers are being replaced by cheaper software. Even the hiring process is being taken over by algorithms. Governments are using algorithms for prediction models. The medical industry, search engines, social platforms, you name it and someone out there has an algorithm that will be disrupting the relevant industry very soon.

As new boundaries are carved between humans and technology, we need to think carefully about where our extreme reliance on software is taking us. 

Maybe there is hope. As long as humans are there, I think. This reminds me of an incident when a book by evolutionary biologist Peter Lawrence entitled “The making of a fly” came to be priced on Amazon at $23,698,655.93 (plus $3.99 shipping). The two book vendors, profnath and bordeebook had decided to use Amazon's vendor algorithms to outbid each other to make better profit margins.

Well, the sellers eventually realized what was happening and corrected the price. Maybe, our future generation will too.

What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below.