A McKinsey study estimates that by 2055, half of all jobs can be automated. Artificial intelligence and robots will greatly change the labour market which will result in hundreds of millions of people losing their jobs.
In an answer to this, researchers at the Institute for Human Obsolescence (IoHO) in the Hague are working on a possible solution to man when human labour would no longer be required in the future.
Manuel Beltran, founder of IoHO and his team of researchers have come up with a way in which the human body heat can be used to mine crypto coins, thus earning money for the individual(s).
For the mining to take place, a body suit is worn by the individual which then converts the body heat into electrical energy and operates it with crypto-mining. An algorithm evaluates in real time cryptocurrency which is currently the most lucrative and begins to perform the necessary computational operations. 37 people who volunteered, generated about 16,594 crypto coins of different currencies within 212 hours of mining. 80% of the revenue went into the workers wallets, while 20% remained at the institute.
"We can envision a future in which machines can replace human labour and thereby thrive our species without the burden of employment," Beltran says. "But can also imagine a future in which our situation as an obsolete person becomes a problem, as there is a mismatch between overpopulation and low labour demand."
Beltran who studied at the ArtScience Interfaculty in the Netherlands, tried explaining how the Institution of Human Obsolescence wasn't there to provide ready made solutions to these problems but rather stimulate the people to the possible consequences.