Automation of Systems

Systems & Side Effects While all systems have desired outputs, they often have undesired outputs called side effects as well. For example, the desired output of a car is motion. Some of the side effects of using cars are air pollution, traffic congestion, noise pollution, and the loss of natural habitat due to roads and parking spaces

Systems Thinking Involves thinking about how parts of a system work together and trying to understand how systems affect people, other organisms, and environment Developing systems thinking can help people make better choices in the way they use systems Systems thinking and better choices may not entirely eliminate side effects, but can help reduce their negative impacts on society and the environment

The issue Automation was feared by some people who believed that replacing humans with automated systems would lead to high unemployment. However, others argued that automation would actually lead to higher employment, because it freed some of the labour force to enter higher-skilled higher-paying jobs.

Automation When mechanical or electronic equipment is used to replace human labour or to make work easier for humans Automated components can perform repetitive tasks for much longer periods of time than a human can

Using automated components in a system affects society, the environment, and the economy. When humans are replaced by automated components, many of them lose their jobs and become unemployed. The economy usually becomes more efficient, although high unemployment can seriously affect the stability of the economy. Environmental impacts include an increase in energy consumed and sometimes in waste produced by automated systems. When deciding whether or not to use an automated component in a system, we must assess the overall impacts.

TASK Choose an automated system in the community you live in Consider the possible impacts for each point of view for the automated system Think about positive and negative impacts, as well as, possible improvements to the system and/or alternative ways of meeting the same needs

Individuals (child, elderly person, parent, families) □ How would an Individual be impacted by the system? Society (members of a community who live together for their mutual benefit) □ How would a member of society be impacted by the system? Environment (environmentalist, ecologist, green people) □ How would an environmentalist/ the environment be impacted by the system? Examples: car wash, auto factories, furniture making, food plants, machines (construction, farming), banking, online shopping,