@Bolded.  That's exactly what computing power is all about: Increasing speed and memory for pre programmed possibilities.  You can always increase it more and more.  It's just difficult to wrap one's head around how many atoms there are in the universe..but we have systems that can obviously produce such numbers.  This isn't about intelligence though.  There's more to the brain than just intelligence or creativity.  There's pain, growing, emotions and of course the big one that probably won't be replaced by robots: Empathy.  

Do you think you can get empathy or more importantly get people of all kinds to empathize with a robot?  People will want this when ordering from McDonalds.  The world is getting more and more isolated but there are still call center jobs for instance for people that need to remember such skills.  A large part of those jobs aren't just technical ability; it's selling comfort.

 no we do not have systems that come even close to this kind of computing power. just simple decryption can take the fastest computer thousands of years. deep mind won by studying human games and applying creativ thinking. read up on it. its impossible to calculate every outcome in this game. the capacities needed is trillions (just a place holder actually we dont have words for it) times higher than all computing power on earth. there is trillions ocf atoms in a grain of sand. imagine all planets and suns wich are sextillions. this game was chosen to prove computer ai evolved.

I think people will be able to emphasize with an R2D2 like robot more than with other random people. I can only speak for myself. The Human interaction is not the reason why I go to Mc Donalds. I do not feel isolated and I could not careless about emphaty from a McDonalds worker. I really really Doubt people care if the food is prepared by a Human they can not even see in the back of the restaurant. Actually its more sanitary if robots prepare the food. And to be honest a always friendly robot might also be the better cashier.

Ok so let's get down to brass tacks here with the whole $15 thing and examine it in relation to McDonalds.

So McDonalds has a variety of different pay levels with some entry positions making sub 8 and middle and lower-middle management making 11 or 12 so let's say the average $9 an hour. So assuming a 30 hour or so week (McDonald's standard for full time), an increase to $15 an hour would result in a 3.93 *billion* dollar increase in payroll costs alone for McDonalds from their 420000 direct employees (remember that, that's important). This is before taxes so that means this 3.93 billion comes out of McDonalds' operating income, which sits at 7.1 billion. So before taxes, that brings us down to 3.2 billion dollars. Taxes and interests and other post-operating income expenses currently takes up 2.6 billion dollars. So we are looking at a total of 600 *million* left over in true profits.

And that's only from the impacts of the pay raise for the direct employees. It does *not* factor in the rest of the employees in the states. The vast majority of McDonalds' 1.7 million employees through franchises and company owned and operated locations are in the States. So let's say roughly 1,000,000 more employees are in the States. That means that there's a total payroll cost expense cumulatively of 9.63 billion dollars. However, each franchise will bear the weight of it's cost increase largely on its own. Meaning many locations of middling business will become unsustainable and thus close. Which means McDonalds the company will suffer losses as a result of loss of franchise fees and sales cuts. Which brings us lower than that 600 million dollar bottom line. We're talking sub 500 or even 400 million. And that's being awfully generous and assuming the vast majority of McDonalds locations at this time make more than enough to support the payroll cost increase.

But that's not the end. You see the next issue comes up with crew management/leadership (swing/shift managers) costs. Many such managers at this moment don't make $15 either. So all these expenses are going to just be for bringing the whole crew at these places to the same exact level and it doesn't take a business wiz to see that's just not going to work. Right now, being a middle manager or leader in a crew brings you up some $2 an hour. So that's tens of millions or more in direct payroll expenses add to McDonalds from its direct employees and another burden to pile on to franchises.

So then we get to that last tidbit that people bring up: those greedy, grubby CEOs and executives hogging all that sweet cash. Well, to help you people out who are making this argument I am going to set aside the reality for a moment and give you the ideal situation. Let's assume - despite all evidence to the contrary - the executives at McDonalds make similar to the Chipotle executives, whose CEO makes upwards of 25 million dollars a year. That is less than 1% of the payroll increase cost caused by the $15 wage. 1/157 to be fairly exact. And the thing is, the McDonalds CEO doesn't make anything close to that as his base salary. So unless they are giving him hundreds of millions in bonuses a year (they aren't), he could lower his own pay to $15 an hour and effect next to *nothing* in terms of McDonald's bottom line. It would be a drop in the bucket. This idea that a handful of people at the top of McDonalds - or most big companies (almost all, actually) - are hogging enough money to pay their employees immensely more is just not accurate.

And this is *MCDONALDS*, the poster child for miserliness. And yet their bottom line would be devastated by a pay increase. Could they *survive*? Certainly, but it would require a LOT of changes. Thousands of locations would need to close, prices would need to go up, jobs and structure would need to be changed or cut. It's not like the 1.4 million US employees would just start making more $15, it is always, always, always more than that. Your talking about over 10 BILLION dollars in new payroll costs just to facilitate the new wage. Much less the other pay increases common sense demands. McDonalds and many companies would have to fundamentally change their business to accommodate this and they wouldn't all be pleasant changes.

All that to say this whole thing is not as simple as "make the rich people give us the money," cause as I just pointed out they don't have the money. Which is why I say we have to avoid the class-warfare mindset. It's a kneejerk reaction to find out x CEO makes millions and demand bigger pay checks but it is a mistake to assume that the former is the reason you don't have the latter.

Edit:  To be clear, I don't agree with the current minimum wage.  But I am trying to show two things:  1) this $15 an hour is no small change and 2) there's a reason I say Federal needs to low ball and States need to make the ultimate minimum wage decision.

Remember, McDonalds is a franchise based opperation.  A lot of responsibility for running each individual store falls to the people who own and opperate the franchise.  So quality can and does vary.

Edit: We do have some words that describe a similar number for the numer of atoms in the universe: A googol: 10^100.  According to some sources the number of atoms in the known unverse is about equal to 10^80.  A googolplex is just insane and I can barely wrap my head around how we could use that number.  It's equal to a 1 with a googol number of 0s behind it!

It's not necessarily about computing power though.  The fact is we hardly know that much about the brain to begin with..so what algorithms could we even use in the many other parts of the human condition?  There's the essence of unpredictability in each person's day by day reactions as well which we also empathize with and in which would be extrememly difficult and maybe even dangerous to put in a robot.  I guess this is where Skynet comes in.. Oh shit.

I know I said McDonalds, so yeah maybe people would be ok with not getting human service there or other fast food places; hard to say.  I know many of us who linger on the internet are ok with it, but you'd be surprised even then.  In other places that require more interaction it's an impossibility at this current time.  We first would need a grasp of all of the reactive possibilities of every person that has ever existed.  But even after that it gets much more complicated.  The current problem is our understanding of the brain.  Until we can fully grasp that, robots will never replace humans in the working world.

It would be neat though.  We'd never have to work again :)....there would only be artists.  Maybe even robot artists, but imo it would be wise to leave that out so we feel important somehow.