The issue of machines replacing humans dates back to
the dawn of industrialisation. In this paper we examine what is
fundamental in the distinction between human and
robotic work by reflecting on the work of the classical political economists and engineers. We examine the
relationship between the ideas of machine work and
human work on the part of Marx and Watt as well as their role
in the creation of economic value. We examine the
extent to which artificial power sources could feasibly
substitute for human effort in their arguments.
We go on to examine the differing views of Smith and
Marx with respect to the economic effort contributed
by animals and consider whether the philosophical
distinction made between human and non-human work
can be sustained in the light of modern biological
research. We emphasise the non-universal
character of animal work before going on to discuss
the ideas of universal machines in Capek and Turing giving as a counter example a cloth-folding
robot being developed in our School.
We then return to Watt and discuss the development
of thermodynamics and information theory. We show
how recent research has led to a unification not
only of these fields but also a unitary understanding
of the labour process and the value-creation process.
We look at the implications of general robotisation for profitability and the future
of capitalism. For this we draw on the work of
von Neumann not only on computers but also in
economics to point to the {\em real} threat posed
by robots
