IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 37

OPINION

Alexander Hayes

On Country

utonomous vehicles
have had a profound
impact across the
global mining sector,
providing efficiency
dividends and safety records that
were once considered one further
failsafe against a downturn of the
Australian economy. Fly-in-fly-out
(FIFO) workers, however, have already
witnessed a shift in their employment status as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and autonomous
vehicles make environment sensing
and navigation possible with little
or no human input. As radar, lidar,
GPS, odometry, and computer vision
technologies meld with machinery,
a very real threat is now facing Australian Aboriginal communities, that
of cyborg CEO consortia from afar
operating fleets of autonomous vehicles taking resources off country.

A

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION: KATHRYN DISS

Australian Aboriginal Communities,
Mining, and Artificial Intelligence

Fluoro Vests & Hard Hats
In 2007 I moved from Sydney to the
country town of Orange in New
South Wales, Australia. Orange is
home to a mixture of agriculture,
mining, medical, and manufacturing
industries. The retail sector provides
a glamorous family-friendly facade
to a town that has faced (like many
other Australian rural communities)
many booms and busts. These
cycles are epitomized by the rags to
riches stories the mining industry
purports to catalyze.
I witnessed first-hand locals welcoming into their township Newcrest

Australian mining companies use technology to save money now that the boom is over [8].
Mining [1] employees, wearing high
visibility shirts and mud covered
boots. Businesses hastily procured,
beyond their means, bank loans
to outfit their establishments and
force-feed the fly-in-fly-out workers
fat on paychecks. Rental prices skyrocketed as builders bustled to find
enough bricks and mortar to meet
demands for new housing.
A few short years later those
same retail establishments learned

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2017.2728779
Date of publication: 7 September 2017

SEPTEMBER 2017

∕

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

of the threat to their income as the
very same FIFO workers began losing shifts, and local businesses lost
contracts commensurately. Autonomous systems with names that resemble a science fiction film cast,
including Sandvik Automine, Transmin Rocklogic, Controllogix PLC,
CitectSCADA, and Yokogawa Centum, all began replacing the FIFO
physical labor with omniscient sensor systems.

37



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 4
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 5
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 6
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 7
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 8
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 9
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 10
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 11
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 12
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 13
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 14
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 15
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 16
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 17
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 19
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 20
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 21
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 22
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 23
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 24
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 26
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 28
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 29
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 30
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 31
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 32
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 33
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 34
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 35
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 36
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 37
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 38
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 39
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 40
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 41
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 42
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 43
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 44
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 45
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 46
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 47
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 48
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 49
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 50
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 51
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 52
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 53
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 54
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 55
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 56
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 57
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 58
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 59
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 60
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 61
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 62
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 63
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 64
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 65
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 66
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 67
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 68
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 69
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 70
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 71
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 72
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 73
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 74
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 75
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 76
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 77
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 78
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 79
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 80
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 81
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 82
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 83
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 84
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 85
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 86
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 87
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 88
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2013
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com