Good People, there should be no panic as a result of my post on the expected displacement, disintermediation and dislocation of jobs as AI and robotic systems move into production phases at scale, across markets and industries. Here is the fact: across human history, most new technologies have always created more jobs, over time, even as they distort some in the short-term.
Indeed, more jobs have been created by computers and Microsoft Word even though Isaac Pitman shorthand experts lost their jobs. Technology makes societies better, but it is not guaranteed that everyone will benefit at the same level.
During the industrial revolution, workers demonstrated that machines would take over their jobs. But when you look decades later, you would see that the revolution was far better for most people even though a small population of workers were displaced. Yes, their panics did not come to pass when you examine the big picture. Our responsibility is to make sure that we remain relevant, with updated skills, as the wind blows and companies lay off workers like nothing.
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Everything will change as AI moves at scale into products. I have noted that Microsoft Word now seems like Microsoft Phrase with its expanded ability to suggest phrases and clauses, not just words. Simply, it is no more word processing, but phrase processing. And wait for years, you can feed your email system to AI, and it can compose responses using your calendar, previous messages, etc, on certain topics. All you would need is to ACCEPT for the email to be sent.
Knowledge has always defined empires, and it remains the most important factor of production. We The People must work to ensure that we do not become mere numbers by elevating our game to whatever the future brings. That means, continuous learning, to deepen our career resilience and employability.
In other words, we must continue to seek new knowledge, through continuous learning, for assured career resilience and employability. When you have knowledge, you become a factor and cannot be tossed around by firing HR managers. Go for knowledge.
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If a company wants to layoff 20k of its employees, and these employees have been acquiring knowledge all along, what sort of ‘continous knowledge acquisition’ construct could stop 20k people from not being laid off? This is how it happens in the real world, because if reduction of headcount is the goal, I don’t know how 50 and 5 can be the same, even when the other 45 were equally updating their knowledge…
The main problem is not necessarily job displacement, but rather, what sort of technology is necessary for just ordering of the society? Not all technologies can make our world better, this you must know! Even the technologies that can make our lives better, their right use is still required. Opioid was doing great, Viagra was doing great too, but we know how it turned out decades later.
Man is both spirit and flesh, this reductionist mentality that with more technology or innovation, humans are advancing, needs to be critically examined and evaluated, because the evidence out there is mixed.
There’s a small problem of those who cannot compete, what systems are being designed to capture that, or do we erroneously believe that putting people on welfare lists and giving them food would fulfill their essence of existence?
Knowledge acquisition is a moving target. You need to keep updating it because if the one you have cannot keep you employed, it is irrelevant how “great” it is. The answer will be to get one that does.