Assuming human civilization lasts a few more decades then life as we know it will come to an end… it will fall victim to the rise of the machines- no, not the Terminator skynet and killer robots-
The advancement of automation and the resulting displacement of workers we have seen in the past century has been disruptive and traumatic for many millions, but what we have seen in the past century is NOTHING compared to what we will see in the next couple of decades.
http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/47-of-jobs-in-the-next-25-years-will-disappear-according-to-oxford-university
Now, an expert at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania is ringing the alarm bells. According to Art Bilger, venture capitalist and board member at the business school, all the developed nations on earth will see job loss rates of up to 47% within the next 25 years, according to a recent Oxford study. “No government is prepared,”The Economist reports. These include blue and white collar jobs. So far, the loss has been restricted to the blue collar variety, particularly in manufacturing.
To combat “structural unemployment” and the terrible blow it is bound to deal the American people, Bilger has formed a nonprofit called Working Nation, whose mission it is to warn the public and to help make plans to safeguard them from this worrisome trend. Not only is the entire concept of employment about to change in a dramatic fashion, the trend is irreversible. The venture capitalist called on corporations, academia, government, and nonprofits to cooperate in modernizing our workforce.
To be clear, mechanization has always cost us jobs. The mechanical loom for instance put weavers out of business. But it’s also created jobs. Mechanics had to keep the machines going, machinists had to make parts for them, and workers had to attend to them, and so on. A lot of times those in one profession could pivot to another. At the beginning of the 20thcentury for instance, automobiles were putting blacksmiths out of business. Who needed horseshoes anymore? But they soon became mechanics. And who was better suited?
Not so with this new trend. Unemployment today is significant in most developed nations and it’s only going to get worse. By 2034, just a few decades, mid-level jobs will be by and large obsolete. So far the benefits have only gone to the ultra-wealthy, the top 1%. This coming technological revolution is set to wipe out what looks to be the entire middle class. Not only will computers be able to perform tasks more cheaply than people, they’ll be more efficient too.
Accountants, doctors, lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats, and financial analysts beware: your jobs are not safe. According to The Economist, computers will be able to analyze and compare reams of data to make financial decisions or medical ones. There will be less of a chance of fraud or misdiagnosis, and the process will be more efficient. Not only are these folks in trouble, such a trend is likely to freeze salaries for those who remain employed, while income gaps only increase in size. You can imagine what this will do to politics and social stability.
Unless you have been living under a rock, it has probably occurred to you that this is the last generation of cab drivers, truck drivers, bus drivers, etc- automated transportation will send those jobs the way of the buggy whip-
And all those people working at the grocery store to ring up your items? They will all be gone in 10 years or so…
And as online stores like Amazon work to get products to you before you need them, brick and mortar stores are dying in droves…
Secretarial jobs are also on the way out…
You already have read news stories written by AI bots instead of journalists….
In the next few years we will see AI put on a suit and tie and start moving into middle management… and it won’t get the company sued for sexual harassment…
Most of the jobs that will be made obsolete will belong to the middle class- not because middle class jobs are the easiest to automate, but because middle class workers have no power to stop it… You can be sure that the executives making 7-9 figure salaries for bankrupting their companies and getting in trouble with their ethical failings will determine their skills cannot be automated.
All this will be devastating to the middle class world wide, but no where more so than here in the U.S. – income inequality is already at crisis levels, and the poor and jobless are casually insulted and vilified as lazy takers… when progress eliminates the jobs will the jobless continue to be derided and ground down?
Of COURSE they will… because it is so deeply ingrained in our culture that those without high paying jobs have only themselves to blame…
Food service workers want $15 an hour? Screw them, if they wanted better pay they should have gone to college! (Never mind the fact that tuition costs have made it impossible for more and more people to get that education)
So as more and more people join the ranks of the jobless, more and more people will be treated as parasites by the wealthy class, oppressed and insulted- and as their numbers skyrocket, so will their resentment and their anger…. and then what will happen, dear reader?
I don’t know either, but we all know it will be ugly.
Only one thing is certain… the conservatives here will be among those demeaning the growing population of the unemployed and desperate- shouting down any attempts to treat them with dignity and humanity… right up to the moment they themselves join their ranks.