There have been arguments about the security of jobs for humans in the future. Some have positioned that the future of jobs for humans is standing at the edge of a deep opening, ready to fall. Others have suggested that the future of work remains as secure as Fort Knox. This disparity in their line of thoughts suggests a better explanation of where we are and where we are heading to in relation to human job security.
Over time, we have witnessed a serious advancement in technology. It is often said that there is no aspect of human endeavour that technology has not touched. Should we talk about agriculture or communication; or should we talk about transportation or sports. Virtually all that human beings do have been greatly affected by technology.
It has been found that whenever a new technology is birthed, humans usually witness a total change in the way jobs are carried out in line with the new technology. Accompanied by these is a massive job loss as a result of the birth of this new technology. This brings panic and the reasoning that human jobs will be lost to robots or machines. However, there is an angle to this that many have never thought of and that is what this article tends to explain.
Before the industrial revolution, people utilized the natural power of humans and animals to do jobs, especially the ones that are related to agriculture. During the industrial revolution, there was a great panic in Europe that machines powered by steam engines will likely take over human jobs. It was reported that some workers went on strike while agitating for people in authorities then, to do something about this perceived enemy of jobs. The truth is that from then till now some jobs have been totally eliminated by technological advancement but then new ones have been created.
In our time, in what many perceived to be an era of a digital revolution, this panic of losing jobs have not been eliminated even with what happened during the industrial revolution. In short, it looks like the panic has doubled if not tripled.
It wouldn’t be a thing of surprise for such a panic judging with the level of technological advancement in recent time. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and robotics have taken the day. The rate at which these technologies are evolving is on the high side. There is this expectation that in the nearest future smart robots will likely take over the jobs that we are currently doing now. In a nutshell, what is true about this assertion is that smart robots will never seize to exist but nobody will take your jobs from you.
Change is one phenomenon that remains constant. As robots tend to be smart human beings tend to be smarter. Since the evolution of man, communication and transportation coupled with other human endeavours have never changed. What actually changed is the means at which they are carried out. When typewriters were the mainstay of typing, people made means out of it. Typing then was a lucrative job. When computer came, it outshined typewriters and typists went into extinction. That act of communicating through print media never changed. It was only a few typists who refused to learn, upgrade and change to the new trend that lost their jobs. In fact, computers created more jobs than typewriters.
Now that we are in an era where sophisticated machines do the works of human with minimal control from humans, it is expected that most human jobs will be taken away from him. However, what many failed to understand is that just like in the past, humans created these machines. They were never given to us. We made them. For this reason, there is always an imperfection of man in his creation. This vacuum is the job for humans that can never be lost.
Specifically, creating these machines is a job on its own, maintaining them is another one and using them to either improve or explore different new aspects of human life that have never been found or that have been underused is a very larger one that knows no boundary. What people should be scared of is man’s laziness to improve, upgrade and adapt to this new trend of technology.
Summarily, people shouldn’t be worried about losing their jobs to machines instead they should position their thoughts to accept and work with these new technologies. Artificial intelligence and robotics have come to stay and are ready to create more new jobs.
Be ready and willing to learn and work for the future.