Will Robots Take Over Human Jobs?

Futurist philosopher Gray Scott predicts: “Robots will harvest, cook, and serve our food. They will work in our factories, drive our cars, and walk our dogs. Like it or not, the age of [human] work is coming to an end.”

The public fear of technological advancement is not a new thing. It has been around for a very long time. Scott A. Wolla cites, in an article at https://research. stlouisfed.org, that “in 1589, Queen Elizabeth refused to grant the inventor of a mechanical knitting machine a patent for fear of putting manual knitters out of work. In the early 19th century, textile artisans called Luddites attempted to prevent or derail the mechanization of the textile industry.” Economists themselves have worried about ‘technological unemployment’.

The fear is still very much around. The public believes that machines are going to replace humans in the workplace. They are seeing with their own eyes how machines have already replaced human workers at manufacturing plants – and how machines have taken over the jobs of many bank tellers. It is no longer a question of whether automation and robotics are coming – they are already here.

In the US, a new kind of convenience store opened in the basement of the headquarters of Amazon in Seattle in January. It is called amazon Go. Larry Elliot at www. theguardian.com describes: “Customers walk in, scan their phones, pick what they want off the shelves and walk out again. At Amazon Go there are no checkouts and no cashiers. Instead, it is what the tech giant calls ‘just walk out’ shopping, made possible by a new generation of machines that can sense which customer is which and what they are picking off the shelves. Within a minute or two of the shopper leaving the store, a receipt pops up on their phone for items they have bought.”

Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence are bringing dazzling change to the shape of things in many industries. And it spurs growth. According to Elliot, the experience of past industrial revolutions suggests that resisting technological change is futile. Especially that these new technologies offer certain tangible benefits – like in security monitoring, in mobility for the elderly and in healthcare.

But some experts agree that it also has economic, social and even ethical ramifications. “Of course, technology will eliminate many jobs – it has always done so,” writes Andrew Arnold at www.forbes.com. “And predictions about those job losses range from a few million to over a billion,” Arnold cites a recent study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

When the first industrial revolution hit, factories and mass production drew workers to the cities in droves. Manufacturing put individual craftsmen out of business. But then consumer products were cheaper because production was faster.

These apprehensions right now may actually be a “fear of the unknown.” Because no one can predict exactly all of the jobs that robots and AI will assume from humans over the next few decades. No one knows what new technology is coming.

“Robots and AI will certainly replace jobs – boring, dangerous, and dirty ones mostly,” according to Arnold. “Those entering the workforce today will have to be adaptable. They’ll have to be hungry for knowledge and committed to continuing education whether that’s by taking further academic studies, attending conferences, reading books…” And surfing online for the latest technological developments.

Workers will need to develop technical skills and keep those skills updated as technology moves forward. Those who do not want to deal with technology need to pursue careers where it is not as much a factor or where demand for human skills and talents remains high. Technology can make humans more productive than ever before.

Andrew Arnold argues that “the idea that technology will replace the need for creative thinking, problemsolving, leadership, teamwork and initiative is rather silly right now. The idea that humans can leverage technology to provide a better world for all of us is not silly, however. It’s fascinating.”

In conclusion, Arnold gives an example: “One of the industries that have seen the greatest disruption of robotics and AI has been medicine. We now have robotic and AI tools that can perform amazingly accurate diagnoses and precise surgery. Have we lost doctors to this technology? The answer is ‘no.’ Doctors have simply learned to leverage the new technology to provide better healthcare.”