Automation Fears
We’ve been convinced that automation will take our jobs for as long as it’s exited. But what actually happens is a lot weirder. Here are 3 possibilities:
1. Changes Existing Job
Our jobs are enhanced by a new machine. Trivial tasks we used to do regularly (depositing money, checking user account balance) now becomes a special case. Our time gets freed to focus on more important things (loan management, savings accounts).
Generally this is a wonderful thing that makes our jobs better. The trivialities get abstracted away and our focus goes to higher pursuits. Unless the automation regularly doesn’t do what it’s supposed to or breaks often, all is well.
2. Shifts Employment
Jobs move on, say from servicing a carriage to a car. Still fixing the thing with wheels.
Sometimes both versions of these jobs exist. We have digital and analog illustrators, photographers and the like. Sometimes the old variant vanishes, but the industry thrives nonetheless.
3. Destroys Jobs
It’s rare, but it has happened. Some jobs have completely vanished. Even that link barely finds 15 jobs, some of which do still exist but are less common (like motion picture projectionist especially stick out).
##Weirdness In all these cases, the jobs grow and the industry expands. Much more people get to do the new automation plus job than have previously done the no automation job. Instead of (working less)[https://truthout.org/articles/what-happened-to-the-keynesian-dream-of-a-15-hour-work-week/], we end up working more.
Yet our thoughts about animation have never changed. We’re still predicting, even bragging about how many meetbags a warehouse with a wild electricity bill can replace.
Are we just in a uniquely dumb age? Or has it never been this easy to be dumb in public before?
TLDR
Automation mostly changes (for better or worse) or enhances your job. It does not replace it. But its distribution improves job and industry growth. We’ll be fine.
Up next, I’ll be tackling how we got to now in a broad, but accessible and quick way. Hope you come back for it!