When most people think about robots doing jobs, they think of only the simplest menial tasks. Robots would never be smart enough to do the job of say a pharmacist or a journalist, right? Unfortunately, that isn't the whole story. According to this recent NBC article, jobs varying from pharmacist to astronauts could be in big trouble and possibly lost to increase automation. Andrew Mcafee, an IT and business researcher as well as the author of Race Against the Machine, is already making grim predictions based on current data and trends. The most relevant part of the article:
Computers will only get smarter, which means eventually most human jobs will be in danger of being automated. What will be the possible ramifications to the economy and life in general? While some predict more time for recreation and a greater quality of life, it's more likely this will lead to chaos, poverty, and even perhaps a "neo-luddite" movement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Forbes
The encroachment of digitized labor into the economic system is now accelerating, and the scope of the phenomenon is as of yet unknown. McAfee admits that much of today’s economic pain is probably caused by the hangover left from the 2008 crisis in the U.S., and the current crisis in Europe. McAfee points out, however, that corporate profits in the U.S. have never been higher and that companies are back to spending; especially on things like IT. What companies are not doing is hiring new employees. McAfee shows BLS data showing that the 2000s were the first decade since World War II in which there were fewer people working at the end than at the beginning. Hiring hasn’t returned, suggests McAfee, in part because technology is being injected into the economy at such a staggering rate that there is a decreasing need for human workers.