Your Job Is At Risk - Rise of the Machines
Discussion
Having an interesting discussion with a few colleagues and we have pretty much concluded that we are all screwed. I work in the IT sector where the emergence of Cloud technologies in the last few years could mean that we will all be out of work within the next decade.
So we start looking at exit strategies and plan B, except almost every other job you could do is being automated too.
A lot of high powered jobs performed by your standard PH'er are at risk, so you start to think OK thinking I can always do something else like become a lorry driver or minicabbie, that's gone with automated driver-less cars. Waiting tables? Replaced by menu apps etc, most fast food restaurants are doing this now. Even the old fall back of stacking shelves at the supermarket, nope robots will be doing that soon.
This isn't some distant future scenario, this is happening now. There have been studies carried out by Oxford Univeristy researchers which indicate nearly 50% of jobs will be at risk in the next 2 decades, i.e within most peoples lifetimes. The BBC has a link where you put in your current job and it tells you how at risk you are.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941
So where will this all end? Are you worried about your job disappearing? What will the social implications be?
So we start looking at exit strategies and plan B, except almost every other job you could do is being automated too.
A lot of high powered jobs performed by your standard PH'er are at risk, so you start to think OK thinking I can always do something else like become a lorry driver or minicabbie, that's gone with automated driver-less cars. Waiting tables? Replaced by menu apps etc, most fast food restaurants are doing this now. Even the old fall back of stacking shelves at the supermarket, nope robots will be doing that soon.
This isn't some distant future scenario, this is happening now. There have been studies carried out by Oxford Univeristy researchers which indicate nearly 50% of jobs will be at risk in the next 2 decades, i.e within most peoples lifetimes. The BBC has a link where you put in your current job and it tells you how at risk you are.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941
So where will this all end? Are you worried about your job disappearing? What will the social implications be?
Guvernator said:
Having an interesting discussion with a few colleagues and we have pretty much concluded that we are all screwed. I work in the IT sector where the emergence of Cloud technologies in the last few years could mean that we will all be out of work within the next decade.
So we start looking at exit strategies and plan B, except almost every other job you could do is being automated too.
A lot of high powered jobs performed by your standard PH'er are at risk, so you start to think OK thinking I can always do something else like become a lorry driver or minicabbie, that's gone with automated driver-less cars. Waiting tables? Replaced by menu apps etc, most fast food restaurants are doing this now. Even the old fall back of stacking shelves at the supermarket, nope robots will be doing that soon.
This isn't some distant future scenario, this is happening now. There have been studies carried out by Oxford Univeristy researchers which indicate nearly 50% of jobs will be at risk in the next 2 decades, i.e within most peoples lifetimes. The BBC has a link where you put in your current job and it tells you how at risk you are.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941
So where will this all end? Are you worried about your job disappearing? What will the social implications be?
I'm going to start looking for a job as a robot engineer.So we start looking at exit strategies and plan B, except almost every other job you could do is being automated too.
A lot of high powered jobs performed by your standard PH'er are at risk, so you start to think OK thinking I can always do something else like become a lorry driver or minicabbie, that's gone with automated driver-less cars. Waiting tables? Replaced by menu apps etc, most fast food restaurants are doing this now. Even the old fall back of stacking shelves at the supermarket, nope robots will be doing that soon.
This isn't some distant future scenario, this is happening now. There have been studies carried out by Oxford Univeristy researchers which indicate nearly 50% of jobs will be at risk in the next 2 decades, i.e within most peoples lifetimes. The BBC has a link where you put in your current job and it tells you how at risk you are.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941
So where will this all end? Are you worried about your job disappearing? What will the social implications be?
While on the face of it it does seem alarming, I seem to recall reading something which stated that out of the top 10 most wanted positions, over half did not exist a decade ago.
As we gradually automate our current jobs, new ones will be created in their wake. Or we will have to start to very seriously look at the idea of a Universal Income.
As we gradually automate our current jobs, new ones will be created in their wake. Or we will have to start to very seriously look at the idea of a Universal Income.
Guvernator said:
Having an interesting discussion with a few colleagues and we have pretty much concluded that we are all screwed. I work in the IT sector where the emergence of Cloud technologies in the last few years could mean that we will all be out of work within the next decade.
So we start looking at exit strategies and plan B, except almost every other job you could do is being automated too.
A lot of high powered jobs performed by your standard PH'er are at risk, so you start to think OK thinking I can always do something else like become a lorry driver or minicabbie, that's gone with automated driver-less cars. Waiting tables? Replaced by menu apps etc, most fast food restaurants are doing this now. Even the old fall back of stacking shelves at the supermarket, nope robots will be doing that soon.
This isn't some distant future scenario, this is happening now. There have been studies carried out by Oxford Univeristy researchers which indicate nearly 50% of jobs will be at risk in the next 2 decades, i.e within most peoples lifetimes. The BBC has a link where you put in your current job and it tells you how at risk you are.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941
So where will this all end? Are you worried about your job disappearing? What will the social implications be?
Even in 2016, Society, the Economy and the 'world order' exists so everyone can eat, and everyone can have a 'lifestyle' - well in the 'developed' world anyway. If automation means that humans no longer need to work, or not many at least there's little point in making us all desitute because of it - what's the point of a shelf stacking machine if no one can afford the things it stacks. So we'll invent no way to make money - look at the growth in the 'service industry' in the UK now, there are hundreds if not thousands of jobs out there that didn't exist 20 years ago and people would laugh at you if you tried to sell the idea of them.So we start looking at exit strategies and plan B, except almost every other job you could do is being automated too.
A lot of high powered jobs performed by your standard PH'er are at risk, so you start to think OK thinking I can always do something else like become a lorry driver or minicabbie, that's gone with automated driver-less cars. Waiting tables? Replaced by menu apps etc, most fast food restaurants are doing this now. Even the old fall back of stacking shelves at the supermarket, nope robots will be doing that soon.
This isn't some distant future scenario, this is happening now. There have been studies carried out by Oxford Univeristy researchers which indicate nearly 50% of jobs will be at risk in the next 2 decades, i.e within most peoples lifetimes. The BBC has a link where you put in your current job and it tells you how at risk you are.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941
So where will this all end? Are you worried about your job disappearing? What will the social implications be?
Maybe one day, a combination of AI and Automation will mean that 'work' will be a thing of the past - the machines will look after us and we'll tax the people who sell stuff, use the money to pay the people who buy stuff to buy it.
I agree automation has been "coming" for what seems like ages but it looks like it's actually happening now. All the technologies I've mentioned are in development or even in widespread use now. The last 3 IT projects I've worked on have all been a part of a migration from internal IT services out to the Cloud and each time there have been redundancies involved.
Driverless cars - testing as we speak, probably out in the public domain in the next 5-10 years.
Learning\Expert systems are more accurate then humans right now for analysing financial data, data mining, even medical analysis.
Large companies are all pushing for automation as an automated system doesn't need to rest, go to the lunch\toilet\fag break, doesn't moan, doesn't get tired and makes less mistakes. In short they are much more cost effective and these companies are all about their bottom line. The problem is when everyone is out of work, who will actually pay for all these goods\services produced by robots? Is anyone actually putting thought into how a future automated economy would actually work?
Driverless cars - testing as we speak, probably out in the public domain in the next 5-10 years.
Learning\Expert systems are more accurate then humans right now for analysing financial data, data mining, even medical analysis.
Large companies are all pushing for automation as an automated system doesn't need to rest, go to the lunch\toilet\fag break, doesn't moan, doesn't get tired and makes less mistakes. In short they are much more cost effective and these companies are all about their bottom line. The problem is when everyone is out of work, who will actually pay for all these goods\services produced by robots? Is anyone actually putting thought into how a future automated economy would actually work?
The majority who work in IT infrastructure and don't work for a cloud provider I think are screwed. A minority will be needed to manage the cloud/connects to the cloud but far less than current. Even bits of Uk Gov you wouldn't expect to be allowed to migrate to the cloud are already in the process to migrate to the cloud. If you advise or develop "stuff" for end users then I suspect you'll be safe for a few more decades; ICT in most schools falls way short of enabling the majority of future office workers to do their own development even using a drag and drop system.
Driverless cars, taxis, and lorries will see a massive reduction in people paid to drive. It should also lead to less accidents, less repair/servicing work (particularly if simpler" electric cars take off), less people to manage logistics, less HR, less payroll, etc. This in turn means less people spending money so less people in retail, which is going through its own contractions. Warehouse staff will also be replaced in the next few years by more and more automation. Amazon and others are throwing large pots of money in this sector.
I think we won't have seen such a fundamental shift since the industrial age. However at present I can't see where the new jobs are going to come from. We are talking about 100,000s of people suddenly out of work from all areas of life. Many will struggle to retrain for a dwindling number of technology focused jobs as they can't even work out how to use the app store on their phone.
With the current way people on benefits are portrayed and the associated cuts, I can't see a universal income being a vote winner till things get really bad.
Driverless cars, taxis, and lorries will see a massive reduction in people paid to drive. It should also lead to less accidents, less repair/servicing work (particularly if simpler" electric cars take off), less people to manage logistics, less HR, less payroll, etc. This in turn means less people spending money so less people in retail, which is going through its own contractions. Warehouse staff will also be replaced in the next few years by more and more automation. Amazon and others are throwing large pots of money in this sector.
I think we won't have seen such a fundamental shift since the industrial age. However at present I can't see where the new jobs are going to come from. We are talking about 100,000s of people suddenly out of work from all areas of life. Many will struggle to retrain for a dwindling number of technology focused jobs as they can't even work out how to use the app store on their phone.
With the current way people on benefits are portrayed and the associated cuts, I can't see a universal income being a vote winner till things get really bad.
Yep while obviously there is the option to retrain, as stated there will be fewer jobs in total so what do you re-train into? It's fine if I re-train into Cloud technologies but the whole concept of Cloud is based on doing more with less. I know of Cloud hosting companies who run multi-customer thousand server sites with only a handful of people.
Do we go on creating more "nothing" jobs simply to keep people employed? The system is straining already, how will it cope with more people out of work and on benefits? More people taking out and less people contributing. I think it's not something that has really been considered but could have far reaching implications within out lifetime.
Do we go on creating more "nothing" jobs simply to keep people employed? The system is straining already, how will it cope with more people out of work and on benefits? More people taking out and less people contributing. I think it's not something that has really been considered but could have far reaching implications within out lifetime.
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