Why I Want Robots to Take My Job

Everyone is worried, some more than others but from authors such as Martin Ford with his book Rise of The Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future to Elon Musk’s recent initiatives into saving us from a future dominated by robots (there are several nuances to Musk’s ventures though…) the bottom line is we are all concerned that one day robots will cause us more harm than good but I have a different type of concern, one that you might not directly relate with — I am tired of waiting for robots to take my job.

I mean come on, how long has it been since Terminator was released? I’d like to see some signs of artificial intelligence taking over (how else are we meant to retaliate ahem, I meant respond).

Growing up as a millennial, I was promised a future with robots and technology on hyperdrive, some may argue that is the case but I still need to wake up and do my emails — clearly we haven’t exploited it’s potential yet.

To assure you I am not entirely crazy

I should probably clarify with some sense of seriousness; I am a writer, I write and I speak and I come with insanely odd ventures that doesn’t exist yet, much of it has to do with innovation in the tech world with equal appreciation for the human minds behind said innovation. As someone who doesn’t have a boss and conjures up deadlines of her own it is immensely critical I work with self-imposed processes and systems.

I couldn’t live without my systems. Rather I couldn’t make a living without my systems.

The truth is, I am incredibly lazy but not just lazy also very easily distracted by shiny objects when left to my own devices, this is where the processes and systems come into place.

To give you an example; every time I have an idea for an article it’s captured in my Evernote folder aptly titled ‘ideas for posts’ which is later elaborated with escaped time such as while waiting for the bus or while ordering a coffee so when I finally sit down to write the article (such as this one) it is almost entirely finished and just needs to be touched up if you will. This not so complicated process was designed simply because I do not have the patience nor the discipline to sit down and pen an eloquently written piece all at once and this works, for me.

Imagine this process effectively placed across different aspects of my professional (and some personal) spheres such as preparing for a talk, communicating with team members and just coming up with mad shit that sometimes doesn’t even make sense to me when I revisit it.

People often see the end result, be it hear me speak on stage or read my articles but my job comprises of all of these mundane tasks which give the illusion of an easy job when you finally get to see it. And this is why I am incredibly annoyed robots haven’t taken over my job yet.

I enjoy coming up with ideas, I love creating something out of nothing but if I already have systems in place you would think there’s technology to help me implement it. How wonderful a world would it be if an AI could take all my random notes, curate an extended relevant reading list sourced online and forged a preliminary draft for me to play with?

This is just one example, believe it or not I have systems in place even to change the toilet rolls or what I eat for breakfast which probably require a lot more mechanical input than I am qualified to even draw examples for in this article.

I want to focus on my creative process and do what I do best, come up with ideas and not get sucked into the monotonous inevitabilities of life — these are the tasks I want robots to do for me.

Yes, I completely understand and respect that there are a lot more socio-political implications to AI than what one person could fathom and adequately respond to but that doesn’t mean a writer cannot dream, writers are new age prophets. If you don’t believe go ahead and study a couple of decades of science fiction (which design fiction or speculative design is taking the place of) which historically affirms that writers dream future realities into existence.

I find the entire narrative around robots taking our jobs a bit antiquated, isn’t it the same conversation we have been having around migration, cultural disputes and almost any other histories you want to look into. I want to dream of a collective reality after the robots have taken all our jobs, history has proven even when technology makes certain jobs obsolete it gives rise to many more and there’s almost no market that doesn’t appreciate the human mind (yet), even AI cannot be designed to appropriately showcase the irrationalities that come with the human mind as the fundamental logic behind AIs is one of being rational and understood.

What Next?

So the robots have taken your job and you’re unemployed what do you do now? I see this as an opportunity to push the boundaries of our skills not just as individuals but collectively as a society in exploring our potential when we’re not being stretched thin and constantly performing repeated tasks.

Humour me for a minute and dream of the aspects of your job that you’d like robots to take over? What would they be? I have given up my Saturday morning to dream of this reality so if I have constructively encouraged you to dream with me, do let me know what future reality looks like in your mind — tweet @bhaesa.

If you find this potential future void of jobs as we know it distressing, you should be concerned not for the job market but for yourself as the idea of not being told what needs to be done is one that was drilled into the very mechanics of our brains during the industrial age and shaking it off isn’t going to be an easy task in itself. But the good news is, apparently we can dream of our own realities as history has shown so go think of something ridiculously awesome that a robot couldn’t and prove your worth, not to a market but to yourself.

Bhavani Esapathi is a published writer & international speaker on digital innovation within cultural industries and social tech. A Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts & WIRED Hack Award Winner 2015, her latest venture is The Invisible Labs; tackling invisible social issues that the world refuses to see. For more such musings subscribe to her weekly letters on art & digital culture or the Chronically Driven letters to hear about social innovation.