Humans Need Not Apply

CGP Grey is an educational YouTuber and Podcaster who posts short explanatory videos on varying subjects, including politics, geography, economics, history, and culture. One of my favourites is “Humans Need Not Apply”.

This video isn’t about how automation is bad rather than automation is inevitable. It’s a tool to produce abundance for little effort. We need to start thinking now about what to do when large sections of the population are unemployable, through no fault of their own. What to do in a future where, for most jobs, humans need no apply.

I love how he explains this complex situation, with the exact words and examples. But one of the most amazing things is that this video is from 2014! The vision has become a reality and is unstoppable:

• Robots will destroy our jobs — and we’re not ready for it (The Guardian)
• Robots could replace nearly a third of the U.S. workforce by 2030 (TWP)
• Robots in the Workforce? Each 1 Costs 6 Jobs, a New Study Says (Fortune)
• Robots do destroy jobs and lower wages, says new study (The Verge)
• Chinese factory replaces 90% of human workers with robots. Production rises by 250%, defects drop by 80% (ZME Science)

I would love to see a world where robots take jobs of little added value to humans so that we can focus on enriching, creative works or that require human touch, non-technical or skilled jobs, like nursing . But in this process, how many people will not simply stay unemployed but will be unemployable? Can robots and automatization generate that life salary that some people like Bill Gates talk about?

#365daysof #futurism #innovation #automatization #robotics #day8