A world without work: dream or nightmare?
Go Think Initiative had the chance to attend the Economist Innovation Summit, a yearly day-long event that deals with the future of business and technology, featuring guests from companies such as AirBnb, Amazon, Airbus, Buzzfeed and many more. GOTI was there to see how our mission to find ways to make learning better and more sustainable would fit in a world where the job market is changing at blazing speed, and the way we think of work and life is shifting at at a breakneck pace.
A strong true line in most of the panels was indeed centred on learning. As more and more companies are investing in automation, with a growing focus on more advanced machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence, they are conscious of the destructive potential of having less and less of a need for personnel in many businesses. At one point the attendees were asked if they thought that AI could create or destory more jobs. A slight majority raised their hand as a sign of optimism, signaling they thought AI could create new opportunities. But it was clear that most of the corporations involved in this conference were conscious that the AI surge will create new needs, with a potential for damaging entire work sectors.
Many companies are focusing on making an effort to make the process of transitioning their workforce in new roles through re-skilling programs; the acquisition of Linkedin by Lynda.com, a internet course aggregator, is proof of the value this market is starting to acquire. The idea is that people will be able to jump from job to job with ease and speed, adapting on the way.
The conference was capped by a final keynote by Gerd Leonhard, which is available in its entirety here. The focus on ethics in technology, while not revolutionary, was a good summation of a core concept for the future: we should not necessarily adopt a new technology just because it’s more efficient. We should consider the possible collateral impact that can be caused by adopting radically new technologies. At times, Leohnhard’s message sounded like it was bound to be lost in the void of competition and progress: given the arms race that technology is at the moment, it seems hard to believe that we won’t just constantly evolve just because new ideas are usually good for getting ahead of the competition.
At the end of the conference, in an interview with The Economist’s Deputy Editor Tom Standage, Leonhard was asked for what the ideal scenario for the future could possibly be; the author described a future where we don’t need to work, because most things would be automated, and most of our basic needs would be taken care by a better production pipeline (this kind of scenario is likely enough that an entire branch of academia — post scarcity economy — has been studying it for a while). The author, as many do, presented this as a sort of idyllic scenario. But doing this strongly underestimates everything that jobs represent beyond money.
Work gives purpose to people: it gives structure to their life; goals to strive for; a social group; a sense of value; a mission. And in the last few centuries, in most societies, work has been one of the strongest social unifiers for any civilized society. A post scarcity world risks being a world devoid of purpose for its people, and this is something extremely dangerous for the mental health of an entire population.
It’s worth to start thinking about this now. If this scenario indeed becomes true, we need to move towards a cultural shift that would find a way to make people comfortable and inspired by a radically different sets of values, especially when it comes to the idea of entering adult life, and becoming independent.
And in the case of a future where work is still needed, but very different from what we have been used to, trying to find new ways to give purpose to our life would still be valuable. The ability to change, shift and adapt need to become core values for people; enough to make up for losing a work team, friends, and in many ways, an identity. Nations might want to double down on sports and cultural groups to make sure people who find themselves displaced and in need for starting over might have a way to find a fresh start.
Imagining what could help with this is not easy, but some solutions are already starting to emerge. The effectiveness of gaming to create structure of incentives and rewards could be a way for people to create parallel value systems that are not directly connected to work. It might be also worth thinking of how teaching mindfulness and civics in school might inspire people to find meaning in social work, especially as the population keeps ageing. In any case, we should not look at a post work word as the end of all problems, because we need problems to find purpose; and we should be ready to make sure our future problems are of the sort that makes us grow, instead of destroying us.
Emilio Bellu, Go Think Initiative Vice-Chairman.
