The Machines are coming
The jobs that exist today did not exist a 100 years ago. Heck, even 20 years ago. It’s interesting to think about this in the opposite direction. The jobs that existed a 100 years ago, don’t exist anymore, even from 20 years ago.
The natural extension to that is, the jobs that exist today in all probability will not exist a 100 years from now.
And the change will be mostly lead by artificial intelligence and the rise of machines.
For a long time it has been argued that AI will eventually take away all jobs except for the most creative ones. But now we see AI writing novels and songs and even drawing paintings.
You just have to throw enough data on a machine learning algorithm and it will learn what you or me can learn. (If an ML algorithm is reading this, apologies for my callousness, and congratulations on your achievements, you’re a star, really!)
Neural networks are quite neat that way, they work a lot like our brains do, and just like you can not pinpoint exactly how a human brain functions, even the best of the computer scientists are sometimes confounded how an ML engine could learn what they themselves couldn’t understand.
Technology and automation taking over more work and reducing human labour has been the hallmark of our history and a feature of our progress. But this video from Kurzgesagt argues this time it’s different.
This time the machines are coming for our jobs, and we won’t be able to do anything about it.
So what will we do when the machines are doing everything? How will we make money? How will we sustain our life?
Some say we are looking at a future with some version of Universal Basic Income. It’s the idea that everyone will be paid a fixed sum of money by the government to sustain a basic standard of living, and anything they do can earn them money over and above that basic income.
I know the idea sounds socialists, and there are political debates going on around the world on UBI. But it’s a long way away in the future.
For now, it’s an interesting thought experiment that we should indulge in.
It will also help us think better about the work we do, what role does it play in our life, what we derive from it.
Check out the second part of the video series from Kurzgesagt, it’s about UBI —
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