Internet of Things puts us out of work, right?
The technological process including smart and networked machines will result in a huge loss of jobs.
It sounds logical and simple; in reality implementing is often quite difficult. Self-driving trains or cars, remote-controlled factories and robots that run hotels without the involvement of recognizable and trusted human faces: The opportunities offered by the Internet of Things are almost unlimited.
Even people without any interests in digital progress can feel the impact of this kind of revolution which will become more important to them. Instead of serial production the future provides highly agile, interconnected processes that enable us the production of individual products in real-time. We’re live in a time of change and all important conditions are fulfilled:
· Highspeed data link
· Artificial intelligence / self-learning machines
· Mobile robots
· Big Data
It’s a fact that technological progress also means that we’ll get more productive than ever before. We can produce more and better products in the same time. If the demand doesn’t continued to rise, less manpower would be needed.
Nevertheless companies that are esteemed as pioneers of industry 4.0 employ even more people than before. For these innovative companies the technological progress results in more affordable products. As a consequence their current market share grows as well as the market itself.
But what does this mean for us as human beings? Will we become economically redundant? And will we excluded from earning our living by work and contributing and our skills and knowledge towards the good of society?
The digitalization of workplace affects all of us — Where is the line to be drawn between business and leisure time?
Generally the trend leads to increasingly complex and intelligent technology and our workplaces become more and more connected. That’s why some of us fear the marginalization of human manpower.
In the future we will only assume executive activities and the control takes places via anonymous networked systems. This wouldn’t be a great world to live in. It seems to me more realistic that humans keep each step of production under control and use the assistance of intelligent systems.
According to this vision, we will relive of monotonous and physically demanding activities. In this way we get the opportunity to involve our creativity and flexibility than ever before. It could even promote the inclusion because the technology is able to compensate different kinds of disabilities.
Since demands and conditions constantly change it needs more flexibility in job and lifelong willingness to acquire new knowledge. High qualified labors with higher education and entry-level vocational qualification will enjoy clear advantages because they know how to learn and adapt — and how to seek out and occupy new niches.
The digitalization of workplace affects all of us. In the era of global accessibility the border between life, working time and leisure time blur. It’s not longer necessesary to be in attendance for writing an email, attend conferences or even control a smart factory. We can easily do it with a digital terminal at home. This also means we have to be applicable around the clock.
The digitalization of workplace — an important step towards self-determination?
There are two options: Either digitalization leads to more control and results in more subordination of employees but it could also result in more self-determination in workplace, more freedom and more responsibility.
Does the digitalization establish new ways of working as a product of fundamental changes in the world of labor including physical and spatial independence? It could offer new alternatives to unloved eight-hour days. Many people think this could be the answer of the question: “How can we counteract the aging and shrinking national lack of skilled labor in future years?”
It’s vital for us to act at the right time — Looking for new ideas and creative possibilities
For this reason I come to the conclusion that there is no need to worry about industry 4.0 instead we should take the process of change as an opportunity. We also shouldn’t let the development just happen but actively face up to this topic at all levels and use all the creative possibilities. For the labour market it means that interactive, knowledge intensive and creative work experiences have bright future prospects.
It needs innovative ideas and new ways of doing things concerning work structure and skills development especially in the fields of training and further education. There is a need of new concepts to target those bypassed by development of work at the moment.
It’s impossible to tell how we’ll do our jobs in future. But the following prognosis is certain: There’s a huge potential of the new technology and the Internet of Things. Which of them will be realized — we’ll all decide it.
