The disinformation that robotics and software automation won’t reduce labour requirements, but will just change them to be more demanding of ‘human’ skills is very common. So common that for a while I wondered if it was some sort of industry-funded message or conspiracy. Surely so many journalists, can’t be that ignorant.
Yes they can, and I’m putting it down to a general lack of experience. I’ve worked in factories, as a labourer, and in many different industries. When I hear journalists say ‘people will take on more creative and fulfilling jobs’, I know that will never happen for the vast majority of the displaced. People don’t stick with non-creative boring jobs because they want to. They do it because they don’t have the capacity to earn a sufficient income from a more creative or interesting role.
My mate packing cans into boxes isn’t going to start making more money writing plays. He will never have that skill, and no amount of education will change that. And there won’t be anyone paying him to write plays either. Sure, a massive swell in unemployment might increase the demand for entertainment. What it won’t do is increase the surplus income to spend on entertainment. And without increased spending on entertainment, there won’t be increased income from that or any other creative and more fulfilling sector.
But having our jobs replaced by robotics and software automation is nothing new. It has been happening since the plough. What is new is the speed at which solutions are being developed and deployed. So changes that once occurred over centuries are now occurring over months. The universality of modern solutions mean that the invention that takes a job from a car production line can be deployed in a commercial kitchen a few weeks later. The software that answers customer questions about clothing, can be quickly reconfigured to answer questions about tax requirements.
What is new is the rate of change and the speed at which people are losing job opportunities. We are socially, economically, and politically unprepared for the current rate of change. The real danger of articles claiming that despite the sudden acceleration of robot usage in the workforce, it is going to be business as usual, is that it reduces the necessary social pressure to demand change and find solutions for a very urgent problem. This level of journalistic ignorance is undermining our will to prepare for the future, and will cause a lot of suffering. It’s time to end the lies. Let them know in the comments.
