Issue 301 Terror of tech!!! March27, 2013

Have you though maybe technology s moving a little too fast? I did not think so at first, but after some shows featuring staff from Google and other tech and economics gurus, I began to worry. So here is why.

Can't keep pace: Technology is growing by leaps and bounds. Machines do our laundry, our dishes, and even wake us up in the morning (no need for mom or a butler). Soon, technology will be driving us to work in completely automated vehicles. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City has discussed having their trains be completely automated with a single staff member to trouble shoot for problems. However, currently 2 people are on staff at any given time on the subways. So this means people will loose their job. Once the technology is deemed acceptable and safe, that other staff member may be replaced as well, leaving the train with no human personnel to drive or monitor it from on board. Similar discussions have taken place with respect to flying plains and even to the concept of the flying car. Would you let a plain fly you from Japan to California without a pilot? Well with technology, this is in fact feasible.

Let's look at medicine. A sonogram machine has been reduced in size to that of a smart phone for the smaller cost of $2,500 on the cheapest (regular machines can cost well over $30,000). Heart monitors along with other brain and life reading devices has also been shrunk and automated leaving doctors to interpret the readings themselves without any need to have the patient see a specialist (cheaper for the patient obviously). Another device in the works is a litmus testing device to diagnose diseases on the spot eliminating the need to see a doctor for diagnosis of various pathogens.

Then we have basic retail. There really is no need for a cashier when you have radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. It works like a barcode, but sends out short wave transmissions instead once hit by an electronic signal. These RFID chips identify the item you are buying without it ever having to leave your shopping cart. So in the future you may see a device that looks similar to a small metal detector that will scan all your items instantly and then all you have to do is pay a robot at checkout once you have finalized your cart. Oh, and don't bother looking for people on the floor restocking shelves. This too will be done by robots as they already have specialized machines doing this job in where houses with it only being a matter of time and money before you see it in our own home towns.

The terror: With the aforementioned examples, you can see allot of basic jobs and high level jobs becoming outmoded, or reduced in function. This affects us all as we will be forced to find more higher level technology jobs in order to just make a living. It has been estimated by some executives at Google that by 2030, if the pace does not slow down, over 60% of the jobs in the United States alone will be lost to technology.

Conclusion: Do not get me wrong, technology is a good thing. However, we have to check how fast we let ourselves be consumed by it. If we do not look into how to adapt to the changing business and job environment, we may face imminent peril. Sure, newer and higher paying jobs will result which will balance out the job losses for future generations; however our concern must lay with those in the immediate term. Those people who will loose their jobs to a cold heartless machine will need to be retrained to work in new fields or work at other jobs which may make light of their skills and accomplishments. So I ask you all to think and be prepared for possible upheavals in the job market and even maybe think of ways to slow it down so that people will not have to suffer.