Saw this on CSPAN BookTV this weekend. Identity crises impend for all who over-identify with their jobs, this author says.
The Robots Are Coming!: The Future of Jobs in the Age of Automation, by Andrés Oppenheimer,==
Staying true to his trademark journalistic approach, Andrés Oppenheimer takes his readers on yet another journey, this time across the globe, in a thought-provoking search to understand what the future holds for today's jobs in the foreseeable age of automation.
The Robots Are Coming centers around the issue of jobs, and their future in the context of rapid automation and the growth of online products and services. As two of Oppenheimer's interviewees -- both experts in technology and economics from Oxford University -- indicate, forty-seven percent of existing jobs are at risk of becoming automated or rendered obsolete by other technological changes in the next twenty years. Oppenheimer examines current changes in several fields, including the food business, legal work, banking or medicine, speaking with experts in the field, and citing articles and literature on automation in various areas of the workforce. He contrasts the perspectives of "techno-optimists" with those of "techno-negativists," and generally attempts to find a middle ground between an alarmist vision of the future, and one that is too uncritical. A self-described "cautious optimist," Oppenheimer For his part, Oppenheimer believes that technology will not create massive unemployment, but rather drastically change what work looks like. g'r
And,
A Machine May Not Take Your Job, but One Could Become Your Boss
The goal of automation has always been efficiency. What if artificial intelligence sees humanity itself as the thing to be optimized?
When Conor Sprouls, a customer service representative in the call center of the insurance giant MetLife talks to a customer over the phone, he keeps one eye on the bottom-right corner of his screen. There, in a little blue box, A.I. tells him how he’s doing.
Talking too fast? The program flashes an icon of a speedometer, indicating that he should slow down.
Sound sleepy? The software displays an “energy cue,” with a picture of a coffee cup.
Not empathetic enough? A heart icon pops up.
For decades, people have fearfully imagined armies of hyper-efficient robots invading offices and factories, gobbling up jobs once done by humans. But in all of the worry about the potential of artificial intelligence to replace rank-and-file workers, we may have overlooked the possibility it will replace the bosses, too... (continues)
==Also from BookTV:
Tara Westover, Educated: A Memoir
Our freshmen this Fall are supposed to be reading this. Have any of you?
Tara Westover, Educated: A Memoir
Our freshmen this Fall are supposed to be reading this. Have any of you?
I read Educated at the beginning of this year (found a used copy at McKay’s and returned so others will read it). I highly recommend. Or at least look for her videos. I know she was on PBS. I can’t wait to hear her on MTSU campus.
ReplyDeleteShe had little formal education and a limiting family. She broke all the rules and has a PHD (I believe).
Also see the video on BookTV, linked above,
DeleteOh, I hear that within 20 to 50 years, teachers (k-12j will be replaced with computers. So there goes my job?
ReplyDeleteWell, someone will have to program the computers. But if you're like me, you didn't go into teaching because you loved the prospect of working with machines.
Delete