If you would have seen the movie, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate factory’, it is likely that you would remember the scene where young Charlie’s father, Mr. Bucket is replaced by a robot that would now carry out the task of capping toothpaste tubes. Every now and then, this scene triggers a thought in my mind- can humans be so easily replaced by algorithms, robots and artificial intelligence? My belief that the technological apocalypse will not take over jobs all together is reinstated when I see that there are in fact lots of jobs out there.
MIT professor David Autor highlights that many technological innovations over the last 200 years that were explicitly designed to replace human labor- tractors, assembly lines, computers, to name a few- have succeeded. However, the percentage of US adults employed in the labor market is higher now in 2019 than it was during the industrial revolution.
We look at the future of blue-collared jobs from a lens with simplistic and definitive opposing principles- machines or human workers. The reality of the jobs’ scenario is much more layered and complex than that.
In the services sector, where workers often undertake tedious tasks, technological innovation can help save humans from the toll of labour and to capitalize on the increased efficiency and steadfastness of machines.
Look at autonomous feeding systems for the elderly who can’t feed themselves. The idea behind the creation is not to replace the caregivers but rather to assist them while they can set up the plate with food and engage in other work while the person eats. So, the technology is to free the workers for other high-order activities rather than tie them down to the machine.
Take the example of robots as truck drivers or as autonomous cleaners. Truck drivers and cleaners in reality do a lot more than just driving and cleaning respectively. The former determines what to load first and last and how to tie it all down securely, act as representatives for the trucking company, deal with various government officials, take charge of the security of the load, seek help if the vehicle breaks down, maintain & repair the vehicle. The latter keeps a note of when best the trash can be cleared out (keeping in mind if an important business meeting is underway in the conference room), whether the pantry needs re-stocking, socializing with the employees while tending to their needs, also refills the autonomous robots with water, soap and disinfectant.
Automation needn’t be the end of a worker’s job but should be looked at more as a displacement of tasks, in fact boosting the demand for workers to perform complementary tasks. So, what automation really does is change the way people use their time. No matter what and where people do repetitive tasks, eventually automation will take it over but what it cannot are ‘distinctively very human’ capabilities- social and emotional intelligence, complex reasoning, creativity and forms of sensory perception.
I couldn’t agree more with Kai- Fu Lee, a leading A.I researcher, investor and computer scientist when he says that these ‘soft skills’ will give the new blue-collared labour force the much needed human-edge rather than pose as a handicap.
How many of you would agree with me when I say that I’d rather have a ‘human’ bartender make a drink and interest me with his stories rather than a robot fix my drink for the evening?