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Robots Are Coming For Our Jobs, Just Not All of Them
szczys writes: There was a video published on YouTube about a year ago called Humans Need Not Apply which compared human labor now to horse labor just before industrialization. It's a great thought-exercise, but there are a ton of tasks where it's still science-fiction to think robots are taking over anytime soon. Kristina Panos makes a great argument for which jobs we all want to see taken by robots, others that would be very difficult to make happen, and some that would just creep everyone out.
Most of the time when such disparity occurs that the general population starts to starve results in the leaders and top 1% getting their heads cut off. Never underestimate the power of an entire population with nothing to lose. Some of the rich people realize this, others don't, but in the end if what you claim comes true it won't be very long before it's not true anymore.
Really?
Tell that to my fellow grads who got degrees in accounting. No one could find a job :-(
Excel and VBA took over book keeper jobs. You can't get a CPA without experience and a masters degree and you can't get experience without being a book keeper. A catch 22.
Really most large companies use Quicken and Excel to do their jobs and people in India to do a double check with the numbers. Those with experience and 22 credits in finance can take the CPA ... oh and to get anyway with real experience to pass HR you need to do 2 year internships at the top 3 accounting firms for 70 hours a week to prove yourself.
It seems more jobs pay less, work more, and have steeper requirements as time goes on. Automation is putting the squeeze in this area for everyone and yes even IT. Object oriented programming and better tools cost programmers more jobs too. IT jobs typically have more hours today than 10 years ago because so many have been replaced and are higher to work 14 hours if you include a pizza.
The incentive is made by the CEO and CIO of the company to cut costs. Not you. Similar analogy? I downgraded to a crappy DSl connection :-( Why? Comcast wanted $100 a month with no TV just for internet??! Fuck that. I went to DSL to save money. I know it is not as good but my priorities is I will tolerate it as I have bills to pay.
A CIO knows they get inferior work by outsourcing and using programs to replace people. However, the savings make the pain worth it. Same principle.
http://saveie6.com/
If a human can figure out how to do their job, an algorithm can describe it...
Almost all of them would do that, it costs them nothing and what are they going to do with an extra salad? But no that rarely happens. But brining the high chair for my 3yo without asking, that's bonus points. Bringing extra napkins to a table with two kids. Bringing water as well as any alcoholic beverages, without having to be asked. Refreshing given restaurants "free" items (bread, chips, fries, whatever it is) without having to be asked. Just generally not trying not to see you. Those are all ways to earn extra tip.
Yet still, I deserve all this, and should not have to tip because I'm paying anywhere from 2x to 10x the cost of goods and labor for a meal and their boss really should be paying htem.
My father used to be one of those book keepers - a pay clerk. He ended up without a job, along with another dozen people. Most of those didn't go on to become employed in Silicon Valley - actually, none of them did.
As you've squinted hard enough, you've convinced yourself that the many hundreds of thousands of book-keeping staff went off and joined Silicon Valley, but they weren't the only ones that IT put out of work. Many people lost their jobs, and fewer jobs were created as a result.
Not everyone is young enough to re-educate themselves in a different field - where I live, if you're 40 and you re-educate, you won't get a job over some 20-something who'll be happier with a fraction of the salary. Reality is a bitch, but it trumps ideology every single time.