Andrew McAfee Asks - What Will Future Jobs Look Like?
| Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs -- or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In a far-seeing TED talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them. |
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Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs -- or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In this far-seeing talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them.
In a talk that echos that of his collaborator, Erik Brynjolfsson, McAfee details how his analysis of the present economic recovery increasingly points to the fact that automation is replacing jobs in sectors of the economy that it hasn't ever done. Professions and skilled workers are now being replaced by artificial intelligence and automation and the statistics he presents back that up.
“Within [our lifetimes], we're going to transition into an economy that … doesn't need a lot of human workers. Managing that transition is going to be the greatest challenge that our society faces,” says McAfee.
He points out that while humanoid robots remain primative, the DARPA Robotics Challenge will usher in a new widespread age of android use.
According to McAfee the economic challenges as we enter what he and Brynjoffsson call, "The New Machine Age," are great. Far from being technophobic about machines he quips, "I am going start to worry about [the Terminator-type dystopian situation] when my computer becomes aware of my printer."
McAfee points out that accepting that this is happening may actually help policymakers deal with the situation. The economic signs show no sign of reversing themselves he states.
According to McAfee the solution is clear: encourage entrepreneurship, build up infrastructure and change the education system to ensure that students are learning the appropriate materials to prepare them for a changing world.
"My biggest worry is that we're creating a world where we're going to have glittering technologies embedded in kind of a shabby society and supported by an economy that generates inequality instead of opportunity," states McAfee.
Perhaps more unconventionally, McAfee also brings up the possibility of a guaranteed minimum income over the longer term. Admitedly, McAfee says he does not have the answer, but is optimistic that solutions to these issues will be developed.
McAfee studies the ways that information technology (IT) affects businesses, business as a whole, and the larger society. His research investigates how IT changes the way companies perform, organize themselves and compete. At a higher level, his work also investigates how computerization affects competition, society, the economy and the workforce.
He's a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His books include Enterprise 2.0 and Race Against The Machine (with Erik Brynjolfsson). Read more on his blog.
SOURCE TED
McAfee points out that accepting that this is happening may actually help policymakers deal with the situation. The economic signs show no sign of reversing themselves he states.
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"My biggest worry is that we're creating a world where we're going to have glittering technologies embedded in kind of a shabby society and supported by an economy that generates inequality instead of opportunity," states McAfee.
Perhaps more unconventionally, McAfee also brings up the possibility of a guaranteed minimum income over the longer term. Admitedly, McAfee says he does not have the answer, but is optimistic that solutions to these issues will be developed.
McAfee studies the ways that information technology (IT) affects businesses, business as a whole, and the larger society. His research investigates how IT changes the way companies perform, organize themselves and compete. At a higher level, his work also investigates how computerization affects competition, society, the economy and the workforce.
He's a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His books include Enterprise 2.0 and Race Against The Machine (with Erik Brynjolfsson). Read more on his blog.
SOURCE TED
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