RE: Are machines really taking our jobs? Tech analysts weigh in.

rscasny — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 16:25:22 GMT

The premise of this story and the question posed in its title is a red herring. It side steps the real issue of the growth of automation technology and how the nature of work has changed. This kind of story is not new. I recall when I was younger having to read Alvin Toffler's "FutureShock" for a class writing assignment. By its very nature, the work was unnecessarily alarmist, as is the category of literature that bemoans technology. The wonders that technology offers humankind are the 8th Wonder of the World. There have been NO loss of jobs; rather, it is the type of jobs that have been created by the growth of technology is what has altered how we work. Human beings are increasingly not doing the actual work; rather, they are supervising the machines that perform the work. In turn, unskilled, brawn-type of jobs are being replaced by STEM-trained jobs. If there has been any failure at a high level (public policy makers), it is the lack of stress on the importance of training or re-training. There should be no road blocks to getting advanced education. All education should be totally free! It is terribly ridiculous that a new graduate is weighted down with $40,000 in debt. I have pondered my own life, which has taken a lot of twists and turns, both personally and career-wise. But I do recall what inspired me to work hard at learning mathematics (which initially didn't come to be naturally) was the Apollo space program and my being in Houston the day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. To be an astronaut, I had to know math and science. So I worked at understanding mathematics and functions y = f(x); once I learned the beauty of match, everything fell in place. If people believe that machines and technology are taking their jobs, they are out of touch with reality.