Since the beginning of time, man kind has shaped the surrounding world to evolve and coincide with the professions of that particular era. In modern day society new technological advances, as well as artificial intelligence robotics, are becoming rapidly produced at a pace at which the world has never previously experienced. This in turn causes valid concern amongst future working class civilians. This paper will provide an answer to the question, “As the fear of technological unemployment continues to arise, what should the U.S workforce expect?” The history behind the fear of technological unemployment, and the impending increase of societal tensions will also be addressed. Although this analysis will cite some disadvantages that accompany the expansion of technology in the workplace, the piece itself will primarily focus on the complementary relationship between a human worker and automation. Ultimately I will argue that technological unemployment will not make manual labor obsolete, instead it will spark creativity and create new occupations. 

Unemployment rates which are caused by technological changes or the introduction of new production methods in an industry or business, is known as technological unemployment. The fear accompanied with the phrase “technological unemployment,” traces all the way back to the mid seventeen hundreds. Renowned British writer of that time period, Thomas Mortimer, exclaimed that “Those machines are intended almost totally to exclude the labor of the human race.” Thus Mortimer only viewed the future through black and white lenses according to Rosen, the contemporary author of the article , “In Praise of Short-Term Thinking.” Rosen went on to acknowledge the longterm accuracy of other philosophers as to how the future of technology would affect the work force. Indeed most of their long term visions did ring true, however they all seemed to lack the color of creativity to their hypotheses. Many well respected men like Mortimer couldn't imagine the occupations that exist in todays world. Similarly some modern day professors and professionals lack this creativity, unable to visualize the vast potential that lies in the future that is the ever expanding workforce. 

While many are weary of technological change, society should begin to focus and recognize the beneficial aspects that automation holds in our daily lives. One key example of favorable high tech growth amongst areas of everyday life, can be seen through automated teller machines, better known as ATM’s. One may assume that the introduction of such automation would decrease the number of bank tellers across the globe. However since the ATM was introduced in the 1970’s, the number of bank teller occupations has indeed risen by 5%(Wladawsky-Berger 2015). One major factor towards such employment growth was the elimination of routine tasks. This change allowed bank branches to become more in tune with their costumer, establishing professional relationships dealing with: investment options, refinance meetings, loan discussions, and credit cards. Such focus and concern about a clients specific needs, not only allowed customer loyalty to arise, but also kept bank tellers in business. This is a prime example of how automation can benefit, as well as complement human professions.

Another advantage that high tech expansion will present to the work force, is the creation of new professions. Expert salesforce chief Marc Benioff expressed hope and belief that innovation will create new roles and new industries, in a personal blog post written by a woman named Sophie Bessin-Py. In the post, the author also shares the results of a Connected Living2025 internationals case study. The study was aimed at young adults from all walks of life, with the topic of discussion being the role that technology will play in the future(Bessin-Py, 2017). Thousands of responses came in from all across the globe, revealing that the next generation up to bat is extremely excited about the possibilities for the future of the work force. Finally Bessin-Py provides the reader with a quote of reassurance from IBM CEO Ginni Roometty. The quote states that, “AI will usher in a new era of partnership between man and machine,” thus leaving the reader feeling a similar sense of  hopefulness towards the future. 

Although a pleasing amount of benefits can be found to coincide technological expansion in the workplace, people should prepare for occupational shifts. According to leading labor economist, David Autor, society can expect middle class jobs to suffer most intensely from technological unemployment (00:11:51). Due to the fact that most mid wage occupations revolve around routine assignments, robotics will easily adopt such tasks in a more efficient and cheaper manner than that of human laborers. However this does not mean that all middle class families should envision themselves as homeless, unemployed beggars aside the road. No, in fact Autor acknowledges that this steady decline in middle class professions has been occurring since the early  2000’s, and may even continue indefinitely. However, no matter how advanced robots may become, they will never be able to fulfill the human traits needed in many middle skill jobs such as: flexibility ,adaptability, people to people skills, and quick problem solving tactics.  

While the middle section of the working class should expect the greatest impact of technological unemployment, the upper and lower classes will remain nearly untouched. Many people may believe that the lower class occupations would be the first to become replaced with robotics. However, David Autor once again explains that such low wage jobs require a certain human touch, that is tremendously difficult for a machine to replicate. Modern day programmers have yet to create a set of rules for automation to follow, which will in turn allow them to fulfill: protective services, food and cleaning services, health care aids, etc. For this reason, lower class professions have continued to expanded over recent years. 

Upper class occupations have also been on a steady incline over the past two decades, according to Autor. Society should expect this trend to continue since these particular professions, “are beyond the scope of computer substitution for the foreseeable future, but are very amenable to be complemented by sophisticated computer tools” (Wladawsky-Berger, 1). Due to the expansion of such complex high wage jobs more college graduates are expected to become employed over the course of the next decade.

An additional reason as to why society should not plan on a complete technological takeover in the workplace, is due to tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge became introduced in the 1950’s by philosopher Michael Polanyi. Polanyi explained that there are two types of knowledge when facing artificial intelligence programs, explicit and tacit (Wladawsky-Berger, 2015). Explicit knowledge is codified, traditional, and easily transferable from a human to a computer program. Tacit knowledge on the other hand, can be viewed as subconscious intelligence or a persons natural instincts. Often times this knowledge occurs best through personal interactions, and first hand experiences. Therefore, such a particular understanding is extremely difficult to transfer from the human mind to robotic programing. Tacit knowledge will continue to give the working classes of society an edge over automated competitors, and should reassure those who are fearful of technological unemployment.

In the scholarly journal written under the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, authors Ben Miller and Robert D. Atkinson strive to abolish the idea of technological unemployment all together. The piece serves to inform society that the economy is much too complex, to be affected by a sudden automation take over. Due to the broad range of professions and industries, there will always be room for the help of a human hand. Miller and Atkinson also highlight what they believe to be the main reason behind the fallacy of complete technological unemployment, this being the enormous amount of desire amongst humans. People are always yearning for more, thus if the jobs aren't available, new ones will be construed in order to keep up with societies wants. Pure passion to achieve and earn money, in order to establish the life one has imagined, will keep people in the work force above all else. 

Another major point that Miller and Atkinson target in the journal is that the idea of “robots taking over our jobs” stands unsupported by concrete data, or scholarly evidence. When examining a contrasting article  called,“Robots will eliminate 6% of all US jobs by 2021, report says,” such a statement proves true. The author, Olivia Solon, choses to title her piece by stating that a specific “report” provided evidence to the 6% of all US jobs being taken over by robotics, but fails to cite the source all together. While she does pull quotes from well respected professionals  such as the former president of the Service Employees International Union, Andy Stern, she forgo’s to include critical information. Such predominant information that is left out, deals with the details of: where this report came from, who conducted it, and how the conclusion came about. This in turn takes away from the validity of the argument, and forces the reader to second guess the message of the piece altogether. 

In contrast with the stance made by Miller and Atkinson in the scholarly journal “Are Robots Taking Our Jobs, or Making Them,” the company CGP Grey believes that technological unemployment is in fact imminent. This inevitability of automation in which society should pay close attention to is addressed in the video, “Humans Need Not Apply.” The narrator of the video focuses on the fact that, yes, indeed the world has experienced previous mechanically based revolutions but this time is different. Instead of “mechanical muscles” being used to replace blue colored labor, he argues that artificial intelligence robotics can take over nearly any profession across the spectrum. Since these advanced kinds of automation can learn what a person would like them to accomplish just by watching them, adaptation will not serve as an issue. The video goes on to exclaim that doctors, lawyers, writers, and Wall Street workers alike are in no way immune to technological unemployment. This is a large statement to present, and while he does provide supporting evidence, two major faults can be detected. 

The major faults can be found when delving into the example of medical professions facing the threat of technological unemployment. Imagine a loved one feeling ill, and being seen, examined, and treated by a robot. CGP Grey argues that this is an inevitable factor of the changes that will occur as a part of this artificial intelligence based revolution. The narrator states that IBM created a bot, which is programed to strive to be the best doctor in the world, his name is Watson. While Watson is able to interpret what a person states and give them back an accurate diagnosis, he is not perfect, but the narrator argues that neither are humans. This much the viewer knows to be true, but one also understands that a robot can by no means have the same human instincts as a mortal doctor possesses. Thus the factor of tacit knowledge comes in to play. As stated before Tacit Knowledge can not be translated into any software program. The human doctor and patient share the same basic anatomy, as well as natural born person intuition that will forever keep medical professions alive. 

Another major hindrance found in the video is the lack of acknowledgement towards what authors Miller and Atkinson dub as the, “second order effect” (Miller & Atkinson,11). According to the authors this effect is a crucial factor of the economy due to the fact that it: takes the savings from heightened productivity, recycles those savings back into the economy, thus sparking a demand for job creation.  CGP Grey’s video runs the length of an entire fifteen minutes, discussing a wide range of statistics and economic factors, but fails to bring light to the second order effect. 

Another extremely intriguing article on the topic of technological unemployment is, “AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs.” The report written by Aaron Smith and Janna Anderson, is comprised of  numerous divided analyses given by experts in the economic field, dealing with technological unemployment. The two authors also cite a conducted study that they performed on 1,869 labor specialists. The results were close, but showed that 50% of the professionals provided beliefs that technology will create more professions than it will destroy, by 2025 (Smith & Anderson, 2014).

A particularly important argument that the article also addresses, deals with the rise of social unrest as society adapts to technological advancements in the workplace. Alex Howard, a D.C based writer and editor states, “Governments will have to collaborate effectively with technology companies and academic institutions to provide massive retraining efforts over the next decade to prevent massive social disruption from these changes. (Howard, pg.1)” Many others seemed to agree with Howard’s statement, further vocalizing the preparation that is needed to escape a possible rise in societal inequality. 

One may be asking, “How should a nation of workers prepare for such an immense transformation of the workforce?” The answer can by found by starting at the root of all professions, the education system. As the mind begins to become molded in elementary schools, young children start to dream about the future. Overtime the beaconing of the real world will begin to turn a dream of being a firefighter, into a more realistic and dependent profession such as an: engineer, receptionist, architect, etc. The problem facing school systems today, is that these occupations may not even be available by the time kids venture out into the workforce. Thus posing the concern that such schooling has ill prepared the next generation for future occupational needs.

Further establishing the issue of readying the future generation for forthcoming occupations is writer and educator, Howard Rheingold. In the article, “AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs,” Rheingold declares, “The jobs that the robots will leave for humans will be those that require thought and knowledge. In other words, only the best-educated humans will compete with machines. And education systems in the U.S. and much of the rest of the world are still sitting students in rows and columns, teaching them to keep quiet and memorize what is told to them, preparing them for life in a 20th century factory” (Rheingold, 2014). Thus, society should not lose sleep over technological unemployment, but rather aim such concern on properly educating future generations in more technological based fields. 

One final piece of evidence which terminates the fear of technological unemployment making human labor obsolete is supplied by a CNBC online article. The piece provides the reader with an unbelievable statistic, that 140 years of data can support. The author Kalyeena Makortoff references over a centuries worth of data, beginning all the way back in eighteenth century United Kingdom. The report states that technological advancement “more than offset the loss of jobs in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors” (Makortoff, 2014), during that period of time. Even though the data shows drastic declines in the two particular professions previously mentioned, the number of accountants has risen by nearly two thousand percent. Thus while some occupations may disappear, others will continuously be on the horizon. Chief scientist for salesforce.com, JP Rangaswami says it best when he states, “Some classes of jobs will be handed over to the ‘immigrants’ of AI and Robotics, but more will have been generated in creative and curating activities as demand for their services grows exponentially while barriers to entry continue to fall. For many classes of jobs, robots will continue to be poor labor substitutes” (Rangaswami, 2014).

The future generation of workers, should undoubtably begin to prepare for a massive change. However this “change” should not be feared, just like the idea of technological unemployment. History has shown that as humans, we adapt and survive. Similarly such history has also demonstrated that technological advancement creates more professions than it destroys. Although many may argue, such as the company CGP Grey, that history has seen nothing to the magnitude of this high-tech age that we are about to enter. One could respond that, yes, artificial intelligence based robotics are progressing at an astonishing rate, but they will never place the human race out of jobs. Tacit knowledge, human desire, the second order effect, and the simplicity of the human touch will forever place the laborer above such “automated competition.” In fact, the world must begin to realize that robotic employees are not competitors at all. High-tech advancements will prove to compliment the human worker, making productivity greater whilst reducing mundane tasks. Even though it will take some time before society adapts to such a notion, we will acclimate, and continue to work while doing so.
