“The megatrend toward mobile, autonomous, multipurpose, and bespoke robotics is gaining traction much more quickly than most corporate executives realize” ("The Rise of Robotics"). Technology has been transforming the global workforce in more ways than one, however with more technology comes less job positions to fill. With jobs being as important as they are, it is essential to know what risks may follow with what type of job one may pursue. This is important to college students specifically because this is their time to figure out what career paths they want to take and knowing the risks associated with each job may change some of their decisions. The articles focused on look into the technology savvy future. This means that technology has not just taken over factory jobs but has moved to the “personal realm.” The mere speed and efficiency of robots have caught the eye of company owners that want more work done for less money. The articles go into depth on certain statistics related to technology and what strategic considerations company owners should look into as they head towards an all artificial intelligence workforce. Once technology creates mass unemployment and income inequality, then the demand for goods will start going down because no one will have the money to pay for them. This will ultimately result in little to no economic growth. Some argue how people need to stop worrying that robots will supposedly take their jobs. Many of them are just blaming robots as a distraction from their problems in the real world. Which jobs are most likely to be taken over by technology, how this idea might affect education of the next generation, and the effect on the economy as a whole are the most important issues at hand. Expanding technology is changing the workforce as time goes on in a negative way. The more potential and profit business owners see they can get out of an all technological workforce will soon diminish all the jobs that people would fill. This will then affect the education system in that the majors associated with the most risk will not be taught or pursued by anyone anymore.

Technology is transforming the global workforce tremendously. First it is important to look at the jobs that are most likely and least likely to be taken by artificial intelligence such as robots. The whole argument is basically based around the statistic that 47 percent of the worlds jobs are in trouble because of this issue. Even if a fourth of that number is at risk for losing their job, that is still an incredible amount of people. For a job to be put at risk, the job has to be somewhat predictable for a robot. Kottasova, from CNN, says “So far, robots have mainly been replacing manual labor, performing routine and intensive tasks. But smarter machines are putting more skilled professions at risk” ("Smart robots could soon steal your job").  It started off as low paying, low status jobs, but now any job is looking to be just as susceptible. For example, jobs that require a lot of social interaction with people such as therapists and doctors don’t have much of a threat because the emotional attachment and help is crucial in helping patients get better. The jobs that are most threatened are the ones that do not require much emotion or affection, which includes many jobs not in that category. A few jobs that are most likely to get replaced by machines are telemarketers, factory workers, and workers in the food industry. For example, a robot can make and flip a cheeseburger at McDonalds in only ten seconds, which looks like the tiniest amount of time compared to how fast human workers can make them. This is just the first of many jobs being taken by robots. Another important aspect to look at is “What determines vulnerability to automation is not so much whether the work concerned is manual or white-collar but whether or not it is routine” (“Automation and anxiety”). Business owners are going to start to see how much cheaper it is to transform their entire human workforce into a technological workforce. There will be less money to spend on labor hours for people and the productivity will increase by an enormous amount. This means the demand for their product will go up because more products will be produced in a shorter amount of time.

Some countries in the Middle East have already turned over to an all technological workforce which makes people think the United States might be next. Also, looking back to the agricultural revolution, 80 percent of the United States’ labor force worked on farms and today it is a mere 2 percent. That is a tremendous difference in not only the labor force but also peoples lifestyles. This just shows that if technology can make that big of impact on one aspect of the economy, imagine what it can do to others this day in age. In one of the articles, an oncologist is talking about how his doctors were instructed to complete the same tasks as the technology he had at the time and the technology won with flying colors. This brought up the subject of whether or not jobs done by humans were going to be replaced by artificial intelligence in the upcoming years. Overall, this just addresses the question of if technology is creating or destroying the essential jobs needed in everyone’s day to day life. The authors of the articles are trying to address the situation where eventually technology is going to replace the jobs of the people that really need it however, the business owners are starting not to care that much because the profit is the main thing on their mind. The audience is obviously the middle class or the people with jobs that don’t require much direct social interaction. 

Another important aspect to look at is how this tremendous change is going to affect the economy as a whole. This is because technology has evolved tremendously and is taking on jobs that no one would have ever thought. Once technology creates mass unemployment and income inequality, then the demand for goods will start going down because no one will have the money to pay for them. This will ultimately result in little to no economic growth. One solution the author Ford mentions in one of the articles is a “guaranteed income for all,” however this wouldn’t be ideal for many people. The author is a futurist who focuses on the impact of technology and artificial intelligence on today’s society. One significant quote that an author says in one of the articles is “People can decry these developments and worry about their “dehumanizing impact,” but we need to determine how emerging technologies are affecting employment and public policy.” This is saying that one can’t look at how many jobs are being taken but what people will be without if jobs are already taken by robots. 

It is important to know what benefits people won’t have without jobs such as healthcare and whether or not the education system should change its curricula. The education system would have to be completely turned around if this started becoming a threat because most of the most popular majors students look at when entering college are the ones that technology would be taking over. These majors include biological sciences such as doctors, business majors such as sales representatives, and public relations such as social media outlets. If the most popular majors had to be cut out of the curricula, then potentially the amount of students entering college would decrease. Therefore, the amount of experienced, educated people that would be qualified for any job would also decrease. 

Addressing counterarguments is another important aspect of arguing a well-developed thesis. The article that was analyzed as the counterargument was written by the editorial board for The New York Times so their main intention is to argue to people that robots stealing jobs is a myth. They bring in facts from history and tie in the most recent election to justify their points. This shows they are obviously biased in some way. This goes into depth on how people need to stop worrying that robots will supposedly take their jobs. Many of them are just blaming robots as a distraction from their problems in the real world. There have always been times in the past when people think technology will eventually replace humans in the workplace and it has not ended up happening. The New York Times says “The rise of modern robots is the latest chapter in a centuries-old story of technology replacing people. Automation is the hero of the story in good times and the villain in bad” ("No, Robots Aren't Killing the American Dream"). They think that since no one is in the most ideal economic situation right now, that’s why they feel the need to blame robots. This idea also blames politicians in a way for not supporting policies that let workers share the money that is made from artificial technology or robots. The Ted Talk, “Why we will rely on robots” by Rodney Brooks looked at is given by someone who obviously has a different idea than the other authors that have been looked at through the research process. He also thinks that robots replacing people in their jobs will end up being a good thing considering it will free people from very tedious tasks and expand the pool of retirees. He brings in a robot that moves and responds to touch which will eventually be able to help out the aging population. This is significant to this argument because if the number of workers decreases, there will be more people that are retired and need help with things at home. The robots that can physically respond to certain movements or sayings is a great way of taking advantage of this demand. 

From the other standpoint, however, looking at the recent statistics, things are different now than ever before. Technology is starting to fill job positions no one had ever thought and it’s getting worse and worse every day. Looking back in history is obviously important and helpful when looking at a subject like this, but again things have changed tremendously. The technological advancements that are being made from day to day are incredible and these machines can be capable of anything. Eventually, there will end up being robots that perform surgeries on people that know what to do next in a certain situation or when something goes wrong. When humans are performing surgeries, there’s always the question of which operation will be the quickest or the most productive, but with robots, they analyze every aspect of the diagnosis in full detail so they know what will happen in the procedure and what could possibly happen during the procedure. Since biological sciences is one of the top majors at all schools around the nation, there will be many students with no idea what to do with their career path. This is not just the case with biology majors, but also many other majors that are widely known throughout each college campus. If technology actually takes over the workforce in the upcoming years or decades, there will have to be major changes to what majors colleges are going to allow or the curriculum being taught to students. 

Obviously the workforce is changing due to technology every day, however if it is a positive or a negative thing is respective to each individual. Looking at patterns of the past and other countries that are adopting an all technology lifestyle, there is justification for the argument that technology will one day take over as many jobs as possible and leave people questioning what to do with their lives. There will also need precautions to be taken because there are some serious consequences to peoples economic status if one loses their job and cannot find another job with the job experience they already have. It takes a lot of time to go back to college and get an education on a new field of study. Not only that, there will be an increased demand for the same jobs and the same majors if most of the jobs are already filled up. This will increase the competitiveness of students at universities, therefore making each job position even harder to obtain leaving many unemployed. The counterargument makes some very valid points, however, as said before, this topic is all dependent on the person. 
