Unsupervised

CHAPTER 6Reinventing Work

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

—Thomas Edison

The common misunderstanding that impacts our forecasting and future planning for frontier technologies is we believe computers need to mirror what humans do, perfectly and with real understanding. Influencers and thinkers who guide our policy and outlook argue that artificial intelligence, and more broadly frontier technologies, will never match humans because they cannot master seemingly simple physical skills such as holding or catching a ball or cognitive skills such as fully “understanding” the responses a program might generate. This misses the point completely. Systems do not need to be human. Humans do not need to be systems. They can share certain attributes but not others. In the end, the question is not one of substitution but moving toward a productive and fulfilling co-existence. This will entail a combination of productivity and a balance where both humans and computers can thrive. And this will certainly require us adapting. This chapter explores the following:

• How we have arrived where we are today.
• What productivity signifies in our evolving world.
• Where jobs will be lost and gained.
• The impact in a few important sectors.

Setting the Scene

“The man who does not value himself cannot value anything or anyone.”

—Ayn Rand

A group of cavemen fighting for survival every day could hardly have imagined a future tending crops ...