I first became aware of the concept of the millennial in the mid-aughts, when the conversation shifted to how the generation would impact the workforce as it came of age. Baby Boomers and members of Generation X were wondering.
A decade later, millennials are beginning to ask the same about smart machines, which are beginning to be treated with the same skepticism that greeted millennials when we came on the scene.
I am especially sensitive to this question this week, as I am visiting InfoComm in Orlando, Florida, a commercial electronics show that shines a spotlight on the newest advances in consumer hardware and software. All the technology here, from hospitality terminals to the newest advances in commercial drones, promises to reduce the need for even a moderately skilled human workforce.
At the airport on the way here, I picked up Harvard Business Review and Bloomberg Businessweek. The former reported at great length on the state of smart machines in the workforce today. Each article underscored how this will impact the workforce is up in the air but indicated education and procurement of advanced skillsets no longer are the only means by which one can remain competitive in a workforce in which even the simplest robot is learning how to report the news. The latter publication was devoted to a wonderfully written essay on coding and the necessity of understanding how it works to remain viable in the workplace now and in the future.
Mechanics who fixed cars “in the old days,” before it was “all about computers,” already have learned this. Many of us are just getting around to understanding what is coming. It is code — and algorithm, actually — that facilitates the sale between the ad buyer and Google and Facebook, by the way. Consider that this role once belonged to a class of human employees — marred by imperfections, biases and flesh-and-blood physiology — that has been dwindling since those massive computers that relied on vacuum tubes and punch cards started to find their way into 20th century offices.
This shift has been in motion for decades, though the rate of technological advancement today has become exponentially faster, making it difficult to imagine the future before it gets here. We bound into it more quickly by the day.
At a panel discussion on the opening night of InfoComm moderated by Nick Bilton of The New York Times’ Bits Blog, panelists talked about the so-called Internet of things.
In theory, one day very soon — and in some places, this already is very much the reality — all devices, utilities and appliances will talk to each other. Rooms will sense who we are and adjust to our preferences. Music, lighting and heat will change based on who we are. Refrigerators will detect when we are short on food and let the grocery service know, and a drone or driverless car will deliver to us what we need. We will pay for this somehow, I guess, despite the fact the drivers, retail employees, stock people and others in that supply chain will be out of a job.
Since the industrial revolution, there have always been fears like these, though job opportunities have remained on par with population growth. The quality of jobs and compensation, unfortunately, have been less promising. The factory goes away, becomes mechanized, comes back and pays a fraction as much as cost of living continues to rise.
But I digress.
Bilton, the panel moderator, asked one of the panelists a question related to smart refrigerators, and the panelist responded: “Be polite to the computers.” Bilton, half-jokingly, responded, “Because they’ll be in charge one day.”
I don’t mean to be alarmist. So many of the fears about millennials entering the workplace were overblown, ill-informed and stupid. It is worth considering, though — on top of considering how we will live on this warming planet, how we are going to supply enough food, how we will access water from dwindling supplies, how we will address acidification of the oceans and how we will confront all of the other catastrophic visions of tomorrow — how are we going to make our livings when machines are smarter, faster and stronger than we will ever be?
Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was a teenager. He’s an owner-partner of a Portland-based content production company and lives with his family, dogs and garden in Cornish.
