The Robots Are Coming - But Not Yet! AI Vs RI
Few people are unaware of the threat that automation wields over the blue collar sector of society. From the Luddite days of smashing weaving machines, to the invention of the assembly line robot, and now with the impending explosion of AI-led driverless cars and a whole host of automated innovation. The blue collar worker has had to face all of these threats to their jobs.
However one thing that we are not really talking about in our society today, is the threat that low-to-mid level white collar workers are facing. Perhaps we are not talking about this threat because it is not sexy enough.
There are no stories of super intelligent machines running amok. No tales of robots doing the jobs humans used to do, hundreds of times more efficiently. This is the quiet unassuming story of real intelligence taking away what artificial intelligence can only dream of.
Navigating The Information Super Highway
The concept of gaining an advantage through information obtained, is not a new concept at all. Throughout human history, if an individual or group of individuals, has information that another group does not, then it is often the case, that the people with the info, can gain an advantage of the people without it.
This simple fact, is so powerful that within the business world, we have put restrictions on exactly how people gain and use information.
For instance, if you find out that the ACME Company is just about to be bought by Amazon, and you have found out this information in a closed meeting, or even got it without permission. If you then go and buy lots of shares in ACME, and are caught, you will be prosecuted, and possibly jailed.
However there are other types of information that can gain you almost as big an advantage as being aware of an imminent multinational takeover, and the internet is quite literally, awash with the stuff, and it is most certainly not illegal to use it.
Organisation Is Key
Trying to get information from the internet, is like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant.
The above statement is true in a lot of ways, especially when you're talking about current affairs and the news in general.
However, when we talk about the kind of valuable information that can gain you an advantage in a given situation, the story is quite different indeed.
It is easy to forget that the internet in its current (broadband) form, has been around for less than 15 years, even if you count it from the beginning, when the internet looked quite different from what we see today, it is still just over 25 years old.
Like all human innovation that requires constant input, the world wide web of information is getting better, and by that, I mean better organised, which in turn, makes it easier to access.
Now anything you want to learn, that does not require physical materials, can be easily found, and done online; or 'on the line' as my 87 year old mother charmingly calls it.
New Information New Power
This state of affairs is not a new thing, sites like Lynda.com and Udemy, have been around for a long time. However now we are seeing rise in what I like to call knowledge sector information.
Knowledge sector information is simply the type of info that will help you cut out a white-collar middleman (or woman). For instance, there are now many types of legal advice websites, along with sites where you can download official documentation.
Nowadays, you can search for a solution to a simple, non-criminal legal problem, and sort the whole thing out yourself. Which of course will mean the poor solicitor (attorney) who would have done the work for you, now won't get his grubby little hands all over your hard earned dollars; shame!
This of course isn't just restricted to the legal profession, within media, huge visual effects and stunning animation, used to be only accessible to professionals with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and specialised knowledge.
Now you can log into blender.org and download a truly powerful piece of software for completely free, then go to youtube/Lynda/Udemy and learn how to use it. I am not exaggerating when I say that software like Blender, with all the pluggins, would have cost somewhere in the region of $100,000 - $250,000 just 10 years ago, maybe even 5, now you can have it for nothing.
A Smart Use Of Info
The information is out there accessible to all, however it is not usable by all, or at least not in the same way. The fact is, if you have the sort of intelligence that would have probably fared well in law school, you'll probably be able to pick up legal jargon quicker than the next person.
If you're already an artist, or have had experience with media programs, well you're going to learn a lot quicker than somebody who is just coming to software like Blender.
Despite this, the threat that freely available, knowledge sector information, poses for low-to-mid level white collar work, and in some cases top level, is very real indeed.
Disappearing Disciplines
Even though this 'movement' has been silent, the signs are there to see. Within professions such as the legal one, it is harder to notice because they are cluttered with so many actors.
In other industries it is easier to see, with some jobs disappearing altogether, titles such as SEO Consultant
are becoming obsolete, and older jobs such as travel agent are all but defunct as anyone with a computer can do what a travel agent can.
The main way to protect yourself, is to recognise if it is happening to either your industry, or ones connected to it.
How will it effect you if the general public start to do what you do at a fraction of the cost? Or perhaps somebody that supplies a service to you is becoming obsolete, how will that effect the way that you do business?
The good news is that if you are a low-to-mid-level white collar worker, you probably have more opportunity to retrain than a blue collar worker in your situation. There's a chance that you went to college, or even if you didn't, you're not afraid to learn new things.
Regardless of whether you are an unskilled manual labourer, or an insurance broker, making yourself flexible and amenable to change is the key to surviving, and thriving in the new world economy, and building as much real intelligence as you possibly can.
HOW DOES YOUR INDUSTRY WORK, IS YOUR JOB UNDER THREAT BY A.I. OR REAL PEOPLE WITH MORE KNOWLEDGE? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
I agree with all your words. The job thing surely is a topic, but what I think really is the biggest "danger" is that Humanity is making itself too heavily reliant on technologies without having in store any plan B. Imagine how much stress it causes for people already when their mobile phone with all their data on it malfunctions.
There is just ever more information people need to consider and take care of in whatever it is, overtaxing the brain's capacity, hence requiring the execution of more and more "commands" to keep everything in place, like a machine which repeats motion sequences over and over according to a certain code. This again leads to overdrive of certain parts of the brain yet inactivity of others, making them rudimentary like a whale's feet. These inactive parts are mostly the ones responsible for our creativity, the absence of which in turn aggravates the conception of ideas for a plan B if this should ever be necessary...
Books dwindle while AI is entrusted with storing all data. Interesting scenario if all data got lost somehow without any chance of data recovery..
This is a scenario I explore in my story Asimov's Ghost, I am just about to post the long awaited Chapter 6 :-)
If you haven't already, you should read V.S. Ramachandran's books The Tell Tale Brain and Phantoms In The Brain, I can't remember which one is the second one he wrote, but that's the best one, though they are both worth reading.
I like your theories, you've set me thinking . . . :-)
Cg
Thanks for your story and book suggestion, I'll have a look at both. ;)
And have fun thinking! :)
I am a researcher with background in Physics. Let me start by saying my job is more under threat by people with more knowledge. If Artificial Intelligence is coming into play at all, it's only coming to play the role of making my work easier than it could have been and not take over the entire thing. To carry out research we cannot do without the real intelligence. Sometimes, one has to fall back on residual knowledge of many years back, derive equations and model and more. These things require deep and critical thinking which I believe can only be done by humans for now.
I think the key is, as knowledge workers we have to become less and less specialised as time goes on; though there comes a point I suppose, where you feel you're spreading yourself too thin.
Cg
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In my previous life I was a stock broker. Trades that might have cost $600 to $800 UDS are now less than $10!
Many stock brokers had to change to become financial consultants.
Yes, CHANGE is coming to a job near you!
Yeah it's funny how this is not really talked about much, yet we talk lots about a much sexier, much more abstract and distant threat like A.I. :-)
Cg
At work, there are always people who practice "job protectionism". They just hang onto all the knowledge for themselves leaving us newer people scrambling to figure things out. With the internet these days, we can learn a lot of it relatively quickly and it really scares them. Now, it's a generating a divide as they are realizing that they are quickly becoming obsolete.
Don't worry about them, people who practice job protectionism are the least effective people in an organisation. As they are so focused on their job title and status, that they entirely miss what the job is actually about.
Of course they will feel threatened, when new people not only learn the info they have been hogging, but also put it to far better use than the old guard.
The key is to not turn into one of 'them', always ask yourself how you can contribute to the company, that way the knowledge you acquire becomes dynamite! :-)
Cg
Indeed! I'm putting in all the effort not to turn into one of them. They are not only less productive, they are counter productive... Inhibiting everyone else.
Internet is more than 40 years old already for what it's worth. Internet came to Norwegian universities around 1978. I'm not sure when my mother started using it, but I would guess around 1980 ... I should probably ask her about that. I believe it was around 1990 I got access to FIdonet, and we did have some gateways to email and Usenet though they rarely worked.
Yes, very true, however in this modern form, it is all still very new.
Cg
Artificial Intelligence (AI): A lot of jobs would be lost to robots as time goes on. However, the nature of man's ability to adjust to current situation and environmental would help us keep up with the pace of AI's growth.
Man is always evolving.
Man would create new jobs.
very nices and good posts
Good Thinking
i am prayer for you and all
Yeah i am agree with you because its being a marvelous achievement in a days that you have alll the information available on the internet many informations have different advantages and disadvantages and the blender. Org you mentioned a good mention for the users t9 have the required software
Good Thinking😍😍 you are also the god themer