Jon Evans, “We should be worried about job atomization, not job automation.”

FEATURED IMAGE: OLCF/VIMEO UNDER A CC BY 3.0 LICENSE obtained from https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/16/come-on-baby-dont-fear-the-automator/

FEATURED IMAGE: OLCF/VIMEO UNDER A CC BY 3.0 LICENSE obtained from https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/16/come-on-baby-dont-fear-the-automator/

This article, recently featured in Tech Crunch, tells readers that the real problem is not robots stealing their jobs (which he thinks should be celebrated) but actually that full-time jobs are assumed to be the fundamental economic mechanism of our society and that we do not have the flexibility and creativity to consider alternative structures. Evans says we ought to be concerned about the trend towards job atomization – which he says is the replacement of long-term, full-time work with occasional, short-term contract gigs.

He notes that a decent minimum wage is a good place to start in addressing some of the issues that atomization will bring about, but that in the long run we will need to share the fruits of what should be a golden future with the precariat on an ongoing basis. For this, he looks to basic income. He writes, “A universal basic income may seem like a drastic change — but I submit that when technology ushers in what should be a giddily wonderful future, and we react as if it’s a terrifying horror to be feared, a drastic change is exactly what is called for.”

 

Jon Evans, We should be worried about job atomization, not job automation.Tech Crunch, April 17, 2016. 

Bryan Dean Wright, “Op-Ed Robots are coming for your job”

This op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times proposes “a Data Mining Royalties Fund.” According to the author, ” In short, I’m proposing that companies pay a royalty to a permanent federal fund when they mine and sell personal data.  From those proceeds would flow a yearly check, similar to Alaska’s permanent fund… Or, said another way, basic guaranteed income.”

Bryan Dean Wright, “Robots are coming for your job,” Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2016

Robot-staffed store in Tokyo

Robot-staffed store in Tokyo

Jobs in ‘security’ are about to end

 

peaceJobs in security are on the verge of obsolescence. Security jobs usually refer to night watchers, guards, soldiers, intelligence officers, police officers and so on. Armies, police, security companies and related industries employ millions of people worldwide, wielding vast amounts of power and influence on society and the natural world. However, and in spite of that, they are doomed. Why? Because people want to be happy and, on the verge of global societal breakdown, are beginning to understand that their happiness is linked to everyone else’s and that this positive state of being is so much better than the ever present fear, uncertainty and isolation. Happy people tend to be fraternal, cooperative and empathetic (and their happiness reinforced by these behaviors), which in the long term means there will be no need for “security” jobs, as we know them today. Much of the violence, war and conflict in the world today stems from the pure need for maintaining these “security” structures, which are ridden with a mentality of war, mistrust and distorted notions of what security means for most people.

But what is a security-specialized mega-entity, which employs dozens of thousands of people (for example the US Army), to do when people seem oblivious of their past importance and meaning and simply do not value them as much (if at all)? It tries to survive. And that may mean resorting to unconventional, radical approaches, such as covertly instigating conflict or actively promoting or supporting entities or actions which lead to scarcity, inequality and fear among people (which are powerful instigators of conflict and violence). That is their mantra as survival strategy goes. But guess what? The worldwide arrival of the basic income is imminent.

Not a novelty in itself, the basic income is arriving now with a renewed strength, strongly linked to values of peace, equality and freedom. Freedom to pursue happiness, to have a share of what should be shared resources, to connect more deeply with other fellow human beings and the natural world. The basic income, besides helping to liberate millions of people from directly and indirectly imposed slavery, also gives a bright opportunity for those strapped to the “security” business to abandon it, now that their hearts are no longer aligned with its associated roles. With less critical mass, fewer incentives and fewer individuals with a war-prone mentality , security entities will crumble.

Now I am not saying many innocent people who are employed by these entities deserve to be miserable – the idea is to protect them from collapse by systems such as the basic income and allow them to finally start doing what they really believe in with their lives. However, only dramatic transformations in our society (which stem from changes at the personal level) will eliminate security entities as we know them. Jobs in security are about to end and that is – given new and refreshed social approaches like the basic income – great news.

Scott Santens, “Robots will Take Your Job”

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Last October, the program AlphaGo, developed by the Google division DeepMind, stunned the world by becoming the first AI agent to defeat a professional Go player — a decade ahead of experts’ predictions of such a feat. Then, in March, AlphaGo surpassed expectations yet again, winning a match against champion player Lee Sedol.

In his recent article “Robots Will Take Your Job” (Boston Globe), basic income advocate Scott Santens explores the implications of advanced AI — machines like AlphaGo — for employment and the economy. Thanks to advances in the branch of machine learning known as deep learning, artificial agents are now able to replicate increasingly complex cognitive tasks. A consequence is that automation now threatens not only routine, manual jobs but many highly-skilled, cognitively-demanding ones as well.

Backing his claims with quotes from leading AI researchers, such as Chris Eliasmith and Andrew Ng, Santens makes the case that this tide of ever-more-sophisticated automation demands that we “seriously start talking about decoupling income from work” and explore a universal basic income.

Read the article here:

Scott Santens, “Robots Will Take Your Job,” Boston Globe, February 25th, 2016.

Update:

Following AlphaGo’s victorious match against Lee Sedol, Santens updated and extended this article, publishing the new version in Medium. The new piece is available here:

Scott Santens, “Deep Learning Is Going to Teach Us All the Lesson of Our Lives: Jobs Are for Machines,” Medium, March 16th, 2016.