We all have our own agendas and priorities, and yes, often thinking about the world’s biggest problems seems like a luxury for a few people.
Many have more urgent problems than global warming or the crisis of the liberal story. We can try to empathize as much as possible with that person, but we will never really know what they are facing if we do not walk in their shoes. No book in the world sheds light on all injustices together, but there are books that address them individually. Therefore, we have the task of writing a new version of the world’s script, and we can make sure that, for once, everyone is invited to the premiere.
It is clear that technology is promising in all fields of application, but this statement, however, does not come free of underlying dangers. The Artificial Intelligence revolution will soon leave millions of people unemployed. This displaced class will demand solutions from their governments, which they will not have if they are not prepared in advance, thus unleashing a social cauldron that no one would want to see.
Many new jobs will be created, there is no doubt about that. The problem is that the new jobs will require high levels of knowledge, so these positions are not an immediate solution for displaced workers without certain skills developed in some fields of action.
Yes, a farmer whose land was replaced by a factory in the 1930s was able to reintegrate into the labor market as an employee of that same factory and insert his son into it. Then, when it closed in the 90s, his son was able to reintegrate as a cashier in a supermarket chain. The supermarket cashier who is replaced today may look for a job in a restaurant. However, after that sequence of transformations, or when the last cashier job in a supermarket or fast-food outlet is eliminated, his transition to drone operator, software tester, Artificial Intelligence specialist, or 3D printing expert will not be as linear. Not only will it not be linear, but it will partly be our fault. It will be our fault when we opt to use the self-checkout instead of the one attended by a human being. It will be our fault when we choose to pay our taxes online instead of going to a payment location with human employees to attend to us. When we choose to go to a restaurant that allows us to order through a tablet and pay whenever we want, without having to signal a waiter or waitress who is working above their capacity, attending to more tables than they perhaps should, there too it will be our fault. Regardless of whether these actions can save us time, which is a key part of human progress, in each of those decisions, we tip the balance one way or the other, although what we really do is influence the speed of change, since it will happen one way or another. Technology has given us and will continue to give us many benefits and advantages; I am just inviting you to look ahead to the risks this also entails. Oh, and I almost forgot…! The report on the future of work released by Citigroup in 2016 reported the existence of three million cashier jobs in the United States[170]. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the existence of more than 3.6 million of these jobs and projected a drop of more than 250,000 positions by 2029[171]. Unfortunately, these estimates are likely seriously outdated following the new impetus that the covid-19 pandemic gave to automation. In fact, the latest report from the World Economic Forum on the future of work[172], projects that over the next five years, among the jobs that will be created and those that will be destroyed, there will be a deficit of 14 million jobs, equivalent to 2% of current positions. This is significant because it is the first time that a report from this important organization indicates a future decline in the labor market despite its historical proclamations that technology would create more jobs than it would destroy.
It is true that to date, the accelerated technological progress of recent decades has brought about a significant reduction in poverty. In fact, the UN reported in 2015 that there were 836 million people living in extreme poverty, which according to its measurement framework, refers to people living on less than $2 a day. While the number is high, it is almost half of what it was in 1990[173]. The problem this time will come from the speed of changes, which will make it often impossible to retrain people for new possible jobs in time. New jobs cannot rely on simple or repetitive tasks, as there will always be a machine or algorithm that solves them more quickly and accurately.
[170] Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions. (2016). TECHNOLOGY AT WORK v2.0 The Future Is Not What It Used to Be [Ebook]. Viewed on September 9, 2021, at https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/reports/Citi_GPS_Technology_Work_2.pdf.
[171] Cashiers: Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Viewed on September 13, 2021, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/sales/cashiers.htm.
[172] The Future of Jobs Report 2023. (2023). World Economic Forum. Viewed on May 1, 2023, at https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/digest.
[173] Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio Informe de 2015. Programa de las Naciones Unidas Para El Desarrollo. Viewed on February 15, 2023, at https://www.undp.org/es/publications/objetivos-de-desarrollo-del-milenio-informe-de-2015.