The Realistic Bogeyman

Are The Solutions The Real Problem?

Published on December 12th, 2019 at 6:14 am by Code Runner

AI and Automation are going to put millions out of work - And YOU'RE NEXT!

Yup, that's what we've been told. It's constant, it's everywhere, but is it fact or fiction? Well, the truth is AI and Automation aren't going to do anything - you are.

Think about all of the jobs that have been done throughout history, big and small -- here, I'll give you a starting point:

The town crier, the knife and scissors grinder, the stagecoach driver, the ferryman, the wheelwright, the stable-master, the chimney-sweep, the milkman, elevator operators, telephone operators, woodcutters, the ice cutter, track layers (gandy dancer), newspaper typesetters, the fuller, the typist, the lamplighter, necessaries, photo developers, video stores, broom makers, soda jerks, street sweepers, human computers, telegram messengers, herd drivers, log drivers, radio and vaudeville actors, film projectionists and cinema, record stores, orchestra leaders, orchestra musicians, whalers, tunnel miners, stokers.

This is hardly an exhaustive list - these are only in the last 80 odd years and some of them a lot more recent than that. Virtually every job that existed before that is now gone and was replaced with some new job utilising some form of technology. The most recent jobs that we're seeing fade away at the moment include drivers (truck and taxi,) clerks and cashiers, store stockers, and manufacturing line workers.

And what has society lost from all of these professional disappearances? Well, unless convenience, lower costs, abundance, health, connectivity, productivity, and speed are detriments, not much. And yet we constantly hear the cry go up that the loss of jobs to technology -- whether it's to automation or AI -- is going to put millions out of work and society is going to implode.

Scaremongering and Victimology -- pure and simple.

Sure, some of these jobs reflect a more quaint era and sure, I'd love to see society go back to being a bit more simple, but what am I actually wishing for? Was it ever more simple? Is that reality or some idealist Hollywood image that's been shoved into my head from years of watching films and TV?

The fact is that we are now living in a world that is more abundant, more technologically advanced, more medically capable, and more desire fulfilling than ever before. What's more simple than being able to live, work, sell, shop, and talk to anyone on the planet without leaving your home?

Yeah, that's the reality of it.

We also have a small group of people that have a lot of wealth, power, and influence and who are feeding you garbage data that is the exact opposite of reality. Why? Because they want to make sure that you are dependent on them for everything.

The AI and automation scare is more of the same.

Millions of people now-a-days are worried that their jobs are going to be eaten up by technology and that the government needs to do -- something -- to stop it. Stop what? Technology? Advancement? This process has been going on since before we left the caves. The spear maker was put out of work by the invention of the bow and arrow. I don't remember ever reading anything about the Coalition of Spear Makers (CSM) demanding that Chief Wacka-Maka do something to protect their jobs.

And what, exactly, is the government supposed to do? Well, let's see, what have they done in past?

Oh...nothing? Yeah. Nothing.

Pandering and promising is slightly different from doing. For all the promises that we've heard for decades and decades, there is nothing they have done, there is nothing they can do; there is nothing they should do.

Let me ask you this: What would you rather buy?

  • A device with which you can type and print a document -- no editing by the way, just typing -- but you could, with an additional cost, create up to 4 copies of that un-editable document.
  • Or a device with which you can type, spellcheck, grammar-check, edit, play games, calculate, design, communicate by text, voice, or video in realtime, send mail, buy and sell products and services, and store and retrieve planet loads of information?

Well, considering that (adjusted for inflation, of course) the typewriter cost an average of $7,000 in 1940 and the personal computer costs and average of $1,200 today, you'd be a massive fool to choose the former.

That's the way that it has always been. Technology increases and products improve. Nobody forces us to use a product. We use it because we like it better, it's faster, it's more efficient, it's smaller, it's more fun - whatever the case may be, it makes our lives better.

Nobody forced you to drop your Nokia phone when the iPhone came out...you did it because it was better. Nobody forced you to stop going to Blockbuster when Netflix came out...you did it because it was better.

So, to all the professional typists out there who no longer had a job because the computer became a thing, we said what? What a shame, someone needs to do something to help them?

Yeea-NO.

Look at the reality of it. Instead of having to live paycheck to paycheck, slaving away at a job for some company somewhere, we now have the ability to write, schedule, order, manage, log, calculate, design, buy, sell, communicate, and a million other things, all from our homes, and for as many different people or companies as we can handle.

Such a shame.

Name one technological advancement that you use that you were forced to buy; something that you really wish you could do the old way because it just used to be better. Your TV? The dishwasher? The clothes washer? Your heater or air conditioner? Maybe the baby monitor or the hot water heater? Oh, I know, it has to be the toilet.

I can't think of anything either.

Sure, somethings are kinda quaint -- I'd love to have a fireplace in my house and I will someday -- but would I give up my heater for it?

Nope.

BUT PEOPLE AREN'T PRODUCTS

We're told that putting people out of a job is not the same as upgrading your phone - you're evil. you're mean, uncaring, and heartless.

I see. Okay then, let's try again:

Whom would you rather hire?

  • Someone who has the skills to build a static website interface and, perhaps, get that site up on a server using Wordpress or Joomla?
  • Or someone who has the skills to design and build a custom, dynamic web application, including database design, security, server to server API connectivity, and cloud synchronisation?

Yeah, me too -- product or person, it's the same thing. Technology or skill-set, it's the same thing.

So, let's go back to the notion that technology is taking your job. If technology is going to replace you as you are now, the answer is simple: Don't be as you are now; upgrade yourself.

KNOWLEDGE ISN'T POWER, SKILLS ARE

We now have the highest percentage of people with a college degree ever. We also have about 50% of those people who are underemployed and only 30% of them are actually in a job that is related to their major. So 70% of people who went to college don't use what they learned and half of them don't make enough to warrant or pay off the cost of what they learned.

Now, why do you think that is?

It's not the cost of tuition -- can't be. If college was free the numbers would be even worse: even more people would have a degree and even fewer people would be incentivised to get a degree that had marketable value. So, if it's not the price of education, what is it?

SKILLS!

Walking out of a college with a $40k certificate of completion does nothing for your marketability especially when there are 4 million new "others" just like you each and every year. What real-world skills and experience do you actually have? NONE. Why? Because what you learn in the classroom and what you actually need and use in the real world are completely different and often opposite.

Let's do this once more... Who would you rather hire?

  • Person A with a piece of paper that states that they have learned the concepts behind language, communication, philosophy, and sociology
  • Or Person B who started working in the industry 4 years ago and who, even though they may not be able to discuss the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, now has a large number of completed projects and experiences under their belt.

Yeah: B. But why?

Because Person B learned from experience -- they know what works and what doesn't and they can get the job done because they've done it before. All Person A has is at least $40k's worth of debt and the potential for a huge disappointment. It's not hard to see why college kids have the problems that they do. It's a racket and you were duped.

FINE - SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER

No one has YOUR best interest at heart like YOU do -- not your followers, not your "friends", not your professor, and (certainly) not your senator. Your family and your tangible friends are close, but they're not you.

"THE MAN" isn't holding you down - you are. YOU are the only one who really cares about you and YOU are the only one who can do anything about your situation. Like it or not, that's the hard reality. Anyone telling you different is manipulating you; intentionally or not, they are manipulating you.

Make yourself more marketable. Make yourself the one person at the company that is un-fireable. Make yourself the "go-to" guy. How?

Reach into your pocket; what's in there? Chances are that you have a small, rectangular device in there that connects you to the absolute sum of human achievement and knowledge. There is virtually nothing that you can't find out how to do just by searching on your phone or computer. The only way to stay ahead of technology is to USE IT TO KEEP YOURSELF RELEVANT.

Now, I have a series of mentored Master Classes that teach you how to build web based applications. There are lessons to go through each week that teach you not only how to design, program, and build web apps but WHY programming works the way that it does and knowing WHY is the key.

Anyone can tell you what to do in a given situation but every situation is different. If you don't know why you are doing something, there's no way that you are going to be able to figure out how to do it without being shown.

Knowing why gives you the power to discover how.

And each and every week we have a live question and answer session so that, if you're having trouble with something you can get actual LIVE help. If you want feedback on something, you get actual LIVE feedback.

That's support, that's motivation, that's community, that's progress, that's independence, and that's money in the bank.

KNICKERS!

This design requires a screen size that is at least
320px wide.

Nobody cares about height -- height just isn't a thing

Width...Yeah, that's a different story.

Seriously though: update your phone. I don't like being tracked either but your screen is too small!