The Future of Work: Research, Commentary & Analysis on How Tech Is Changing Work
Larry G. Maguire
Work & Business Psychologist specialising in the performance & wellbeing of people at work
The Future of Work is a weekly issue from The Sunday Letters Journal that takes a look at current research, commentary and analysis on how our working lives are changing due to advances in technology. If you are a paying subscriber, you’ll get access to research papers, essays and articles that you may not otherwise through paywalled sources. Prepare for the future of work. Get each issue here every Friday .
We are more than our cognitive function, more than the chatter in our heads, and more than the need to collect things and obtain success. But this “more” is not more per se. It is quality, rather than quantity. But if we look at human behaviour and motivation, we might be convinced otherwise. The natural world and all that lives in it are seen as mere inputs in the pursuit of outputs - a binary system of push and pull. From the dawn of the industrial revolution, and arguably long before it, human beings have treated one another as means to commercial ends, components in a hydraulic system.
Today, despite physical working conditions having undoubtedly improved, this seems to be still largely the case. Psychologically and emotionally, work remains an assault on the person for many of us. In spite of our best efforts, the contemporary workplace appears to make us sick, and the advancement of AI and associated technologies may fast-track our movement along this trajectory. However, there is also the opportunity for it to make things better.
We are more than the collection and processing of data. Why not let the machines do that and let us engage in more eudaimonic pursuits? I’m not sure we have the capacity, though, given how we have been conditioned by the world of work. We should try nonetheless.
In This Issue
The Reality of AI
Artificial intelligence is a scientific discipline that is by no means new, with its foundations dating back to the beginnings of computer science in the 1940s and 1950s, with numerous different methods whose purpose is to reproduce cognitive functions by computers. The term “artificial intelligence” itself was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy, one of the founding fathers of the field, along with Allen Newell and Herbert Simon.
AI Implications For The Future of Work
AI is predicted to have a globally transformative influence on economic and social structures similar to the effect steam engines, railroads, electricity, electronics, and the Internet, have had. Novel AI applications in the workplace of the future raise important issues for occupational safety and health. Understanding the possibilities and challenges of AI for the future of work will help mitigate?the unfavourable effects of AI on worker safety, health, and well-being.
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Documentary: The Future of Work
The next Industrial Revolution is upon us, and scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers are warning of an imminent paradigm shift in the future of work. In partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations, VICE talks to industry leaders and labourers to learn how radical developments in automation and artificial intelligence are set to change the world of work as we know it.
Dystopia or Utopia: Which Way Will We Go?
The numbers are striking. Over the past 50-plus years, automation has enabled companies to do more work with fewer people. West illustrates this by comparing some of the largest companies of 1962, such as AT&T, to the largest companies of 2017. Apple, for example, was 40 times as valuable (in terms of market capitalization) as AT&T was in 1962, but its workforce was just one-fifth the size. Some experts believe that the next wave of automation will play out as previous waves did.
Closing Words
What will truck drivers like Don and Mike from the documentary above do when all trucks are self-driving? What about aircraft pilots, surgeons, house builders, shipping operators, farmers and workers in other industries? Some of these industries may be difficult to automate, but as the further division of labour continues, it may only be a matter of time. We can 3D print almost anything these days, and that will become faster and more accurate as technology advances. The Future of Work might be disastrous for humanity, just like Sam Altman suggests . Or maybe it’s an opportunity for us to find work that allows us to be creative rather than mere elements in an input/output system.
This issue of The Future of Work was published on 12th May 2023 for premium subscribers to The Sunday Letters Journal. It is republished here on LinkedIn for free access. If you would like to read The Future of Work each Friday, you can subscribe here . Thanks for reading.