Is this Neo-Luddism?

Before I put my thoughts in to this post and assumed to be following Neo-Luddism. I must clarify, I am not! I just want to draw attention to finding a cure before epidemic spreads.

I have always been fan of technological advancements and understand that change is inevitable. We must adapt to change!

Historically, people/organizations who have been in denial, later had to face the consequences. We shouldn't be in denial and we shouldn't fear technology but analyze, plan and adapt. Be prepared to face the challenge head-on.

Future unemployment is my concern!

We tend to think about finding a solution after we encounter an issue, or worst when it gets out of control. But in case of technology we may not have time if it gets out of control (Sam Harris: Can we build AI without losing control over it?). We need to find solution before it happens.

We know it is a reality today that many blue-collar jobs are being lost to machines/technology and will pick-up pace going forward. For instance, 3D printing, fully automated construction machines, online retail etc.

Today, experts believe that majority of the jobs of the future will be in the fields of creativity, innovation and coding. That is already millions of jobs lost. Now add to perspective the “smarter” AI. We will, eventually, build machines that are smarter than us. They will improve themselves and might even build smarter machines. Then what?

We will not be regarded as smartest creature on planet. We lose our intellectual properties. That means, we will not even have jobs in the fields of creativity and coding. Imagine the impact of job losses and prevailing unemployment. I can’t predict how the future would exactly look like. But certainly, we all know that without work poverty and hunger rise and can lead to many societal issues, crimes etc.

The only solution is to think of possible impact and began to plan now. For instance, we need to look at our educational system, identify new fields of studies those potentially can create future jobs.

I don’t know what fields we will be working on when everything is taken over my machines. But that is the very reason I am suggesting we should begin the dialogue now…