What Are the Jobs of the Future?

We will explore future jobs and how humankind will fit into a world order dominated by the future technologies we created. We will explore how "human activity" will be taken over by these jobs a century in our distant future, thereby rendering today's jobs obsolete relics of the past.

Years and centuries into the future, we will be experiencing great and revolutionary changes to the way we live, how society works and how humankind as a whole will see itself. Our world has been shaped by different periods of technological growth and progress from the Neolithic Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. Exponential growth in population and rapid advancement in manufacturing, production and consumption coupled with the rise of automation, artificial intelligence and robotics will transform human society fully integrated with our mechanical wonders.

Quarantine Enforcer

We are living in an ever-changing world. With human progress and globalization, we are blurring the lines of political divisions and national borders. But as a consequence, we are also hastening the spread of diseases and a future global pandemic is looming on the horizon. New strains of viruses and communicable diseases that are resistant to drugs and our immunity will spread like wildfire. There will be a growing need for quarantine enforcers in the future and they will be more despised than border guards and traffic officers.

Hospitals won't be able to keep up with a growing number of infected individuals if quarantine enforcers cannot stop the spread of disease. In an insane dystopian world of a zombie apocalypse, they will be the last line of defense for the survival of the human race. They will be armed and loaded to stem the tide. Even a single bite can spread the contagion far and wide.

Body Parts Maker

In the future, the advancement of regenerative medicine, nanotechnology and genetic engineering has made it possible to replace human body parts from an arm or leg to more complicated human organs. Gone were the days when we considered the idea of stitching a dead person's body part to a living person. Organ transplants are now routine but a future body parts maker may soon 3D print a human body part from scratch.

There will be a growing demand for these specialists responsible for growing new organs thereby decreasing the wait list for an organ transplant. It is possible that every 'perfectly' healthy person would get new parts just to upgrade their body to be able to do things they don't normally do.

Climate Change Reversal Specialist

Let's face it, climate change is a real phenomenon that's threatening our lives and the world we live in. In recent years, we are experiencing some of the most extreme weather and climatic changes in our history from the highest temperature on record to the strongest typhoons ever to hit. It seems that each of these catastrophic events may be irreversible due to the way we destroyed our environment through pollution, environmental destruction, heavy exploitation of Earth's natural resources and our obsession to control nature.

In the future, there will be a huge shift in the way we deal with these events by getting the services of climate change reversal specialists to reverse such trends. These scientists and engineers will study weather changes across time by analyzing trends of wind, temperature, lightning, sunshine and rainfall patterns. It would be interesting that with the great scientific know-how that we have, there is a possibility that weather-changing machines would be developed as a way to protect the Earth or perhaps destroy an enemy nation.

Climate change reversal specialists will look at how society can adapt and lessen the impact of climate change, and how citizens can positively impact and protect the environment.

Vertical Farmer

In the future, a new agricultural revolution will change the way we farm, produce food and even the way we eat as the population skyrockets and natural resources are strained. Arable lands will become scarce, irrigation will reach its breaking point and crop yield will likely drop. What's the solution? Farm vertically through hydroponics, greenhouses and hybrid crops.

Smart technology will increase agricultural productivity even in highly dense megacities as rooftops are transformed into climate-controlled greenhouses. Air and water recycling will reduce the dependence on fertilizer and irrigation. Vertical farmers will be the most sought-after profession in the future as many will be needed in far-flung space colonies to provide the needed food supply to transplanted inhabitants on Mars and beyond.

GMO / GMC Farmer

Looking forward 50 years from now, population growth will be sky high that all the major cities in the world will be bursting out of their seams and food production will reach a critical level that we will soon be run out of farming regions and even the most productive fields can no longer fulfill the growing demands for food. Cloning and genetic engineering technologies will allow us to farm food from scratch.

We change how our crops will look so that a genetically modified banana will be 25% more nutritious than its counterparts 100 years ago or a peanut will be the size of an apple. All the selective processes will make it possible to plant Earth crops on Mars or perhaps bring Alien plants and animals back to Earth to produce food for us.

Hydroponics will make it possible to plant fruits and vegetables in a sea of liquid nutrients and artificial sunlight. Aerial drones will monitor crop yields, zero in on unproductive areas and provide enough coverage without the need for additional manpower. Let the robots pick up all the fruits grown, examine the health of cows and pigs and process everything in-house.

By then, the only time we touch our food is when we put it in our mouth. GMO/GMC farmers will no longer be using their plow or tractors, all they need is their tablet computers to check on the yield and production levels.

Space Pilot / Space Tour Guide

We all know that we are going to go to Mars and eventually, other planets in the future. So with that in the pipeline, there will be a boom in space tourism -- more space pilots and space tour guides will be needed to meet such demand. It is interesting to note that there may be legal issues involved once space tourism has become fully established.

According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty , the launch operator's nationality and the launch site's location determine which country is responsible for any damages that occur from a launch. Safety remains a primary concern for future space travels with civilians so it is not clear yet when space tourism will become viable.

Elon Musk's SpaceX, for example, has to get a license that focuses on public safety and the safety of property from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. New Mexico has passed the landmark Spaceflight Informed Consent Act , which gives legal protection to companies that provide private space flights in the case of accidental harm or death to individuals. Anyone who signs an Informed Consent waiver, dictating that spaceflight operators cannot be held liable for the "death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of space flight activities". Operators are however not covered in the case of gross negligence or willful misconduct.

Once the legal hurdles have been passed space tourism will become viable. Commercial spacecraft will become as common as commercial airliners so travelling to the moon and back will be like crossing the Atlantic regularly. I'm sure, no one can wait to get their hands on a round-trip ticket to Mars!

Planetary Colonial Governor

Futurists and visionaries are expecting that the United States, European Union or China will start sending human colonists to Mars by 2050 and it is expected that by 2100, we will have a viable space colony. By the next century, we will be creating a carbon copy image of what we have on Earth on another planet. At that time, our world may be a one-Earth government and Mars will be governed the same way too. In the far distant future, Mars may become a separate entity on its own and will probably declare independence from its Earthly overlords. This is where a planetary colonial governor becomes necessary.

If you are the planetary colonial governor of Mars, you have to implement laws similar to what is on Earth. But with a diverse population and virtually empty wilderness to govern, it would probably be like governing Jamestown of colonial America and the old West where frontier justice takes center stage. Since the planet will be governed like a colony, it would be interesting how Earth will treat the Martians (transplanted Earthlings to be specific). As governor, you could rule the planet like a despot as long as you served your Earthly masters well.

According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (yes, there is one!), Mars is not owned by anyone. Since nobody can own a planet, who are we to ask permission to colonize it if we intend to send humans there? However, there are no Earthly laws that prevent anyone (say Elon Musk) from sending humans there and setting up their own colony.

Some experts believe that Musk's hypothetical Martian colony will be under American laws even if the spacecraft will be launched in the French Guiana or Kazakhstan. SpaceX is an American private enterprise and subject to American laws and technically, all colonists that will be sent to Mars are SpaceX employees. But what about colonies from major space players (i.e. China, Russia, India, Japan and the European Union) that will be established soon?

These scenarios will surely be debated in the future as to how we will govern future space colonies. It would be possible that transplant Earthlings will govern the planet as one or the different space colonies will govern themselves like the country that sent them.

New Science Ethicist

The development of science in human history has always met a lot of ethical challenges as we uncover the world around us and how everything works. Whenever we achieve new scientific breakthroughs, one ethical question is always being asked to the scientific community - are we playing God?

No one has thought that cloning, genetic engineering, and other life-changing technologies can bring in a lot of controversy and opposition. Is it because scientific progress overturns traditions and social order? Is it because we will question ourselves on what it means to be human by then? In the future, 'new science' ethicists will be the gatekeeper between progress and tradition.

There will be a fierce debate about what makes us human. Will an android have the same rights as we do? Can advanced AI-powered robots be given citizenship? Well, we have already taken the first step as a female humanoid Sophia became the world's first citizen of her kind . It is really up to our grandchildren and future ascendants as to how they can balance scientific progress, political principles and religious beliefs in a future society revolving around technology.

Memory Augmentation Surgeon

Have you tried upgrading your computer's RAM, CPU and Hard Drive? Chances are, we may need the help of a memory augmentation surgeon to upgrade our brain and have it backed up on a cloud as well . Science fiction may become an ordinary thing in 2065. The memory augmentation process may involve embedded technologies that will connect itself to your brain. The use of such technology will increase our abilities to retain, store and process information to the point our augmented brain will be like a supercomputer.

Today's brain surgeons and neuroscientists may reinvent their roles in the future as they will perform brain implant surgeries and perhaps gain more knowledge in advanced computer engineering by incorporating multi-core processing into our heads. Hard drives can now be miniaturized and it is even possible to store information in one's DNA. Future application of this technology will make it possible for us to store more information than we can currently hold and everyone will become a "walking encyclopedia" in the future. We can access information as quickly as how we search it on Google or Wikipedia.

Elderly Wellness Consultant

It is expected that the human population will reach beyond 10 billion by 2030 and global demographics are also projected to go gray as developed and industrialized countries will have more senior citizens than younger people. Caregivers, nurses and elderly wellness consultants will become not just a high-demand job but a necessity as more younger people are needed to take care of the elderly people.

Japan has been adopting robots as elderly caregivers and companions due to a severe labor shortage in this area. The good thing about using robots is that they can operate without getting tired or bored. However, the human component remains essential as robots don't have the compassion and empathy that we have. This is where an elderly wellness consultant comes into the picture.

Advancements in medical technologies and healthcare have made it possible for us to live longer and because of that countries with a large percentage of senior citizens are facing financial strains on social services. Soon services will be catered to every need a senior citizen may need and elderly wellness consultants will become an indispensable profession.

However, it is also possible that we may see this job gone as it will be possible to clone back to life a dead loved one or perhaps use an android that has the human characteristics of someone we know. Only time will tell!

Nanomedic

Medical technologies will advance so much that it will be possible for us to become "immortals" or near-immortals. Nanotechnology powered with deep learning and artificial intelligence will remove doctors and surgeons from the equation in future medical care. Humans will be relegated to pre- and post-medical care servicing patients like a mechanic tuning the engine or fixing tires. In the 2016 science-fiction romantic film "Passengers," Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence) saves the life of her beau Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt) with the help of the Autodoc.

The Autodoc in our future will be a replacement for all we learned about saving and prolonging our lives. It will be like a 3D printer that will repair all the damaged internal organs of our body. It echoes the Biblical story of Lazarus being risen back from the dead.

Nanomedicine in the future will make it possible to inject nanobots into our body that will repair destroyed cell structures, combat all sorts of infections, bacteria and viruses, and even restart our heart or brain. With the help of nanotechnology, it will be possible to miniaturize everything to fit inside our blood vessels so that there will be no need to take our regular medications.

In Steven Spielberg's 1987 classic film "Inner Space," it was envisioned that nanotechnology will allow us to explore the inner realms of our body literally but it is implausible to miniaturize humans to drive nanoships inside our body.

We will envision a nanomedic to do all the necessary preparatory procedures before the patient is processed by the Autodoc. Since machines will take over all the 'dirty work,' this job will be a menial one. Further post-operative briefing and care will also be taken care of by the nanomedic. Further sub-atomic treatments will be done with injections of specialized nanobots that will be activated remotely and wirelessly. Nanomedics can monitor the progress but artificial intelligence will eventually take up most of the load anyway.

Memory Eraser

Have you ever imagined a future where someone can erase a particular moment in your memory as if that thing never ever happened or irreversibly erase everything that ever knew? Well in Hollywood films like "Men in Black" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," it will be all too real in our distant future.

There will be specialists that will be paid to erase bad memories and perhaps, weapons that will erase all our memories for good. In fact, scientists have already started experimenting with prototypes on rats. It won't take long until they get to use it on us!

Cloning Regulator

As soon we get away with all the ethical and legal issues of cloning ourselves , governments will start regulating it so that all human clones are kept tracked so that you can tell the difference between your spouse with that of their doppelganger. Not only that, it is also essential to know which clone is defective or not. We don't want an army of cloned super soldiers wreaking havoc in our cities.

Privacy Manager

Now that we have become connected through the Internet and social media, we have blurred the lines of privacy so that anyone can peek inside our private lives without us knowing it. Everything will become so transparent in the future that algorithms will take over and predict what we are going to do next. Privacy will become a luxury so that only rich and powerful people will get to enjoy it.

With that prospect in mind, it will become an opportunity for privacy managers to help their clients become anonymous in the future digital world.

Need help on your thought leadership campaign? Let me help you set up a newsletter on LinkedIn and write articles that will drive traffic to your website or landing page.

If you have questions, feel free to message me directly.