Do you think a robot will replace your job?

There is a lot in the news about artificial intelligence and amazing things computers can do now. They see, listen, and have conversations with us.

There is a lot of hype about intelligent robots that will eventually do all the work.

Make us redundant.

When we say Robots we generally picture a big mechanical human-like creature.

In reality, Robots are not that, and their capabilities are already here and many of us use them daily, somewhat unknowingly.

So if you got your weather forecast from Alexa this morning, or got driving direction using Siri this morning, you have already interacted with a Robot, and the Robot has done some work for you.

Robots are smart machines and complex software programs doing the work we humans would do. Not just the manual work, but also the white-collar “thinking” persons work.

Since the begging of time, we have always used tools to improve what we do. Like the tractor, we have substituted mechanical power for physical labor.

Over time we used computer programs to improve our processes, eliminate human error. Eliminating repetitive work. Eliminating mundane work.

These new technologies also made processes more efficient, help us reduce costs, gave us access to global users, gave us scale.

Amazon is a great example of how technology has transformed the way we shop.

So has there been a net gain or net loss of jobs?

— The percentage of adults employed in the labor markets is higher now than 125 years ago!

— There are more bank tellers now than when the ATM — Automated Teller Machine was introduced.

— In 1900, 40% of employment in the US was in farming. Now it is around 3%. We are producing more now, and also eating more!

There are two principals to consider —

We all work within a larger process regardless of what we do. Let’s use Real Estate as an example. There are many different jobs and tasks and events that make up the process of buying or selling homes. We can all agree many tasks in the process can be automated and jobs eliminated.

So automating some of the tasks, doesn’t make other manual tasks unnecessary, it makes them more important and increases its economic value.

It could very well mean that your job is eliminated, but it could also mean your job and value is enhanced.

This what happened with the bank tellers.

The second principle is good old greed. The fact that we never get enough!

As automation and robots free our time, we also invent new things, new services, and have new ideas.

For example, the advent of the personal computer and the boom of the internet has resulted in many jobs, products, and economic opportunities. These jobs were not even thought of 5 or 10 years ago.

We never get enough.

There is always work to do!

As they say — INVENTION IS THE MOTHER OF NECESSITY

The rate of change in the adoption of technology is much slower than we realize. People still use Fax machines. We still need to sign a paper document. We still use cash. We still use credit cards which is a very old technology. There are regulations and powerful interest groups that can prevent or slow down change.

There are concerning trends, especially middle-class blue and white-collar jobs. Economists call this “employment polarization”. This is a discussion for another day.

With all this technology and automation, we now do a lot more than the previous generations and we have a higher standard of living.

If a worker today wants to attain the living standard of 100 years ago, they would only need to work 17 weeks of the year.

If we took the labor force of the early 1900’s they would not be employable today. They would not have the education nor skills to do most jobs.

For centuries as new technologies gain momentum — economists, futurists, and pundits claim job losses and high unemployment is just around the corner. But mass job losses have never happened owing to technology.

So the answer to the question “Will Robots take all our jobs?”

To be honest — we just don’t know and we will need to wait and see.