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The Future of Work Is Uncertain, Schools Should Worry Now

posted by mrpg on Thursday December 14 2017, @11:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the robot-scare-fad dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Weep for the future?

Today's 6th graders will hit their prime working years in 2030.

By that time, the "robot apocalypse" could be fully upon us. Automation and artificial intelligence could have eliminated half the jobs in the United States economy.

Or, plenty of jobs could still exist, but today's students could be locked in a fierce competition for a few richly rewarded positions requiring advanced technical and interpersonal skills. Robots and algorithms would take care of what used to be solid working- and middle-class jobs. And the kids who didn't get that cutting-edge computer science course or life-changing middle school project? They'd be relegated to a series of dead-end positions, serving the elites who did.

Alternatively, maybe Bill Gates and Elon Musk and the other big names ringing the alarm are wrong. A decade from now, perhaps companies will still complain they can't find employees who can read an instruction manual and pass a drug test. Maybe workers will still be able to hold on to the American Dream, so long as they can adjust to incremental technological shifts in the workplace.

Which vision will prove correct?

30 years into the Information Revolution and schools are only just now realizing they should teach kids how to code...

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday December 15 2017, @06:28AM (4 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 15 2017, @06:28AM (#610147) Journal

    You never heard of economic depressions in feudalism.

    Why would you? No one was keeping track of them and hence, they are invisible. You'd just read about the causes and consequences. Things like wars, famines, disease, breakdown in social order, etc. Those get into the history books.

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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday December 15 2017, @07:02AM (3 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Friday December 15 2017, @07:02AM (#610166) Journal

    There was very little trade, and hence no economy?
    Robots, khallow! It's all about the robots!

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday December 15 2017, @04:26PM (2 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 15 2017, @04:26PM (#610340) Journal

      There was very little trade, and hence no economy?

      If trade exists, so does economy. Little economy is not the same as no economy. Plus, a big portion of the economy was through non-voluntary things like taxes and tithes rather than through voluntary things like trade.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Friday December 15 2017, @07:07PM (1 child)

        by aristarchus (2645) on Friday December 15 2017, @07:07PM (#610405) Journal

        Luxury goods, perfumes, jewelry, weapons, sort of like the economy in yachts today.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday December 15 2017, @08:25PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 15 2017, @08:25PM (#610433) Journal
          In feudalism, the fundamental economic activity is giving a portion of your livelihood in the form of taxes and receiving in turn protection from the vagaries of the world, including bandits and other feudal lords. When that system breaks down, it's not a case of "Oh dear, I don't have enough pepper for my crow pie.", but more a case of a lot of people dying.