In a very bad last week one development cast the most darkness.
That was Microsoft's announcement that its News unit (MSN.com) was replacing about 50 human editors with robots. The giant tech company had opted for Artificial Intelligence (AI), not human intelligence, to make judgment calls about what news should be selected for viewing.
Now we know: Knowledge kinds of work, not only production tasks, could be and would be automated. Yes, the Microsoft move signaled the beginning of the end of work for the majority of humans.
Sooner than later the entire role of the human being will have to be reviewed. Not that our central identity had always been work-centric. Back in the Garden of Paradise Adam and Eve enjoyed a lifestyle without work. Then they screwed up. They were sentenced to work.
For policy leaders around the world, Universal Basic Income (UBI) is gaining acceptance.
After COVID-19 derailed the economy of Spain, there is some version of UBI for 2.3 million of its residents.
Meanwhile the weekend of social unrest following George Floyd's death will have even conservative leadership in America thinking about UBI.
Expect high-brow media such as PBS to feature segments on the peril of so much youth around the world having no work prospects. Already, I have been ghostwriting white papers on that tinder box.
Meanwhile, even some hard-charging careerists have had it with worshipping at the altar of work. That - often called The Protestant Ethic - is the real religion of America. But in work more of us no longer trust.
All generations have gotten knocked around, badly. The Class of 2020, ranging from the BA/BS crowd to JDs, is scrambling.
Seasoned professionals are losing those big jobs. Influential media outlet Law.com has a podcast in which Silicon Valley lawyer Cynthia Cole attempts to remove the stigma associated with layoffs. Recently 65,000 jobs went poof in the legal sector. To survive COVID-19 fallout law firms will have to up the pace of automating tasks on the low end like document review and on the high end such as strategic planning for case management.
Then there are the growing number of us over-50. Research by ProPublica hammers us with the reality that there is a more than 50% chance we will be forced out of our jobs and only a 10% chance we will land a comparable one. The self-employed are faring better, for now. If a global economic depression settles in for the long term we entrepreneurs could also experience the end of work.
It's not unthinkable that governments, including that of the U.S., will put out notices asking for volunteers to stop working or looking for work. Instead, they will opt to receive UBI. Humanist organizations will introduce memes about a meaningful life without work.
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