When I haven't been watching Supernatural, I've been enjoying watching the original Mystery Science Theater 3000 (thanks to Netflix). I'm going to try and finish the original series that they have up before starting on the new one. Luckily Netflix seems to enjoy a guy and his two robot friends criticizing bad old movies as much as I do.
Currently I'm watching an episode that features a Public Service Announcement on farming and how fresh vegetables are now available all year long in every part of the USA. Not going to lie, watching the the guy and the robots sing the praises of the almighty truck drivers is hysterical. Granted the PSA was probably made in the 1950s (give or take a decade as I'm never actually sure when it comes to old PSAs).
Despite the humorous antics from the robots, I can't help but notice how automated the farming process is, even back in the 50s. When you juxtapose it to the two robots making fun of it, it really hits home how much technology has changed.
Because let's be honest with ourselves, the greatest threat to our workforce is machines.
If a robot or a computer can do it faster, better, and more cost efficient, you can bet they will replace the imperfect, slow human. You can see evidence of this going back to the turn of the century. Seriously, look at a picture of a bowling alley 100 years ago and you won't see machines resetting the pins, you'll young kids doing it. Once the bowling alleys were able to automate the pin setting process, the kids who set them were obsolete and had to find new jobs. Now you only see bowling pin setters in gym class.
That's just one example. There are hundreds of others and these types of changes have been accelerating since the industrial revolution. Horses have been replaced by cars. Lamps are used instead of candles to keep the lights on. Everyone has a laptop.
Being apart of a science fiction community has me almost constantly thinking about what types of machines we will have in the future. I mean it's hard to write science fiction without imagining the future machines we will have. Then again as soon as I dream up something to help me with my life, someone has patented it and started selling it within the year.
We are living in an amazing time. We have computers that fit in our back pockets and vaccines that have helped eliminate deadly diseases. And the future is even more exciting. Soon everyone might live in a Smart House (remember the Disney channel movie?) and have self driving cars. Drones will probably deliver the items we order online within minutes of us purchasing.
That's great, but it does raise one big question. What sort of jobs will there be in the future? If there aren't manufacturing jobs or jobs that require people to do the same thing over and over again, will there be something else for the people who originally had those jobs to do?
Certainly the age of the Internet has opened up a wide variety of possibilities, that is if everyone has access and can afford the costs. Many people have become Famous on YouTube without the help of TV executives or have started their own successful website without the use of a brick and mortar store.
However, if robots can replace one set of jobs, isn't it theoretically possible that they could replace all jobs? Humans therefore wouldn't need to work, but they also might not have money/resources to buy the things that are being made by the robots.
Would humans therefore become obsolete?
That's a scary thought.
I mean Mystery Science Theater 3000 has already demonstrated that two robots can replace humans as snarky film critics. Yeah sure, the robots aren't actually robots in the show (they're puppets), but we've seen examples of movies and TV shows influencing the types of technology that will come out in the future (see Star Trek for details). The Nostalgia Critic might have to worry he'll be replaced by a robot with a sarcastic program chip sooner rather than later.
Perhaps I'm reading too much into the technology available today. Perhaps I am worrying too much about the future and what sort of jobs will be available for the next generation. Or perhaps I am using my blog as a world building exercise for my own novel as I try to figure out what the economy is like 50 years into the future and you guys are my unfortunate captive audience.
Anything is possible in my mad world.
If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.
And I swear I haven't been replaced by a robot...yet.
Until next week.
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