Yann Boutang has written an interesting piece on the introduction of Cognitive Capitalism. He has listed the 15 markers of cognitive capitalism. It is clear that as our knowledge grows, we are discovering new ways to make production faster, thus, eliminating specialized areas of work. Opposed to factory production, we now live in a society in which one worker is trained to be able to perform various different tasks, rather than understanding and specializing in one task.
As our knowledge grows, as does our technology. Andrew McAfee has created an incredible lecture explaining that almost all industries that were once entirely dependent on humans are now turning to technology. One of his most memorable points is that "economies run on ideas". Innovation is key to the functioning of our society. However, this does put a strain on the labour force. For instance, McAfee gives the example of the new Google self-driving car, which is able to drive and function without the assistance of a human. He predicts that an innovation like this will eventually take over the trucking industry. McAfee also makes a humorous reference to Kevin Jennings, who is a genius who has won the game show Jeopardy 73 times. The show eventually had Jennings play against Watson, a computer designed by IBM, and he was defeated. This just shows that with the growth of our knowledge, technology has the ability to outperform humans in various areas of life.
Andrew McAfee Ted Talk
As technology advances, do you feel that our generation will struggle to find jobs? Or do you feel that new technological innovations will provide a larger labour force?
Hi Claire,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting read here- and I think you raise an excellent point. I think that as technology advances it is indeed going to be more difficult for our generation to find jobs. You provided excellent examples in your post but another one is the auto industry- many people are losing their jobs or not being able to find jobs because there are machines that can do the jobs instead now.
Although I think it's going to be more difficult for us to find jobs in certain areas I also believe there will be employment opportunities for us in areas that don't even exist yet. For example my Dad went to school for engineering but now owns his own search engine optimization company through Google- this is something that wasn't available to him when he was starting his career in his 20's.
So in conclusion, I fear for us but I also have confidence that CS majors will do just fine down the road!
I think that the only thing that is going to leave us struggling to find jobs is the fact that people are retiring later and later and life which is really impacting the size of the job market.
ReplyDeleteTo comment on what you said, I think that the introduction and expansion of technologies in work environments is what is keeping people from retiring. As new technologies are brought in, people's jobs get easier which probably means they are less stressful. If that's the case, why bother retiring! Who cares if new grads have better ideas!
Anyway, moving on from my cynicism. Having technology in the work place also has potential to create jobs. Using Heather's example of the auto-industry, I would like to point out while robots have replaced the technicians that build cars, they created a job as robot technician. Additionally, I think that technology creates a larger workforce in the sense that someone else mentioned in an earlier blog post, New Ventures. I think accessible technology will make it easier for new grads to create their own positions in the work force, rather than take opportunities away.
I think the idea of cognitive capitalism is one that needs to be analyzed quite closely. I find the example of the self driving card to be a particularly important one. Right now, everyone is suspicious of the self driving card and as a result we are taking great strides to ensure their safety before making them accessible by everyone. But what happens when they are approved for the wide spread use by everyone? Their accuracy is said to eliminate nearly all of the potential accidents, injuries and deaths on the road. They are also said to be cost effective as they level their rule consumption accordingly. These, among many other advantages the self driving car propose will lead to a high adaption rate (especially by businesses). These cars will replace thousands of jobs which as noted above will abolish many skilled jobs. These technological advancements have the undeniable advantage of precision and accuracy- they can do things that humans simply cannot. While we should embrace them as a way to improve life, we also need to think critically about the long term ramifications they may have on our economy.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Nicole in regards to the amount of jobs which are created to tend to the technologies which are replacing some human jobs, and to build on that, there are also many jobs being created because of the way society is changing to become increasingly digitized. There now need to be data analysts for online information, and most companies hire people as full-time social media representatives.
ReplyDeleteI actually found this article on Mashable which talks about jobs with super-futuristic-sounding names that either already exist or will exist soon in society because of advances in technology and the way society is going.
(Here's the link: http://mashable.com/2015/10/05/tech-jobs-brandspeak/#1yickVOwluqW|)
And while we're talking about jobs in which machines have replaced humans, I think it's important to consider positives to that. Most of the places where humans are being replaced by machines are factories, and as discussed earlier, in the auto-industry. Factories are responsible for many workplace injuries, so it's possible that the implementation of machines instead of humans will make labour slightly safer. This can also be argued with the example of the self-driving car; without human risk, negligence, and error, will commuting be safer? Will there be far fewer car accidents? Something interesting to consider
While technology does eliminate the need for certain jobs, it does not necessarily mean it would be a factor in new grads not finding jobs, as there will just simply be a shift in the market in what types of jobs are available. As Heather and Alannah mentioned technology will provide new opportunities that have not existed before. The examples of digital strategists, social media coordinators and online marketing coordinators are all types of jobs that were created due to technology. That being said, it is interesting to note while new jobs do get created, it emphasizes this shift to cognitive capitalism, requiring us to invest more time in learning new skills and knowledge in order for us to understand new software to help us be able to do these new jobs. It is this knowledge that makes us valuable workers in today’s market. A great example is while working at Vicinity by Rogers this summer during my co-op, the marketing team’s data analyst who is an expert in Salesforce left the company for another job, which created a bit of chaos because my boss could not find someone to replace him that knows as much about the software. I invested time in learning the software as much as possible before our data analyst left, therefore I became the new expert and became a valuable team player to the point I was offered a raise to stay an extra term and defer my school. This is a good example of the emphasis of cognitive capitalism in today’s market and how knowledge and investments are valued. I agree with Nicole that a bigger factor in new grads not being able to secure jobs are due to people retiring later, which is another reason why new ventures are appealing to students. As commented previously, technology allows more students to consider the path of creating their own business instead of working for big corporations.
ReplyDelete200 years ago, there was a group of people known as “luddites” who were English textile workers. This group feared that they would lose their jobs due to the introduction of new machinery, which required less skilled and low wage laborers to operate them. The Luddite movement led to a region wide rebellion in the North West of England that required a massive deployment of forces to suppress them. The term has now developed into meaning someone who is opposed to all types of new technologies in general. Overtime we have found that as new technologies come into being, jobs are created in new areas, so that people are employed just in different areas. So, to answer your question, I do not believe that our generation will struggle to find jobs because of new technological advances. It is also very important to be aware of growing industries and job prospects in new developing areas. Where growth job prospects diminish in one area, they expand in others. You will see what I mean if you read this article! http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/17/technology-created-more-jobs-than-destroyed-140-years-data-census
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