The Obsolete Man Vs AI
by David Bozeman
You knew I had to cover this eventually.
I know next to nothing about the subject except to say that everyone who hasn't been touched directly by it yet, will be eventually. Do any of us have a future?
I recently watched a short video of famed libertarian journalist John Stossel discussing the east coast dock worker's strike that almost occurred last fall (but was delayed till this year if negotiations fail). Aside from higher pay, the major contentious issue is automation and AI. Workers want to be assured their jobs are safe.
Stossel, however, is cheering for your robot replacements. As if hosting a cheesy info-mercial, he gushingly explains how automation is great because it does the same jobs more efficiently. What's not to love?
I'm very much a free market guy, which means I understand that efficiency drives our economy, i.e., getting the most work done for as little money possible. That is how any sane person would run a business, so I would applaud Stossel (and his guest economist who backs his claims) if he were speaking at a conference or if we were solving the world's problems over coffee into the night.
However, back in the real world. . .
Let's say you're a fifty-year-old dock worker. Your boss pulls you to the side and informs you that your job will be eliminated within a year. Stossel cannot understand why you're not thrilled to be living in an age of technological wonders. Apparently, anyone who doesn't revel at the idea of losing his job to a robot is just a hard-headed dinosaur.
I know the arguments. Joe Schmo will be freed up to perform other, less strenuous tasks. Yeah, you may require some training, but what's not to love about reinventing yourself? The 'experts' never tell me: can I start over at fifty and still make my house payment/rent without interruption? Can I be sure that someone will hire me at age fifty-plus and nearing retirement? What is the cost, in terms of time and money, of reinventing yourself?
As manufacturing jobs were shipped overseas, we were seduced into complacency with promises of an 'information-based' economy. We in America will work at computers and push buttons, with the heavy lifting relegated to Asia and Mexico. As it turned out, the information jobs went overseas, as well. And retail/service jobs aren't guaranteed to stay around, either.
What irritates me is the smug self-assuredness of the paid thinkers and experts. "It's you little people who need to reinvent yourselves to remain viable. You don't think that applies to US, do you? The world will always pay us for our deep, profound insights." AI has a way of surprising even the smartest among us. All you scholars and talking heads, don't get too comfortable.
According to libertarians, minimal government and a market economy will maintain a stable, prosperous society. However, if entire swaths of the country feel obsolete - and, as a result, become unemployed and hungry - the stability we have taken for granted will prove to be as obsolete as the jobs resting in history's proverbial dustbins.
I have few if any answers to offer. I'm just here to say that the greatest of theories render real-life consequences about which maybe the 'little' people should lead the discussion. The great thinkers are right - don't let society render you obsolete. But they are speaking to you as a cog in the economic wheel. I consider you, the reader, someone much greater. Your potential for life, for contributing to humankind, far exceeds mere dollar signs.
Ultimately, AI and automation are not the greatest enemies of prosperity and fulfillment. Our obstacles are human - the smug, elitist opinion-givers, some famous, some not, who make the rest of us doubt not just our own abilities but our worth as human beings (not meaning to be too hard on John Stossel - his work stands out in a field of predictable thought).
Just one man's perspective, observations born of hard work, disappointment and triumph. This post not AI generated.
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Comments welcome.
davidbozeman63@gmail.com
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