Where is our future?

Today in coding class, we watched a video by CGP Grey called “Humans Need Not Apply”. In the video, CGP Grey talks about mechanization and the mechanical revolution. There are already robots being built and programs being written that can do things faster, cheaper, and better than humans. It has left a very unsettling feeling over me, because I still have at least 6 years of education left before I can get a good job, but by the time I get there, there may not be any jobs left for me.

The robots will not only take over low-skill jobs that require little to no training, but they will also take over white-collar jobs. Apparently, that isn’t enough, because the magical creativity of humans isn’t that magical, and is being replicated just as much as other jobs. The video talks about when cars were invented, and the horses thought that that would be good, less labour for them, and new jobs might come around that they haven’t thought of. However, not only did horses become unemployed, they became obsolete.

We are now developing machines and artificial intelligence that are designed to perform tasks that HUMANS do. Instead of buying food that was grown with GMOs, we will be worrying if our food was even grown by humans. Eventually, everything will be made and done by robots, and anything that isn’t will become very expensive, just as natural, non-GMO food is now. We as humans are making ourselves the horses in this revolution.

If we are the horses, where is our place in the future? Entertaining robots? Oh wait… They don’t have emotions. I guess we will just have to see…

If any of us are around to see.