Since antiquity, humanity has been pushing the boundaries of technology beyond what they thought possible, and nearly every major event in history corresponds with a change in technology. Farming allowed the formation of stable communities, the wheel allowed for trade and transportation, and the printing press allowed for the wide proliferation of education. These advancements have certainly improved lives long after their invention, but many times technology has been accompanied by negative ramifications that society must later solve to maximally harness the good of the technology. Right now, the technological advancement of our generation is the advent of the mechanical and electrical minds. This paper argues that while the process of
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In 2015, 3.5 million Americans worked in the transportation industry with 1.2 million working specifically in the trucking and ground transportation industry (Department of Labor Statistics). Many of these jobs have either already been wholly or partially automated, or is on the edge of complete automation. Companies such as Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet/Google, and Tesla already have successfully tested automated driving technologies for millions of miles. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the rate of automated control disengagement per 1000 miles between the years 2015 and 2016 has fallen from .64 disengagements per 1000 miles to .07 per 1000 miles, or in other terms, the car only needed a human 7 times in 10,000 miles of travel (CA DMV). This statistic represents an impressive demonstration of the maturation of automated driving technology and the ability to replace potentially millions of jobs or reduce the wages of these employees by making the job unskilled. The impact of automation will not only affect the transportation industry and other low skill labor sectors. Artificial intelligences such as IBM’s Watson have the ability to replace even middle or high skill jobs. Watson is designed to help diagnose illnesses, and it can do this faster and more reliable than human doctors thanks to its ability to stay current on all medical …show more content…
In the past, most believed that college education was enough to prepare someone for middle class labor. However, because computers are best suited for repetitive middle intelligence tasks, many middle class jobs that rely on those tasks have become easier and the demand for educated people has decreased (Valletta 9). For many jobs such as engineering, computers replaced much of the medium skilled work such as calculations and drafting, making the job of some easier, removing people who did not have more advanced education from the profession entirely. This change results in middle skill jobs transforming into high skill and low skill jobs, making the bachelor’s degree’s status as middle class education suspect. Because of the dissemination of middle class labor into high and low skill labor, and the fact that computers are best at repetitive general reasoning, middle intelligence tasks, it is becoming increasingly important for education to go more in-depth on specific topics. By becoming more specialized in a field, a person is able to use the computer as a tool instead of being replaced by it, and to push the bounds of human art and science. However, people must also be able to do a wide variety of tasks and be proficient in thinking outside of their area of expertise to function
In 2015, 3.5 million Americans worked in the transportation industry with 1.2 million working specifically in the trucking and ground transportation industry (Department of Labor Statistics). Many of these jobs have either already been wholly or partially automated, or is on the edge of complete automation. Companies such as Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet/Google, and Tesla already have successfully tested automated driving technologies for millions of miles. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the rate of automated control disengagement per 1000 miles between the years 2015 and 2016 has fallen from .64 disengagements per 1000 miles to .07 per 1000 miles, or in other terms, the car only needed a human 7 times in 10,000 miles of travel (CA DMV). This statistic represents an impressive demonstration of the maturation of automated driving technology and the ability to replace potentially millions of jobs or reduce the wages of these employees by making the job unskilled. The impact of automation will not only affect the transportation industry and other low skill labor sectors. Artificial intelligences such as IBM’s Watson have the ability to replace even middle or high skill jobs. Watson is designed to help diagnose illnesses, and it can do this faster and more reliable than human doctors thanks to its ability to stay current on all medical …show more content…
In the past, most believed that college education was enough to prepare someone for middle class labor. However, because computers are best suited for repetitive middle intelligence tasks, many middle class jobs that rely on those tasks have become easier and the demand for educated people has decreased (Valletta 9). For many jobs such as engineering, computers replaced much of the medium skilled work such as calculations and drafting, making the job of some easier, removing people who did not have more advanced education from the profession entirely. This change results in middle skill jobs transforming into high skill and low skill jobs, making the bachelor’s degree’s status as middle class education suspect. Because of the dissemination of middle class labor into high and low skill labor, and the fact that computers are best at repetitive general reasoning, middle intelligence tasks, it is becoming increasingly important for education to go more in-depth on specific topics. By becoming more specialized in a field, a person is able to use the computer as a tool instead of being replaced by it, and to push the bounds of human art and science. However, people must also be able to do a wide variety of tasks and be proficient in thinking outside of their area of expertise to function