Here come the robots

If you live in the developed world, you will already have noticed the rising influence of automation in industry, especially in manufacturing and agriculture. The Oxford Martin Program on the Impacts of Future Technology estimates that 45 percent of American jobs may be taken by computers in the next 20 years.

Photo: Jiuguang Wang (Flickr)

In the Canadian province of Ontario where I live, there are machines to milk cows, prune grapevines and to do a whole range of farm and store-related tasks. At one farm in Seaforth, the new equipment is not only able to milk a cow, but also indicate when the animal is likely to fall sick or is ready to get pregnant.

The number of areas where machines are able to replace human beings is not only restricted to routine operations. Car manufacturing plants in Japan have used robots for a while. At one of the Toyota factories in Japan, 96 percent of production is done by 760 robots even as Toyota tries to reverse this trend in order to nurture master craftsmen.

Where do these developments leave the hordes of job-seeking young people (many without any technical skill)? Harvard University researcher Tony Wagner provides a useful maxim for those entering college or about to leave in search for work: ‘the world doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is what you do with what you know.’ As more jobs are taken over by machines, more individuals will be required to acquire new higher-order skills and continually learn in order to keep jobs or offer their services in the market.

The depth of learning that takes place in our colleges and universities will determine whether young people can do something with their education and even muster machines before they take their jobs. In many of my posts I will highlight the value of learning to write computer code. Computer programming is one of the tools that will enable many young people enter portfolio careers and to ride ahead of machines (as machines depend on our instructions). In England, programming is going to be taught from elementary school (through to 16 years) starting this September.

The ability to write instructions for machines is the literacy of the 21^st century. Do not get left behind.

          (Dr Tony Wagner speaks about 7 essential survival skills in this video)