Our world has
experience a lot of revolutions during its existence, from been occupied by big
gigantic dinosaurs, hit by gigantic asteroids up to the first and the second
industrial revolution each has left its mark and history which we all feel and
see today.
The future world of our
civilization is also expected to experience another industrial revolution,
which many experts have come to call it “the
third industrial revolution” or “the
age of automation” or “the age of
artificial intelligence” or “the
terminator age”.
The first
industrial revolution began in Britain in the late 18th century, with the mechanization
of the textile industry. Tasks previously done laboriously by hand in hundreds
of weavers' cottages were brought together in a single cotton mill, and the
factory was born. The second industrial revolution came in the early 20th
century, when Henry Ford mastered the moving assembly line and led in the age
of mass production. The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and
more urban. Now a third revolution is under way. Manufacturing is going digital,
certain types of jobs will be replaced by robots and Artificial intelligence
will dominate nearly 6% to 10% of current jobs
I know many people have
been in denial and are angry about this thing, saying a lot of things like it’s
not possible, it’s not yet here maybe till 2050, or why are they doing this ?.
If you are among these people relax because you are in for a major surprise,
but first let me give you an example, Drivers, for instance, are slowly becoming
obsolete whether it’s taxi drivers or truck drivers thanks
to self-driving cars from Google, Mercedes Benz and UBER. We do this because
computers and artificial intelligence can do better and efficient than us.
It is estimated over
five million jobs will be lost by 2020 as a result of developments in genetics,
artificial intelligence, robotics and other technological change, according
to World Economic Forum research.
About 7 million jobs
will be lost and 2 million gained as a result of technological change in 15
major developed and emerging economies. The findings are taken from a survey of
15 economies covering about 1.9 billion workers, or about 65 percent of the
world’s total workforce. The
countries covered by the survey included Australia, Brazil, China, France,
Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, the U.K. and the
U.S.
Vivid Illustration
To be clear, “THE FUTURE OF JOBS” AND “AUTOMATION”
It’s already a hot topic thanks in part to books such as ‘The Second Machine
Age’ and ‘The Rise of The Robots,’ plus the publication of various papers
by leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and economists like Bank of England Chief
Economist Andy Haldane. 
Who will be replaced?
It’s not only the manufacturing job that will be
affected. It’s more than industrial workers, people like, Photographers,
Doctors, Lawyers, Finance Managers, Loan Officers, Mathematical Technicians,
Insurance Underwriters, Tax Prepares, Accountants (Bookkeeping, Accounting,
and Auditing Clerks), Tellers, Procurement Clerks, Driver and Sales Workers, Radio
Operators, Legal Secretaries, Agricultural and Food Science Technicians,
Telephone Operators, Cashiers, Farm Labor Contractors, Animal Breeders, Hotel,
Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks, Physical Therapists and Civil Engineers , to be
sad the list goes and goes , so just imagine how many people are employed in just
the ones that I have mention, it’s a huge amount of people.
Uber self Driving car in Pittsburgh
Like all revolutions, this one will be
disruptive. The digital technology and automation has many benefits and that’s
why many businesses and experts are pouring money in the research and
development of the technology. Some carmakers already
produce twice as many vehicles per employee as they did only a decade or so
ago. Factories used to move to low-wage countries to curb labor costs,
countries like China, Vietnam, Mexico and many others have absorb the benefits
of this strategy as major companies moved into their countries to enjoy the
benefit of cheap labor. But labor costs are growing less and less important:
A $499 first-generation iPad included
only about $33 of manufacturing labor, of which the final assembly in China
accounted for just $8. Offshore production is increasingly moving back to rich
countries not because Chinese wages are rising, but because companies now want
to be closer to their customers so that they can respond more quickly to
changes in demand. And some products are so sophisticated that it helps to have
the people who design them and the people who make them in the same place.
Furthermore,
the Industrial robots of the future will be multi-functional so that the same
machine can be put to several different uses. They will have many capabilities
associated with human workers, such as the ability to make decisions and to
work autonomously. They will also have self-diagnostic and predictive
maintenance capabilities. The factory of the future will be more efficient in
the utilization of energy, raw material and human resources.
So when exactly should we expect this
revolution to happen?
While the
transition likely will happen in phases, but it’s already here, in your
computer (Cortana in windows 10), Siri (in iPhone), Jarvis (Mark Zuckerberg own
AI), Uber Self driving cars, Military drones (Predator drone), Amazon Echo (Amazon Echo is a home assistants contain microphones
that constantly listen for trigger words that activate the device, such as its
present name, Alexa.) and many other. Clearly 2017 on wards it will be
the year of technological wonders and sadness, it depends on who and where you
are.
What’s next!
To prevent a
worst-case scenario, technological change accompanied by talent shortages, mass
unemployment and growing inequality, re-skilling and up-skilling of today’s
workers will be critical, according to the authors of ‘The Second Machine Age’
and ‘The Rise of The Robots’.
"It is
critical that businesses take an active role in supporting their current workforce through re-training, that individuals take a proactive approach to
their own lifelong learning and that governments create the enabling
environment, rapidly and creatively, to assist these efforts," the authors
said.
Stay tuned, automation in Africa is my next
article.
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