Workless Society
What will happen to society if the machines eventually replace human labour ?
When we compare between the past and present, we can obviously see that technologies are dramatically developed in the last twenty years. When we were young, the concepts of digital age and artificial intelligence were still in the movies and no more than people's imaginations. However, nowadays, technologies are improving increasingly. We used to think that the machines will eventually replace human labour. When the day comes, what are the consequences of this situation to society ?
Most people might be happy if one day they realize that they do not need to work anymore because the machines already do the work for them. Since the machines can do the work as people can, why not allow them to do the jobs instead of using human labour? After all, the machines are built to reduce hard physical labour. These technological changes seem normal in many people’s eyes because some of them already use the machines to do the tasks. Nonetheless, they greatly impact our society and humanity. The relationship between the humans and the machines begins to transform from just tools to help people working into human replacement.
There are many advantages people will gain if they decide to permit the machines to do the tasks for them. People finally have all the free time they want along with entertaining themselves by travelling or pursuing their passions. They can spend their time on more important things and let the technologies do the works for them. Moreover, when comparing the work created by the machines and the work created by human, the results of the tasks are similar or even more satisfactory. People take their life time to learn or study something as well as practicing until they become professional. Despite hard-working, they cannot overcome the machines. The machines work so much better than human in quality, time, and quantity. They can work without limitation and they work without tiring.
For example, according to the book ‘Rise of the Robots : Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future’ by Martin Ford, nowadays, many medias including one of the most famous medias named ‘Forbes’ test the programme called ‘Quills’. This programme is developed to write news and articles. The results are desirable because the articles are readable along with grammatically accurate. Furthermore, Quills will be improved to be able to analyze and write critical articles. Quills’talents are not only writing the articles but also collecting information from anywhere in seconds.
The machines can do the assignments that are believed only human can do such as writing. There are many occupations that might be replaced by technologies since many computer programmes are developed in other majors. At this time, even music which is considered to be the works only human can compose is now replaced by the machines and is accepted by many famous musicians. It has been suggested that around fifteen years later, the machines will control most of the jobs. It is such a freedom everyone dreams of but what if this freedom is applied to everyone?
It is thought that this situation will reduce the gap between the rich and the poor since the machines will be working for everyone. However, societies wonder what will happen to workers? The rich likely have power to own their machines but what about other middle-class people and the poor who still need to do their jobs to gain money. How do they live if they do not work?
Increasing the development of technologies greatly affects workers because their works are easily replaced by the machines. Unemployment rate might become greater since the machines are much more efficient and cheaper than human labour. If employers have to choose between the robots and human labour, they might choose the robots seeing that besides saving time and effort, these technologies improve economies and the standards of living. The small groups of highly skilled people will be hired to do the tasks that once required many people. Workers who need their jobs do not have choices but to accept low salaries to be able to work.
As The Guardian (14 September 2016) states ‘By 2021, Robots will have eliminated 6% of all jobs in the US, starting with customer service representatives and eventually truck and taxi drivers’, this news shows that now the machines start to take over human jobs. Studies illustrate that the rates of unemployment are higher and people begin to struggle to find jobs that become difficult to exist.
The solutions for people who do not want to lose their jobs are studying and improving new skills that the machines can not do. But these solutions might not be successful as although people become more efficient, the technologies will still surpass them finally. Work also fails even the most educated people. Even if students study in the higher rank universities or over-qualified, they will confront the problem of finding jobs. Human labour becomes surplus in the future ;therefore, the next generation will find that few people will be able to find their jobs. The rich will be richer because they have the machines to help them gain more income, while the poor might be poorer because they cannot gain money.
If we desire to create a workless world, how do we prepare for the consequences of this situation to society? We are required to find a balance between the technologies and human labour, so workers can still remain in their jobs as well as the society will not face the dramatic change. Work is not only a method to survive but also people’s senses of purpose in life. The concern from articles are expressed that without work, human will lose their connection to their society. Some artists also believe that human labour cannot be replaced as the machines cannot create creativities. Many websites indicate that the meaning of “Work” depends on what people think. In Spite of different opinions, creating a utopia which is a workless society might not be achieved without realizing the consequences and preparing for them.
To summarize, there are many positive effects if we allow the machines to do most of the assignments for us ;however, there are negative results of this situation to society. I believe that we do not certainly know if this workless society is a better world for humanity. Nonetheless, the transformation of the technologies is something we should not ignore and we should prepare for it.
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