The old aphorism of a picture paints a thousand words is like most sayings chronically overused but sometimes a simple graphic comes along that explains the future with remarkable clarity. The following chart is one such image.
Source – Medium
The fall in both jobs and oil rigs in 2015 was a function of the oil price. Yet the number of rigs has moved higher but the number of jobs has continued to stagnate. The reason is simple – automation. This issue afflicts every major industry where people are the prime economic drivers. This chart shows the basis of the new economic reality, productivity is rising but jobs are collapsing. So when you hear a politician from either spectrum talking about how they are going to bring back manufacturing jobs you know they are taking out their arses. The problem with politicians is not necessarily that they are self absorbed, childish narcissist who are only in it for what they can get. But rather that they are almost to an individual a failed lawyer/union official/teacher as such they lack the intellectual horsepower to understand complex problems. This is particularly true of any problem involving numbers or the need to understand a basic bit of scientific theory. The harsh fact is that the future is one where robots do most of the heavy lifting and whilst the hype of most jobs being obsolete in seven years is simply meaningless hype the basic underlying the conjecture is true.
The robotisation of work is going to have enormous implications for social structures.
Employment may become a privilege rather than a right. Many people, if not most, will have no earned income and need to be supported by the state. Meanwhile the gap between the rich and the poor will accelerate and super-rich will grab more and more of the world’s riches.
Finland is starting to address this issue, by experimenting with payments to citizens whether they are employed or not.