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"Will We As Workers Ever Become Obsolete?"
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Last year, the "s Baggers" Restaurant (http://www.sbaggers.de/), a "waiter-less" restaurant opened in
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I’ll bet that many "professional" waiters and waitresses, and certainly those students who use the profession as a means of paying for their higher-education, cringed when they found out about this new concept in dining.
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It all began long before my time, and perhaps yours, when the assembly line threatened to make such products as hand-crafted automobiles a thing of the past. Yes, all of a sudden, producing cars was more efficient, less time-consuming, and fewer paycheck-earning human-beings were necessary to do the same amount of work.
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The automation of
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Technology, which at times can seem to us to be a blessing, is a dual-edged sword. The same leaps of progress which have brought us home-computers, cell-phones, text-messaging, automobile engines controlled by microchips, and flat-screen HD televison can also be a curse. It is, after all, the same technology and the same progress which is threatening our jobs and our demand as workers.
I am a writer by trade. For years, it was to people such as myself that people who wanted written work turned. It was with the understanding, of course, that someone who marketed himself or herself as a writer had a certain penchant for words, spelling, grammar, punctuation and the ability to express thoughts in a concise, accurate and professional manner. As of late, however, computer programs have entered the marketplace which purport to turn the average writing of beginners and novices into literary and marketing "works of art." Just plug in a basic or even poorly-written sentence, press a button, and "presto," out pops the perfect sentence.
But wait! It’s not just writing and waiting tables which are undergoing this technological transformation which is attempting to "eliminate" the human-being from the professional equation. In the world of travel, "book-your-own-flight" is threatening to eliminate the cornerstone of travel which we have known for the better part of a century: the travel agent. Self-help books now flood the market, threatening to make psychologists and therapists things of the past. In the military, drones and remotely-piloted aircraft are slowly taking the pilot out of the equation. And translators? A slew of programs have been emerging as-of-late which allow the user to input a sentence in almost any language and have it automatically outputted in almost any language. The list goes on. Since pointing out every example would be a bore, I shall stop here.
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Yes, technology threatens to make the human-being redundant. Yet, it is my position that eliminating the human-being will be just the thing which makes this so-called technology fail. Human-beings have a natural tendency to desire work which is produced by other human-beings. It allows a customer to express his or her wishes and desires. It allows one to feel that he or she has spoken and has been heard. It allows for interaction, credibility, personalization, accountability, responsibility, and all of those other things which are eliminated when humans are eliminated.
At many luxury car manufacturing plants where cars are still assembled the old-fashioned way, by hand (Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and Bugatti to name but a few), the person who assembles the engine actually affixes a plate containing his or her own signature to the engine-block. It says something like, "This engine was produced by-hand by Giovanni Pasquale," not "This engine was generically produced by computer #287." It is a mark of distinction on these quarter-million dollar and up driving machines. Pilot-less fighter jets might lessen the danger to the pilots who fly combat missions, but will the autonomous computers, which will one day theoretically control them, be able to make the distinction between right and wrong? Watch the Terminator movies if you have any doubt! "Book-your-own-flight" sites might save you some money, but do an internet check and see how many vacations have been completely ruined by computer-glitches! And those fancy "write-your-own manuscript" and "translate-your-own manuscript" programs? Give the free versions a try and see some of the un-intelligible, garbled, mumbo-jumbo that often comes out the other end!
Yes, I have no doubt that until the end of time workers will remain relevant. They will be desired. And they will be in demand. On the surface, it seems that technology would have the capacity to spell the end of the worker. But it is the robotic, generic product which is served up by non-humans, along with the inherent glitches, bugs and crashes, which will ensure the survival of the human worker for many, many years to come. People simply want quality, personalized service from other humans in this "Brave New World."
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My name is Yonatan Maisel. I am a professional writer who specializes in speeches and blogs, web-content and research, report-writing and marketing, and everything in between. I am currently on an un-scheduled hiatus until the third week in December, however, if you have any upcoming writing assignments which need to be done, I would appreciate if you would keep me in mind! By clicking the following link, you will be directed to my profile where you will find links to my website, portfolio and testimonials:
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.If you found this article to be interesting, thought-provoking, educational or even entertaining, please read on! Might I suggest one from my archives: "Is Writing Really a Viable Profession?" To read the aricle, click the link directly below:
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http://jobshuk.com/yoni67/blog/2009/09/01/is-writing-really-a-viable-profession/