Post Work Society: Glimpse of the Future
This article talks about “Post work society”, a distinct possible future of human race on the altar of technology. It also mentions how humans walked from a nomadic life to settled agrarian life and subsequently passed through three phases of industrial revolutions. It also discusses the current fourth industrial revolution through which we are running towards a post work society based on artificial intelligence (AI) which will have its own pros and cons.
Introduction to Human Past
Human Settlement
Subsequent Revolutions in Human Life
Current Fourth Industrial Revolution
Post Work Society
Benefits of Post Work Society
Fears about Post Work Society
Conclusion
Introduction to Human Past
The human race which evolved from earlier ape like mammals around two lakh years back is a special creature of nature. Along with special physical characteristics of humans, they have developed brains which make them more intelligent and capable than other living beings. In primitive stages of human evolution, they used to be wanderers and fed upon other animals. They used to search for food and water due to which they had to keep moving from one place to another. They suffered from several hardships, lived in caves, frightened from lightening, escaped from other predatory animals and led a nomadic life.
Human Settlement
As time passed, humans domesticated animals. Later, they observed plants growing in wild. They settled to take care of plants and harvested crops. The discovery of agriculture became the cause of human settlement at one place. This added some stability to human life.
Subsequent Revolutions in Human Life
As humans became settled due to agriculture, they started using their saved time for learning and exploring. Humans achieved success in diverse areas like arts, textiles, chemicals, manufacturing, trade, life sciences. Due to their curiosity and innovative abilities, the efforts of humans gave way to three industrial revolutions in past. The industrial revolutions are described below:
- The first industrial revolution happened in 1765 with the invention of steam engine. The thermal energy of steam was transformed in to mechanical energy which enabled humans to perform multiple mechanical tasks in less time with little labour only.
- The second industrial revolution happened from 1870s due to discovery of electricity. Today, we cannot imagine our life without electricity.
- The third industrial revolution happened from 1969 with the emergence of electronics, computer, information technology.
Current Fourth Industrial Revolution
The present twenty first century is witnessing a new phase of human innovations. Current fourth industrial revolution is digital revolution. It encompasses such unprecedented digital technological innovations which have strong potential to change the human life altogether. Such technologies are artificial intelligence, internet of things, robotics, big data analytics, augmented reality, virtual reality, 3-D printing etc. The achievements of fourth industrial revolution are evident from advancement in computer hardware (exponential increase in number of transistors over a computer chip), speech recognition, acceleration in daily life by cars, airplanes and even acceleration in space.
Post Work Society
Fourth industrial revolution is expected to enable humans to enter in an age of “post work society”. Though it appears a fantasy, but it is becoming a reality. Now the question arises, what is post work society? Does it mean a society with no work at all? No, it is not like that but it is a stage in which hardship of work would get dramatically reduced. Humans would require specific skills to operate those systems capable to do specific tasks with automation.
Fourth industrial revolution is the basis of establishment of “post work society”. In future, with the aid of technology, humans would get done by gadgets variety of tasks ranging from daily affairs to complex tasks. The tough tasks expected to be done by technology may include driver less cars, mass production at a much higher pace, building construction, data analysis, surveillance, border security, disaster management, space exploration also.
Benefits of Post Work Society
A post work society is expected to give following benefits to the future generations:
(1) Leisure Time
Since most of the work in a post work society would get automated, humans would get enough leisure time.
(2) Creative Life
Due to availability of much free time, humans would be able to live a more creative life. They would possibly spend their time to live their passion and translate their imagination in to reality. This will further led to human development, solve the mysteries of nature and innovate solutions for the existing problems.
(3) Efficiency
Rise of automation in a post work society with artificial intelligence (AI) will increase the efficiency of tasks assigned to artificial intelligence (AI) designed equipments.
(4) Economical
Due to technology supply, production will increase leading to fall in prices of commodities. Money saved would be used to purchase more products and possibly would give a push to the economy.
(5) New Jobs
Due to requirement of specific skill sets, new jobs would be created. Though automation does indeed displace workers from their work but it does not increase the total number of jobs due to off settings.
Fears about Post Work Society
- Economists are skeptical about jobs in post work society. They fear that though work will persist but jobs may die as human workers would get replaced by robots and people will be idle hands.
- Though new jobs would be created but there would be three gaps between old jobs and new jobs. These gaps are time gap, geographical gap and skill gap.
- Any error in machine may have dangerous repercussion. For example any technical error in a driver less car can be fatal for the passengers.
Conclusion
Though amazing technologies like artificial intelligence is changing lives, creating wealth but it does not ensure equal distribution of wealth. If this unequal distribution continues, it will enhance the gulf between rich and poor. To overcome this economic inequality and to develop a better future, humans need to utilize the technology wisely.
See Other Posts: Artificial Intelligence, What is Modernity in True Sense?
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