As many of you are aware, I am in the camp that jobs are toast. Over the next decade, we are going to see many industries decimated in terms of employment. This will not be due to recession, although that could be what will kick it off. Instead, it will solely be attributed to automation.
There is a very basic reason for this. If you look at software, it excels at looped behavior. Frankly, this is what it does best. It is nothing more than a glorified merry-go-round.
Of course, the complexity of systems will vary. Riveting in a bolt, leaving the dexterity aspect aside, is a rather simple program. The sensors see the car in front of it which tells the software to exert the arm and put the bolt in. This process keeps repeating itself over and over.
This is obviously a simple example. Let is work up the chain: autonomous vehicles. This is a bit more complex although similar in nature. The present day autonomous vehicles that are in use are on farms or mining sites. We see autonomous vehicles moving material or seeding fields.
On a farm, a seeder has the plot of landed to be seeded. The vehicle moves up and down the rows in an organized fashion. It is a fairly simple process in terms of the variables. The boundaries are marked and there is very little interference.
Obviously, an autonomous vehicle driving through a city is a much different story. There are a lot more variables to deal with. It is one of the main reasons we do not see those cars on the road. While the autonomous technology is there, it is not advanced enough to handle the conditions encountered in city atmosphere.
Nevertheless, when you think about it, driving a car is a repetitive task. In fact, most of us do not think consciously about what we are doing. This was not the case when we first started. Everything had to be thought about. Yet, after a while, many aspects became automatic.
Anything that is repetitive in nature and done "automatically" will be taken over by software. While some believe they are safe, they are mistaken. No matter how complex the job seems, if repetitive it is ideal for the looped behavior of software.
Even decision trees end up falling under the same category. Managers tend to be confronted with similar situations over and over. Once the decision tree is outlined, it is just a matter of "running the program".
Think about your job. How much of what you do is repetitive and suited for software? Ignore the complexity of the total job and focus upon the tasks. Over time, we will see the software expand. Ultimately, it is just a matter of expanding the variables the software can handle.
Many think that it is just the low end jobs that are facing this. Actually, the idea of less fulfilling jobs being replaced by more "meaningful" work is most likely a fantasy too. Consider how we are programmed to operate.
We take someone in their late teens and send him or her to school. Over those next few years, intensive study is done in a particular field. One studies to become a doctor, lawyer, or accountant. After said study period, the person goes out into the world and, with a bit of continuing education, operates on a "looped system". The knowledge gained is applied over and over.
At present, we are seeing radiologist, financial analysts, and accountants all threatened by automation. The software is to the point it can perform as well, if not better, than the human counterparts.
Over time, we will see this process move up the scale.
So where does this leave everyone?
Steem is an example of what will be provided to people in the future. Basic income is getting a lot of consideration by those who are worried about the employment situation down the road. The challenge with this is that it usually entails the government which is creating an even more dangerous state of dependency.
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While I would say that Steem does not fit into the classical definition, the idea of a basic income coming from the applications on this blockchain makes sense. Take @actifit as an example. This is an app that pays people for moving around. This is something that most people do throughout their day. While many focus upon exercise, that is not necessarily the case. Walking while shopping counts the activity the same as it does at the gym.
Here is where the basic income idea comes in. Since most people move each day, they now have the opportunity to be rewarded for that. Even if they do the same thing they usually do, with @actifit, they are provided currency. This is not the case right now.
Leaving the Steem blockchain, I wrote in the past about Presearch. This is a token that is given out simply for using their interface to do web searches. Here again, in this age, web searches are a part of people's everyday life. Hopping onto Google or Bing earns the person nothing. Using Presearch, one can earn up to 8 PRE a day (.25 PRE for each search).
As an aside, there is a referral program and if you are not using Presearch, it might be a good idea to. It ties into your favorite search engine since they are working on indexing at the moment. Here is my link.
https://www.presearch.org/signup?rid=105446
Over time, I envision a number of other applications showing up on this blockchain that fit into this mode. Even now, we have applications that reward people for what they do on social media anyway. Personally, I can see this as a path for people to compensate for the money lost due to the employment situation. I do believe that each person will be earning 25-50 different tokens a month just for doing things they do today.
This is all part of crypto-economics. Incentivizing or rewarding behavior is going to be the new model. We all watch ads, usually not by choice. The payment to us for our attention is zero. Someone else is making the money. However, going forward, we will see a system where we are paid direct.
As a believer in the Steem blockchain, I see this ecosystem at the core of a lot of what takes place. The idea behind Steem is to tokenize the Internet. This is going to take on added meaning in the future as the physical and digital worlds come together. An application like @dlux-io is already showing how the "realities" are merging.
Many of the issues people discuss today can be solved with cryptocurrency. Steem is a prime example of the possibilities that exist.
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