Trevor Goehring

Mrs. Lohmeyer

ENGL 101

4/15/2018

Are today’s jobs at risk from the technology of the future?

The idea of robots taking over the human race has been shown throughout books, television

shows, and even video games throughout the years. I want to know if there is any truth to it.

While we can infer that the possibility of robots taking over in a form such as that in the film The

Terminator is very slim, I am interested in finding out if we should be worrying about losing our

jobs within this new age of technology. One of the many fields of work that is already being

affected by technology is healthcare. Over the years, technology has been implemented into

healthcare to assist workers and help patients. This technology has come in the form of wearable

sensors, tablets, ultrasound imaging devices and many other machines. So far, these additions

have not affected jobs, but new technology is on the way that leads us to wonder if they will be

at risk. I believe that if we use the knowledge of how technology has affected our jobs in the

past, we can prove what I believe: our jobs are safe not only in healthcare but in all lines of work

as well.

Since there is no way to know the future, we are forced to make our own guesses on the topic.

Although, while we are making guesses we don’t need to make them out of thin air. If we look

back at how technology has influenced us in the past, as well as how it is changing now, we can

make an educated guess about the future. The technology of the future that could take jobs are

already being used today. The use of this technology has grown over 70% throughout the last 10
years. (Byhovskaya) The growth of these machines has been quick, but it has had little influence

on the number of jobs being lost. (Byhovskaya) It may have no effect on jobs today, but the

future is still unknown. Nicholas Carr, author of “Is google making us stupid?”, believes that the

advancing technology is not good for our society. “What the Net seems to be doing is chipping

away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 315). I do not share this

fearfulness that Carr does for the future of technology. My belief is that future technology will

have an impact on our lives, but our jobs will be safe. If machines do take some of our jobs, the

demand for human social skills in jobs will adapt and be much higher. This fear of future

technology has been around for years, and we have always come out on top.

When we think of technology today we might think of smart phones or computers, but this

has not always been the case. My parent’s idea of technology when they were kids was a

microwave oven or cassette tapes. The idea of a touch screen phone might have been thought of,

but was thought to be many years away from being possible. Technology comes with a sense of

fear and adventure. The author of “Better than Human”, Kevin Kelly, believes that technology

taking our jobs should not be one of these fears. He states, “Two hundred years ago, 70 percent

of American workers lived on the farm. Today automation has eliminated all but 1 percent of

their jobs, replacing them with machines. But the displaced workers did not sit idle. Instead,

automation created hundreds of millions of jobs in entirely new fields.” (Kelly 299). Kelly

believes that technology will take our jobs, but new jobs will come out of it that will prevent us

from being unemployed. We will start off believing that a robot could not handle our jobs. Then,

as they advance, we will realize that they are more than capable of handling it themselves. While

they will be taking our job, we will not be thrown to the curb. New jobs will need to be made,

much like the farmers in the quote. It will be impossible to guess what these jobs will be, but
with advancing technology there will be advancing ideas. (Kelly 311). Kelly’s ideas go along

with mine in that we will not be unemployed. With almost every invention or piece of

technology that comes out, jobs will come with it.

One of the more technology influenced jobs out of all of them is healthcare. A famous name

in this advance in healthcare technology is Telehealth. Telehealth is a collection of ideas used for

improving areas of healthcare. This could mean education and supplies for a public hospital.

Some more common uses for Telehealth are E-visits and E-consults, where patients can interact

with a physician via a secure email or phone. (Korzep). In the essay “The future of technology

and the effect it may have on replacing human jobs” by Karen Korzep, Korzep talks about how

Telehealth is affecting hospitals and healthcare facilities around the world. While this article is a

couple years old, it sheds some light on just how much Telehealth has already influenced the

healthcare field. Korzep tells how Telehealth is not only helpful in communicating, but it can

also be used to help with remote monitoring and surgeries. Although, this technology is not

always usable. Korzep states, “Challenges still exist with this type of technology. New methods

of propulsion and power supply will need to be faced” (Korzep). Korzep’s views of the future of

healthcare are similar to Kelly’s in that they both don’t see us going jobless. Korzep believes that

while we will lose some jobs, others will be changed or created and will need a human mind and

body.

Having shown that technology has ultimately helped create and maintain jobs, as well as

displayed how jobs in healthcare are not only going to stay around but also improve. I now want

to branch this off into all fields of work. Anna Byhovskaya believes that no jobs will be at risk in

the future. In her essay “Robots Versus Workers” she states, “Nor can a robot make the same

reasonable choices or have the socio-emotional skills of a human worker.” (Byhovskaya). She
believes that a battle with the machines is not likely. In fact, it might be the opposite. There are

simply some jobs that robots cannot accomplish. In other words, technology would have to

coincide with us in the work force. This teamwork between workers and robots would mean that

the decider of whether or not workers would keep their jobs would not only be the machines, it

would also be the companies that employ them. (Byhovskaya). This is not to say that technology

will have nothing to do with our jobs, but rather that the companies will have to decide whether

or not their business will be able to manage without human interaction. Based on Korzep and

Kelly’s essays, I believe that this human interaction will not be easy to get rid of. Many people

will be skeptical of these robots at first. It will not only take time to invent them, but it will also

take time for humans to adjust to their presence.

Yet some readers may challenge my view by insisting that we should be worrying about our

jobs. Alex Williams, author of the article “Will Robots Take Our Jobs?”, believes that we should

be fearful. He states, “Yes, robots have the potential to outsmart us and destroy the human race.

But, first, artificial intelligence could make countless professions obsolete by the time my sons

reach their 20s.” (Williams). He then goes on to talk about jobs that are already being affected by

technology. While he is correct that some jobs are being taken, he does not bring up the jobs that

are being created from the same technology.

In conclusion, I believe that our jobs will not be taken over from future technology. Using our

past experiences with technology being implemented into the work force we can infer that our

jobs will not only be safe but more advanced because of it. It is impossible to know what kinds

of technology the future will bring. Our smartphones might one day have the same technological

significance as the microwave oven does for us today. The jobs we have now might be taken

over by robots in the future, but the same robots that take our jobs will pave the way for us to
explore more opportunities and solve more problems. More specifically, healthcare will be more

helpful than ever. Using Telehealth as well as other future ideas, it will be easier than ever to

help those in need. So, I don’t think we need to fear future technology taking our jobs, I believe

that it will only improve them.

Works Cited:

Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" "They Say/I Say": the Moves that Matter in

Academic Writing, with Readings, by Gerald Graff et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2014

pp .(313-328)

Korzep, Karen. "The Future of Technology and the Effect It May Have on Replacing Human

Jobs." Technology & Health Care, vol. 18, no. 4/5, July 2010, pp. 353-358. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.3233/THC20100592.

Byhovskaya, Anna. "Robots Versus Workers: Towards an Open, Equitable and Inclusive Digital

Economy." Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.the OECD

Observer, 2017, pp. 3-1NN,2NN,3NN, ProQuest,

http://www3.northern.edu:2048/login?url=https://www3.northern.edu:2119/docview/19206

33414?accountid=44657.

Kelly, Carr. “Better than Human: Why Robots Will-And Must-Take Our Jobs” “They Say/I

Say”: the Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, with Readings, by Gerald Graff et al.,

W.W. Norton & Company, 2014 pp.(299-312)