Only The Centaurs Win
In the first chapter of Smarter Than You Think, the author (Clive Thompson) narrated the story of the rise, fall and rise of Kasparov, a chess grand champion. The main takeaway depicted a battle between the past and future. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer beat the world champion, Kasparov, in a game of chess. The defeat was devastating and media houses termed it the evil triumph of AI over the brain.
But Kasparov did something beautiful after that. He learned the ways of the supercomputer. Partnered with the AI and gave birth to what’s now called Advanced Chess.
Software is eating the world. And to be spared, one needs to pander to its desires, master it and in turn, use to it achieve one's goals.
That’s why it's saddening when you see entrenched traditional system fight in futility against innovation.
Office workers revolting against computerized systems brought to replace them. Taxi drivers protesting against Uber. DVD companies using cutthroat practices to destroy streaming companies. Hotels scheming against AirBnB.
All exercises in futility. What is certain is that sooner or later, innovation - in this case AI always win.
The smart ones are those who stay on the good side.
Being On The Good Side Of AI
Funnily, we all are slowly becoming centaurs. We can’t perform many of our daily activities without making use of AI. Google search engine to quickly make decisions, Facebook to flaunt our emotional state et al. It begs the question. If we can embrace technology in mundane aspects of our lives, why can't we embrace it in something more important than that: our means of sustenance?
A reminder: A Journey to 2022
Many a time, we know the urgency of a situation but don’t take action. Bystander effect? For example, traditional media behemoths all saw the birth of the Internet but refused to take active part in it.
So here’s a reminder of how dramatic the future will be. It’s an amazing video by PwC:
What You Can Do
If you’re a college graduate, then Bill Gates’ last month twitter thread is probably the best for you…
New college graduates often ask me for career advice. I was lucky to be in my early 20s when the digital revolution was just getting under way, and Paul Allen and I had the chance to help shape it. (Which explains my lack of a college degree—I left school because we were afraid the revolution would happen without us.) If I were starting out today and looking for the same kind of opportunity to make a big impact in the world, I would consider three fields.
2/ AI, energy, and biosciences are promising fields where you can make a huge impact. It's what I would do if starting out today.
- Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
And if you’re already working, your best bet is to constantly improve your skills and switch career lines.
The Guardian gives a beautiful illustration of this situation below:
In summary, GoDaddy’s CEO advice is probably the best one-size-fit-all advice:
I posit that today most people choose their career at the conjunction of “what they are good at” and “what pays the most,” with little consideration for doing what they love. But the same Applied AI that’s driving job-killing automation can simultaneously help individuals follow their entrepreneurial dreams. Dreams that are tied to a third circle in the Venn diagram: “doing what they love.”
THE DAO and the Blockchain
A more radical case of the future of work is the DAO - Decentralized autonomous organization. It’s an automated organization that runs on smart contracts. No CEO, No Board of Directors, No Structure at all. All managed on the blockchain.
Why this sounds like almost impossible scenario, a few crypto communities are being successfully running based on these smart contracts. Steem?
Imagine a happy workplace with no bosses!
Conclusion
It’s easy to get too comfortable with the current work styles and ignore the sweeping tide of AI. More and more companies are spending billions of dollars every year to improve their competitive advantage with artificial intelligence.
Although there is a never-ending debate as to whether automation kills or creates jobs, there is no doubt that those who will prosper in the future are those with a wide-variety of constantly updated skills.
Be a Centaur.
Inspirations - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Over to you:
So tell me, have you switched jobs to a different field? And what career skills have you developed outside (formal) college education?
I would love to hear from you. :)
Some relevant vids :)
Singularity is already here - as soon as we recognize.
Hopefully, it's for the best.
Wow. Thanks for this man.. The first video gave a perfect overview of what I was trying to share.
Super post.
Decentralize all, the best scientific gun against power, as a result of the "conspiracy" of source-code and blockchain.
In this new decentralized and sharing economy, that will be guided by "Human Value" and "Friendly Earth" instead of self-centered "Money Value" and no regards for our "Mother Planet".
Decentralized autonomous systems can revolutionize, corrupt and make Power obsolete and finish a dictatorship of actual society against the flux of autonomy and freedom.
I Finish with this quote:
"While most people assume the commune is impossible, the neighborhood dead, and the alienating existence of mass society here to stay, anarchists reasonably suggest as a long-range goal an "organized anarchy"-a decentralized society of federated autonomous communities that would be better able to deal simultaneously with both global and individual problems at their source.
Refusing to consider anarchist perspectives and failing to question our own basic assumptions may ultimately lead to tragedies that could otherwise be avoided. " - "Psychology, Ideology, Utopia, and the Commons" - Dennis R. Fox (1985) American Psychologist
Awesome videos :) And great post @infovore!!
Another excellent piece of work here @infovore, thanks for sharing.
"That’s why it's saddening when you see entrenched traditional system fight in futility against innovation." This line really underlines what I feel is one of the most powerful engine of human ingenuity and and how traditionalists tends to find themselves rebuffed once and for all as time goes by. Though not always the case, I have the feeling that the uprise AI is quickly and radically changing the main course of our humanity and sure hope it will be for the best of all...
Namaste :)
You're welcome. You're right. An uprising as always been in the offing and only the smart ones will survive and prosper.
Much like people who lived at the dawn of the industrial revolution, it will be extremely hard to envision how or what the future of work will be. It takes only one invention to flourish and everything changes.
I believe this change, the rising monster, is the blockchain. A.I. will only be fully realized under the concept of decentralization. Machine learning at its finest.
Agreed to you.
Exactly. Many people don't realize the current educational/work system was put in place to disrupt centuries-old cultures. This is why it shouldn't be challenging that a new innovation is here to disrupt the current one.
AI and ofcourse, blockchain tech are perhaps at the forefront of this innovation streak.
AI, IOT and Blockchain will play key role in the process of automation of jobs, many people are going to loose jobs because of these disruptive technologies. However, that will make us to think differently, update our existing skills and create new opportunities.
Exactly. We all should take it as challenge to get better and up our skills instead of resisting.
Oh my goodness! @infovore your posts are always engaging. This post is not just educative, but it inspires one to think towards the right direction. I have learned how to make beads, but that too isn't the direction the world is moving towards. Thanks for this awesome post.
You think so? Bead making is a profitable venture though saturated. Thanks for dropping by, sis.
You nare welcome bro.
Great to see that there are more people who are on this topic.
I help companies here in Germany to understand the new way of working - in a country where "change is not very popular" this is a big thing.
I did a book and will start to sell this here on steemit as well (but it is in German language)
Do you like / plan to do more on this #NewWork and #Future-work topic?
Wow.. Thats awesome. I write most on the impact of tech on our lives -biotech, AI and what have you. I will definitely try to write more about the topic when I get ideas on what to write on.
Here's a quick tip: You can release snippets of your book on steemit and create conversations around it. Win.Win situation.
Thanks, this is "the plan",
but I as well like to sell it via steem - so first setup some kind of shop....
Promoted, great article amigo...
Thanks so much bud.
This is a great thing to read...Everything we know is going obsolete real fast...
If we don't get in ourselves, we also can get obsolete in this fast-paced changing world. I've made blog relative to this. Kindly check it out too, thank you...
https://steemit.com/life/@hiroyamagishi/what-you-know-today-is-not-important
Thanks for taking the the time to read. You're right. Move and dont become too big to innovate lest you become obsolete. Nice article you've got there.
Only one thing permanent is this life that is change....this article really inspire and add values to me...I have already shared to others...so they benefit as well as we are...Can't wait to see more
Your right and it is only a matter of time before it gets nasty
We hope not. Hopefully, we can control the not-so-good sides of AI.
let the bots do the work 4 u.
great post
lovely post
Thanks for dropping by.
It feels like most of the relevant skills I have today were learned outside of college... Really, the one worthwhile thing about college was networking with other likeminded people and building a social network.
Great post!
Hmmn.. Nice to see it going well for you. Colleges should offer far more networking opportunities.
Wow. Thats amazing. Especially that o the Boston Dynamics own. I look forward to a time when we can have robotic house assistants. Hehe.. It's cases like F.E.D.O.R that gives so much fear to AI evangelists.
Automation is killing the traditional job market, Factories are closing, which are usually the backbone to smaller communities. The domino effect, the millenials are leaving in droves and taking University courses that they never wanted to take only because they have to educated themselves in the demanded employment market. I think the traditional skills of farming and brick and Mortar will be the trending educational background of our children, because really buildings need to be built and seeds need to be planted and maintained. Just my thoughts.
Splendid. I wish I can upvote this more than once. You're right about the awkward interplay between dwindling job opportunities and societal pressure on getting a degree.
Never thought of the trad skills like farming being the trending educational background, I would like to think it would be continuous rise of self-employment advocacy.
Who will be in control of the Robots in the future, the uber Robot ?
Nice Article infovore
Hahaha. Thats a good one. Thanks for dropping by.
There will be two classes of humans in the future:
Robot shepherds and slaves.
Haha. Hopefully, it doesnt turn out as worse as that. And we can get lotta people to save themselves from the threat of being obsolete.
I'm not robot or iam a robot!!! ✌
I have switched job in different fields and i have not developed my college education in my work.
Awesome. That's the same thing I've found for many office workers too.
That's one way to go about it.
Here's a video for what the immediate future might have in store.
Nice video. Thanks for sharing it.
Congratulations @infovore!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Some humor..Lol...
Even if you don't believe in God ,we are building one..Lol
Namaste
wow
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
You are correct
What should we do to reduce our vagrancy in order to try and find new ways of working and innovate?
nice good post
This is some CRYPTOTHERAPY stuff Ore mi
upvote and rs for you...
Nice thought provoking ideas you expounded right here @infovore. I like it, followed you... hope to see more of your posts.
The world is changing and so do your business plan need to change with it!
This post made me think. The goal, it seems, is to resist becoming a dinosaur and thread lightly while adopting new ways and technologies. Thank you for this. upvoted and following!!! :-)
I absolutely agree with what you declare and predict. And I think that blockchan might be a sustainable model for the future job's system.
I graduated in tcl electromagnetics engineering, but then I began to work in IT & programming ... now I'm slowly moving to business development.
Things and situations are going to change faster & faster, we must be prepared and tuned to change and diverse opportunities.
Exelente post, excellent platform steemit I am really excited and I have dedicated much of my time in trying to grow in this community, a vote may not cost you anything but for me it means a lot, you follow me I tell you.
Please comment
This is something I'm going to read every morning along with my coffee and stoicism. There's truth bleeding out of this post. Thank you!