subject: Does Industrial Automation Take People's Jobs? [print this page] Does Industrial Automation Take People's Jobs?
In a future dystopia, the brains of many men dictate that life is unimaginable. Huge swarms of the population are out of work, giving rise to poverty, crime and the ultimate breakdown of civilisation. The machines rise and humanity is reduced to nothing.
The reality is that, while intriguing to watch or read, this idea is almost comically far-fetched. The main underlying cause for such panic and scare-mongering is the common misconception that machines take people's jobs. This then evolves into the idea that as our society progresses there will be less and less need for our existence and machines will rule the world.
However, this is an extremely myopic view of the role that machines play in our lives. Industrial automation does indeed replace certain jobs. However, the presence of the machine itself creates new jobs and also new opportunities for both commerce and our lives as a whole.
For instance, the introduction of power grids and central heating may have put a few coal merchants out of business, but energy companies now have more roles available than these merchants of years gone by could ever have imagined. The car may have put the carriage driver out of business, but how much more potential has the automobile opened in terms of trade throughout the world.
The same premise can be applied to industrial automation at its smallest level. Introducing advanced control systems within industry may indeed replace a few people at one end, but in turn not only create thousands of jobs for hardware and software designers, but also jobs at the user end, overseeing the control processes. It also ensures that businesses are more accurate and efficient.
Adding computerised control systems will not eradicate jobs. It just changes what those jobs are. If jobs didn't evolve with technology, we would all still be hunting and gathering. So don't be scared of change. Be excited for the future.
