Youth -Nov 2019

    18 mins

    SYMPOSIUM

    IS ANXIETY JUSTIFIED?

     

    Technology seems to be swallowing jobs. There is concern everywhere because people think automation will eat up the workplace itself. There are some, however, who feel that instead of destroying jobs, technology will only create newer jobs and newer opportunities.
    What do you have to say about this?

    PLEASE READ the thoughts of some brilliant youth. Interested? We welcome your ideas in the comments section below.

     

    Vikram Srivastava

    Technology is meant to help humans and in principle it shouldn’t be replacing humans. Having said that it is known that automation is taking people’s job, at the same time it is triggering us as well to invest our time wisely in strategic area or to explore other areas. An opportunity to challenge our status quo and upgrade our skills. Definitely not easy to start with, in reality what is the definition of easy? Each people’s perception towards life along with compromises. Getting into new areas will give us new energy and experiences which will enrich our life as a whole. We can utilize technology as our partner in this journey for sure.

    In that case, should we wait for technology to visit and disrupt our life? Of course not, keep a watch on latest trends in our respective areas and keep investing and exploring in acquiring new skills, new dimensions to celebrate this journey called life.

    Debjyoti Basu

    There has been groundbreaking research conducted by leading technical organizations on the future of work .This reveals that while all jobs will change as new technologies scale, few jobs will actually disappear. The most important thing that is changing is the way in which we work .

    For example if we have to write an article in MS-Word – we would spend significant time and energy in typing but now with the ‘Dictate’ feature – we can simply dictate ( provide our computer has a microphone ) and the article will be written.
    The three fundamental factors to note here are as follows
    1. The tasks that are more likely to be done by Artificial intelligence are disappearing from employers’ job requirements,for example chat-bots are providing initial call center support .However, taxi drivers losing their jobs due to automatic self driven cars is still a debatable and disputable area.
    2. Tasks that are based on intellectual skill and creativity will continue to increase in value.

    3. Workers will still have time to adapt. They will take the opportunity  learning new skills or nurturing creativity.
    The progress will be slow but just like Computers did not take away Bank jobs – they changed the nature of how the job is done.

    The top 10   technologies that are shaping the future goes as follows.
    Artificial Intelligence
    Blockchain
    Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
    Cloud Computing
    Angular and React
    DevOps
    Internet of Things (IoT)
    Intelligent Apps (I – Apps)
    Big Data
    RPA (Robotic Process Automation)

    So as always we keep on learning and innovating ourselves.

    Adeep Mathur

    The fear of machines or technology replacing humans has been around for decades. In the last couple of years it has gained ground thanks to advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). As a result one is unable to map the industries as well as job levels that can be impacted, which was not the case previously . For instance, when ATMs started getting popular in 1980s, it was known that bank teller jobs will be at risk. But now it’s pretty much unknown whose job is at risk. New opportunities are created due to automation, but there is a lag between job loss and new job creation and it is a futile exercise in trying to predict. 

    Ofcourse this in no way implies to have a fatalist or wait and watch approach. Nor does it mean expertise in AI & ML is all you’ll ever need in your career. A decade or so later, Quantum computing will be the disruptive technology and we’ll again be having similar discussions.

    The approach I feel will work best is to ingrain continuous learning in your DNA. When such a habit is inculcated, you’ll not be limited by formal education or On the Job trainings. This can include evening/weekend courses, online courses or taking up freelance work (NOT same as working for free). However bear in mind that it can be too overwhelming to balance work and personal life; after all there is no free lunch. 

    Shantanov Sen

    Is technology going to swallow jobs ?

    “Data” is the new gold in today’s economy.

    More and more companies today, which are growing fast are gather data from every aspect of their business, analysing them and eventually making decisions to take their company to the next level. Google is the perfect example of it.

    They practically own the internet and have huge amount of data to make their google search more customized to customers needs.

    Well, the science behind this is “data engineering” and the larger concept of Artificial Intelligence.

    This is a not a new field of engineering and rather comes to life with modern-day availability of hardware and especially cloud.

    I have not heard that Google fired X number of engineers because they are using AI and deep learning to enhance their products !!

    So the prematurely found anxiety that AI would take over human jobs is not totally true.

    There is already a scarcity of data engineers in tech world and the products that are result of AI is only increasing quality of life for the end consumer.

    For example we have fully auto-pilot Tesla but does that mean sales of BMW petrol or diesel cars have gone down or are BMW engineers are jobless ?

    In conclusion, I think AI and its specific fields are only going to improve human lives but the underlying data that uses to make decisions needs to be cautiously traded and monitored as it poses quite a threat towards privacy. We still trust Google with all our data but until so long.

    Ashish Mangla

     

    There is an ongoing debate on new age technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics or simple term is automation. On, one side technocrats are talking that it will make human life simpler and easy.
    However, with advances computing power, machines are becoming intelligent i.e. machines have got learning capability just like human brain, it is replacing lot of human jobs which are mundane and repetitive. There are robots who can mimic the complete human behavior and can learn just like a child starts learning.

    Some example of these type of jobs taken away by robots (or AI based software) are receptionist, janitor, news reader, waiter, parking attendants, call center executives etc. These are all low paying jobs but due to advancement in computing can be easily done by machines. We already have social isolation of humans due to advancement in technology. Now a days, you do not need to visit bank, grocery store, shopping malls, movie halls. Everything is available online and on mobile device. Though it looks convenient, but on downside it is causing human isolation and is only causing stress. We have become self-centered, more and more selfish.

    There is an argument that while jobs are being taken away by machines, new jobs are also created. I’ve a different view to this. Type of new jobs created are very technical in nature and requires high qualification and human intelligence. God has not made all humans with same intelligence. The person who is doing a low level job is not intellectually capable of taking up new jobs.
    Additionally, if robots are taking away the tax paying job of person, then shall our governments start taxing the robots to feed the people whose jobs have been taken away.

    With machines becoming as intelligent as humans, we may start realizing the science fiction series StarTrek.

    Kaustubha Bhat

    Technology – is it a job-stealer or a job-creator? 

    The tech industry has grown enormously in the past two to three decades, transforming even how younger generations perceive the world to be. Fundamentally, it owes its success to its ability-to-automate, towards making human life simpler and easier. 

    Ability-to-automate got us from long-drawn postal communications to instantaneous internet-based video calls; from filling forms and waiting at the bank-counters to, making quick banking transactions on our smartphones; from having to wait in long queues in front of a cinema theater to, booking tickets online or even binge watching at home on a lazy weekend! The list is so long that the world as we saw it, has drastically changed. However, postmen, bank-clerks and accountants have lost their jobs as more and more societal interaction systems turned into IT infrastructure. Essentially, largely manual and monotonous jobs have reduced on the advent of technological times. 

    We humans, love challenging jobs, while technology loves monotonous ones. We are in good company because now, we live in a world where the need of the hour is to address much more complex and large-scale problems like climate change, depleting natural resources, the need for more efficient management of healthcare and economics than ever before for a globalized large population. The times demand more focus on mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing in order to address human conflicts, tackle terrorism and prevent nuclear holocaust. The technological advancements better equip us to deal with the complexities of the current era and shift the job-creation towards more and more higher-skilled activities like scientific analysis, designing innovative solutions to such complex problems of this current era.

    Souvik Mukherjee

    ‘Change is the only thing constant’. From the beginning of human civilization till now, wherever we have reached is only because of continuous changes. There may be debate whether these changes are good or bad, but there is no doubt that changes are going on from the starting of this universe. Even Upanishada says ‘Charaibeti’ – the mantra for going ahead.
    In the field of science and technology we have so many changes and new creations going on everyday. Whenever we get some new changes from technology, the impact of this change divides our society mainly in three categories – first category of the society does not cope up with the new change and gets the most bad effects of it. The second category always fights against these bad effects and tries to learn how to use this change for the good of mankind. The third category of the society gets the most benefit of this change and tries to improve it further.
    In the same way, when Automation is coming – one category of our society will feel that it is eating up the jobs just like a big giant. They will be the most anxious one. But definitely in the long run it will provide some new impacts, it will open new doors for mankind and create new opportunities as well. The same we felt when computer came into the picture of our civilization. These anxieties are temporary. For our future generation it will definitely bring some new scopes and new life, because ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss’.