When I think of the future, the fear that technology will take my job permeates my mind. Images of six of Odysseus’ men being swallowed up by Scylla are replaced by a six headed part robot, part computer screen, part AI, part (insert random technology here) machine that instead swoops in and steals my job. I do not think that Homer himself could have devised a more horrifying monster.
In high school, my parents told me that I had to find a job. So, I went down the street in Finksburg, Maryland, and applied for jobs at Subway and Food Lion. Working was just a part of my summer. Most of my friends had jobs as well. I can still vividly remember parts of my lucrative gig as a cashier at Food Lion making $8.75, and then $9.25, per hour. I recall that the code to scan bananas was 4011. It probably still is. I eagerly checked the stat-sheet for fastest check-out speed (in items per minute). The store manager kept a list of all the cashiers’ speeds. I never made the top of the list. On one occasion, I walked the five miles back home from work. What did I really learn from Food Lion? Probably not too much. But I do know that I gained a work ethic. I worked with average, blue-collar, and kind Carroll County citizens. I met many of the same in the check-out line. My fear is that my children will not have the same opportunities as I did to work as a teenager. Those minimum-wage grocery store jobs will be gone. My father worked at a Wynn-Dixie. I worked at a Food Lion. Sammy from John Updike’s “A&P” worked at an A&P. But where will my kids work in 30 years?
Technology will take away jobs like that of the grocery store cashier. One can already see it happening in the form of self-checkout lines. I do not want to sound like a cynic, but the expansion of technology deeper and deeper into the workplace is concerning. This is not an unsubstantiated fear. Paul Davidson of USA TODAY writes, “Automation could destroy as many as 73 million U.S. jobs by 2030.” Not only do I have concern for my teenage employment, but I also hold concerns for my own future job prospects. As a business student, it appears likely that jobs as a bank teller or a tax preparer will be negatively affected. This has partially led me to consider the legal profession.
Not all hope is lost. I have painted technology to be evil. Technology is the thief of jobs! This is only partially true. Technology will most often replace repetitive, monotonous, and laborious tasks. It will often augment work, and change the landscape of work, but it will not destroy everything. Instead, jobs reliant on numeric data will have to spend less time on calculations and more time on analysis and communication. In regard to future teenage jobs, it is hard to imagine that the need for servers will disappear. Dishwashers will still be needed. Someone will have to serve the ice-cream on hot summer days. Chances are, if I see myself as a victim of technology, I am likely to become one. If I refuse to become a victim, then the battle is already half won.I’m not sure what will happen in the future. Technology may take 73 million jobs, or it may not. As the Eagles sang, “We’ll find out in the Long Run.” Maybe, instead of fearing the six-headed AI monster, I can turn to the kind words of Aeneas from Vergil’s Aeneid. “Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit,” Aeneas says to his shipwrecked comrades. Maybe, some day, I will be able to look back on my worries of technological disruption, and laugh.
Clayton J. Canal (MSB ’23) is a Contributor.
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