The World Needs a Digital Blue-Collar Workforce
How learning media arts can help you survive automation
As A.I. and automation continue to take ground, populist concern is growing that these new technologies will replace the effort of their human counterparts, and with it, the workers’ livelihood. Of course, this is nothing new. Gutenberg’s printing press revolutionized the distribution of ideas and slowly sidelined calligraphy — first to the category of an art form and then to a peculiar hobby. Textiles fell to the machine in the 18th century before Henry Ford’s assembly line organized workers for mass production, only to slowly replace them with robots.
Behind all growth marches gradual innovations that increase productivity and margins. What distinguishes today from all that came before is the sheer speed and ubiquity of this innovation. Today, we, as consumers, move from amazement to ruthless expectation at the speed of light. Because many advancements disrupt industries by reducing market friction, consumers willingly jump on the next passing bandwagon that is crushing past structures, and with them, thousands or millions of jobs. While the current economic growth cycle masked some of these issues, the downward pressure on profits makes recessions fertile ground for new automation techniques, which were often formulated within the previous…
