When Robots Do the Hiring

Consider this

A new set of studies from the International Labour Organization predicts that 56 percent of salaried jobs in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam could be displaced by automation and advanced technologies, such as robotics and 3D printing. The industries where jobs are most at risk? Textiles, clothing and footwear.

That is a lot of jobs. And the jobs we are talking about are monotonous. The workers just do repetitive tasks. As the above linked TC article points out, these  types of jobs will be the first to go.

Will that be it? No. The next category of work that AI systems can do better is in gathering data for decision making. In law, this may be the work that paralegals have done. So long paralegals! In medicine, it may be in diagnostic work ups. Here, there will be a thinning out of the number of people involved in problem solving.

This is the likely scenario. If you want to thrive with this going on around you, you need to be moving towards problem solving and become tech savvy.

“So, what kinds of problems can you solve?”, the robot asked

Hey! My Brocoli is Talking to Me!

Brocoli does not talk. I know that.  But tell it to Caleb Harper!

He is thinking some very weird thoughts about digital farming.

Try to get beyond the word “farming”. I know. It sounds boring. Trust me. When Harper talks about it, it is not..

Enjoy!

When the Rest of the World Goes Mobile

Fred Wilson has an interesting post today about the mobile revolution. Not ht one that we have seen over the last five years. That has been pretty cool, but it is also pretty much mainstream. He is talking about the next wave, when another 2.5 billion people start using smartphones.

… the next 2.5bn people to adopt smartphones may turn out to be a different story. They will mostly live outside the developed and wealthy parts of the world and they will look to their smartphones to deliver essential services that they have not been receiving at all – from the web or from the offline world. I am thinking about financial services, healthcare services, educational services, transportation services, and the like. Stuff that matters a bit more than seeing where you friends had a fun time last night or what it looks like when you faceswap with your sister.

Especially important, Fred points out that the new ideas coming from the developing world will employ new business models. And these new business models will to some extent be adopted in the developed world too.

Boom! Can’t wait to see how this story comes out.

Flying in 2050

It is highly likely that we will still be flying around in the year 2050. BTW, 2050 may seem far away, but it is a mere 36 years from now, less than one normal life span.  So what will planes look like? How will they perform?  I am curious, and found out more than I needed to know this morning. Indeed, planes might look something like this

Though they may not.  But it is likely that planes will be powered by electricity — assuming that battery technology is up to the task. Interesting.

China’s Future?

There has been a huge debate about China’s future. Not so much its political future, but its economic future. Will it continue its high growth path? And if so, will the Chinese economy at some point dwarf that of the US? Or will its growth taper off? There are strong opinions on both sides. but from NYT

Many of the most bullish forecasts of China’s economic future are based, more or less, on extrapolation.

Pritchett and Summers argue that relying on extrapolation flies in the face of historical experience. All hot economies cool off at some point (see link). If they are right, a lot of the talk about China’s global dominance in the 21st century will be remembered as foolish. Like the 1060’s baloney about the Soviet and then the 11980’s baloney Japanese growth? Yup. The same.