What drives this changes ? And more importantly what impact does this evolution have on our lives ? The first question is simple, it’s caused by the advent of a new technology, which phases out some jobs whilst creating new ones going ahead. As for the latter question, let’s take a deeper look at this process of evolving technology and then conclude it’s impact on our lives.
By the middle of 19th century Industrial Revolution had transformed the face of USA. Assembly line production, network of railroads, industrial farming methodologies, these were changing the way people did their work, gone were the days of farmers toiling under the sun to plough their fields, mechanized farm equipments took away that pain and the same farm that took tens of people to plough could now be done by just one person trained to operate these new machines. This person had trainsitioned from manual labour to more skilled work that utilized his cognitive abilities. The other farmers that got laid off too got to work in newer roles which supplemented the advent of these machines, factory workers, mechanics and such. These were all jobs that were more mentally taxing than physically making these former labourers a part of the new skilled workforce.
Advances in computing and robotics brought about a similar shift in our lives around the middle of 20th century. We built smarter automated machines that allowed us to build taller buildgins and longer bridges and even space station, conduct medical procedures such as MRIs and heart surgeries. The proliferation of internet has created new avenues for learning and enabled us to spread education to the farthest corners of the world. In effect technology made our lives longer and more fruitful.
In the 21st century we have ever increased