Last week I told y’all about Zapier, this cool automation tool I’ve started using. This week, I just wanted to see if I have any other thoughts on automation. Sometimes I can’t get my mind around a certain topic until I sit down and try to write about it. Then the words flow and I can go back and read my actual thoughts about it. It sounds crazy, but it works!
Automation is a cool idea, though, right? The official definition according to Google is: “the use of largely automatic equipment in a system of manufacturing or other production process.” Google also tells me that we’ve used the word since around the 1940s, so it’s not really a new terminology.
It’s almost become a stereotypical joke to say “robots will take over the world.” In reality, I don’t know if that’s going to be true, but I guess people use that joke to mask the real worry of what happens when robots replace people’s jobs? In fact, Google’s example usage of automation is this: “unemployment due to the spread of automation.” So it’s safe to say automation is a common worry.
Last week I mentioned there is a pizza vending machine now. What other food services will be automated? What will happen when we lose that human touch? It honestly sounds like a dark place to go, but I can’t help but think that’s the direction we’re headed.
You add a combination of government not giving a higher minimum wage, workers not wanting to work at a minimum wage, businesses that can’t afford to pay higher wages, and you’re left with very few possible answers. One of which is automation. Maybe I’m just crazy, but I can see how that could happen.
Less and less people in every generation want to do trade jobs. What happens when no one wants to be a plumber anymore? I mean, the issues plumbers solve aren’t going anywhere.
These are just some of society’s issues, and I can’t help but wonder what the world will look like if we continue innovating AI and automation-type technologies. Robot plumbers?? We already have robotic cleaners like the Rumba!
I think all the crypto, decentralized, blockchain stuff is going to take off eventually, and that will have a big impact in this space too.
It could allow a lot more people to work for themselves instead of a company. They will work for a decentralized “company”, which basically means they work for themselves. People will have more freedom to pick and choose the hours they work. More freedom to enjoy life with their families. More time to spend with the Lord, spreading the news of the gospel without the worry of losing your job while they’re gone. I don’t know. I feel like the whole 9-5 job thing came in during the industrial revolution, which has only been around for like a hundred years now. Compared to all of humanity’s history, that’s not very long.
So perhaps the future will be brighter if more people have the freedom to work how they please.
That leaves me with a second question: will automation and a more “free” world breed more laziness?
Oh for sure.
But even that has to go away eventually. God designed us to work. Deep down it is innate to our very soul and being. One can only lay around the house long enough before boredom hits and depression begins.
We were built to work and worship the glorious God. All for His glory.
So yea I think automation is a really cool idea, I think there could be some scary times ahead, but perhaps the scary times will just be a transition into age with more freedom. More time to spend worshipping and working for the Lord, and less time worrying about money.