Automation anxiety is real. In a recent Pew survey, 72 percent of Americans worry about the impact of automation on their jobs. Besides, automation is slowly becoming part of our lives: self-service cashiers in grocery stores, smart phone enabled banking, robocalls, chatbots and many other examples. As a basic rule of thumb any task that is simple and repetitive can be automated. The benefits for us as consumers are clear – convenience and lower prices. For workers, in all levels, the story is altogether different as many now worry for their livelihood. AI enabled applications could do the jobs of accountants, lawyers and managers. Automated robotic arms can destroy manufacturing jobs and automated cars can make professional drivers obsolete.
How can this be addressed? Robert E. Litan from the Brookings Institute offers four 4 practical suggestions so governments and leaders can prepare their communities for automation:
- Ensure the economy is at full employment – This means keeping unemployment at around 4% or lower. Economies where people who want to work are currently working will be better prepared to absorb the shocks of automation.
- Insure Wages – Develop an insurance system for displaced workers so they have time to make the transition into new careers. Workers need time to adapt to new circumstances and it is difficult to do so when they have not safety net to rely on.
- Finance Lifetime Learning – Fund worker loans to educational institutions that offer practical training for jobs in high-demand fields. This is not about pursuing new 2-4 year degrees but 6 month to 1 year certificates that can prepare workers for a new career.
- Targeted distressed places – Automation impact will be uneven so governments should focus their efforts in areas of greatest needs as opposed to enacting one-size-fits-all policies.
While the suggestions above are intended for governments, much of it can be applied to individuals. In short, individuals seeking to shield themselves from automation impacts should save up, train and learn often. They should also work with local organizations to help their neighbors. Strong communities are more likely to weather through automation shocks just as did though past disruptions. Here is how this could happen again.
Makerspaces
For centuries, communities were formed and held together by central spaces. Whether it is a place of worship, the town plaza, the mall or even the soccer pitch, communities were formed and nourished as people gathered around common activities. Fast forward to our time, communities small and large find themselves pulled apart by many forces. One of the main culprits is technology-enabled experiences that drive local population to replace physical interactions with those mediated by machines. While online connections can at times translate into actual face-to-face interactions (apps like Meetup allow locals with shared interest to quickly assemble), the overall trend is local isolation even as global connections flourish. We are more likely to share commonalities with people across the globe than with those just across the street.
What if technology education could become a catalyst for strengthening local communities? Recently, makerspaces are popping up in many US metro areas. They are non-profit, community-run spaces where people gather to build, learn and experiment with technology. Visiting one here in the Atlanta area, I discovered I could learn new skills from knitting, welding to programming arduinos. While classes are free, the spaces also offer paid memberships so members can get 24/7 access to the facility and storage space. I would describe it as a place that attract people who are already tinkering around with technology in their garages to do so in a group setting. This allows them to share ideas and also to pool their resources. In some cases, these centers have equipment that would be too expensive for an individual to have and maintain in their home. In this way, the maker space enhances each member’s ability to learn, tinker and experiment with new types of technology such as 3D printers and laser cutters.
Tech Community Centers
In order to become a catalyst of community renewal, maker spaces need to expand their visions into becoming community tech centers: a place where tinkerers, inventors, scientists and tech enthusiast can come together and work for the betterment of their surrounding community. Basically, it is tinkering in community for a purpose. Channeling the energy and knowledge of technical professionals into projects of community transformation. This starts with education and professional training but can go much further than that. What if these community centers could also be incubators for start-ups that create jobs in the community? What if they can also run projects creating apps, databases and predictive models for non-profits? The sky is the limit, all it is required is a desire to transform their community and vivid imagination to dream up possibilities.
