“Most people will no longer be needed for the economy. They are superfluous.” These provocative sentences come from the pen of a futurologist who paints interesting and threatening scenarios of how the world will change in the future. Robots and computers will therefore increasingly take over the tasks that are still carried out by many people today. Artificial intelligence (AI) will take decisions off our hands and not only replace us, it will also make better decisions. Whether investment decisions, partner selection or military operations, the AI evaluates a mass of information in fractions of a second (so-called big data) and then draws the right conclusions objectively and without emotion. So a choice of partner without emotions? Impossible! Right?
That’s still a long way off and doesn’t affect me, you may be thinking. Far from it. Think about how to navigate to an unknown destination. Even if you know the way, you may prefer to rely on your navigation system because it not only knows the way, but also the current traffic situation. You need to make a purchase decision, who can advise you? Maybe Google or Amazon? Where do you buy? Increasingly on the Internet. Retail sales assistants are therefore gradually becoming fewer and fewer, as can already be seen from the many vacancies in city centers. The next ones might be bankers and insurance agents. Soon it’s truck and bus drivers, and so on.
So what can I do so that I’m not unemployed tomorrow? It would certainly be wrong to hope that politicians will sort it all out. Now you need to take the initiative! Keep up with the times and educate yourself further. Be the person who already knows today what the solution for tomorrow might look like, or even help shape it. This at least gives you the chance to stay in control of events.
With best wishes for the future
Bernd Reineke
