As artificial intelligence emerges as the most important direction for the future of technology, the tech sector is gearing up for a revolution in automated processes.
We are completely dedicated to this endeavor, as shown by the fact that 80% of firms have already begun investing in AI, and 61% of organizations have already begun using it.
Due to the absence of regulation, the unceasing increase of consumerism, and the large amounts of capital investment that enable it to outperform other sectors at a quick rate, technology businesses need a very high demand for labor as the industry is projected to continue to dominate for decades to come.
You could believe that the number of jobs that are lost to automation can be reignited by the same source as the original job losses, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Our growing dependence on technology can lead you to believe that this is possible, but in reality, this is not the case.
The widely held belief is that the labor shortage will be filled by a new wave of talented individuals who want to change the future for the better through technology. However, the reality says otherwise: social, biological, and cultural forces are at play within society that will challenge this view, potentially creating enormous inequalities in wealth and intelligence between tech-savvy individuals and individuals who are not tech-savvy if this view is not challenged.
But what, precisely, are the factors that will eventually lead to discrepancies between those who work in the technology industry and those who do not, and how should we react to these factors?
The Technocracy of the Future
In the last half-century, we’ve seen a rise in the banking business, which has led to the sector being perceived as being not dull but rather risky. In the meanwhile, the Tech Boom didn’t start until 1999, and we’ve been seeing a comparable revolt for over 20 years now; as a result, the bankers have every reason to be concerned.
This time around, high-ranking engineers will get all of the income and power, further widening the gap between the affluent and the poor, similar to what the banking sector has accomplished over the last several decades.
There will come a day when governments would choose “too large to fail” internet corporations as the receivers of future bailouts rather than the banks since the tech giants will wield all of the power in the not-too-distant future. This will happen when the time comes.
The campaign to abolish greed and corruption known as Occupy Wall Street will be succeeded by movements known as Occupy Apple, Occupy Facebook, and so on. The organization that amasses the greatest power will serve as the nerve center of the subsequent uprising.
In the future, technologists will take the position of bankers as the scapegoat for the unequal distribution of wealth; nevertheless, much like bankers, technologists will not be penalized for misconduct. The ordinary person will have an easier time grasping the concepts behind money than those behind the technology.
As a result, only a tiny portion of the population will have an understanding of how the underlying infrastructure functions after A.I. takes control, and this will lead the IQ gap to widen even more. Because of this, they will be able to get away with a great deal more than the banking sector could ever dream of.
Therefore, power will be shifted to the IT companies that control the systems that we grow to rely on on a day-to-day basis. The financial elites, on the other hand, will seek to fight back using their monetary levers in order to maintain their position of power. The new struggle for corporate domination will pit bankers against technocrats.
Is It Possible to Change Stereotypes?
Certain preconceptions are deeply ingrained in our culture. Some of these stereotypes are beneficial, while others are harmful; nonetheless, in the end, they are all detrimental. They contribute to widespread ignorance, which further deepens the rifts that exist between various communities of people.
When it comes to technology, there is one thing that is certain: in order for the labor force to expand, we need a greater number of individuals to have an interest in futuristic technologies and concepts. Whether or not they do exist is the conundrum that we are up against right now.
People will not adjust their impression of the technology business because they are blinded by preconceptions, and the notion that you need to be something of a nerd or geek to participate will not change because of this. This is not the fault of the people.
The image that the outside world has formed of a current-day tech fan will not shift at all; they will continue to be characterized as geeky, nerdy, gamers, and activists, and this will not alter. You should expect the next generation of IT outsiders to adhere to the popular perspective by stating things like “I can’t do that because I’m not clever enough” or “that’s a profession for geeks.”
The psychological phenomena of stereotyping are one of the headwinds that the technology industry will encounter in the future, and it will assist contribute to the inevitable big wage gap that will exist between employees in the technology sector and those in all other industries: Wages in the sector will climb pace with demand, but the labor market won’t be able to deliver the required supply as the technology industry continues to develop at a faster rate than any other sector.
Even though enormous income, fame, and fortune will be up for grabs, the stereotype will continue to exist. As a result, all of the wealth will end up in the hands of engineers since their wages will skyrocket in comparison to those of everyone else.
The Challenge Presented by Egalitarianism
There has to be a greater number of people in the labor force who are interested in working with things rather than people in order to find a solution to the impending labor shortage; yet, this is easier to say than to execute. It involves a significant transformation in society: there must be more women in technical professions to fulfill the ever-increasing demand for such roles.
The ultimate experiment in equality that was carried out by the Norwegians attempted to liberate society of all cultural and sociological constraints in an effort to push women into choosing these technical positions that were traditionally filled by males.
The experiment, however, had the opposite effect of what the government had hoped it would have: in a society that fostered freedom of choice, the disparity between the number of males in technical professions and the number of women in social work did not reduce; rather, it rose.
The #WomenInTech movement is another solution that is attempting to address the labor imbalance by bringing awareness to the fact that women are underrepresented in certain roles within the industry. However, this solution has not been successful in resolving the issue because the paradox of egalitarianism has manifested itself once again in the form of women preferring jobs within the technology industry that are related to social-based roles such as marketing, human resources, and management.
The findings demonstrate that as our society evolves toward one that is more equitable, individuals are choosing jobs based on what interests them rather than on what the community expects of them; you must either have an intense fascination with things or with people. Even if they were paid a sum that was substantially larger, tormenting a human being who is more of a social creature by making them sit at a computer for more than eight hours a day and write code would be unbearable for them.
Coercing people into doing a certain job just because of their gender has also been proven to be an ineffective solution to the labor shortage. Forcing individuals to pursue a career in something they don’t particularly want to do will only end in higher levels of depression and anxiety within the workplace, as well as, of course, redundancies.
The result of this is that the reaction from the labor market will be minimized due to the impacts of equality, which will occur as the demand for employment in the technology sector grows. This will lead to an increase in compensation for engineers, but the majority of those raises will go to males since men are more likely to want technical employment. This will only cause the gender pay gap to widen, which means that inequality will not only continue but also become worse in the future.
Are We Doomed To Repeat Our Mistakes From The Past?
The fundamental contributors to inequality in society include actions taken by individuals as well as the interaction of several causes. As we can see from the information shown above, none of the proposed remedies will have or have had much of an impact on bridging the equity gap.
It might seem that we are applying the outdated and defective model of power that we have been using for a long time to technology, but we are calling this a new beginning; a completely different model that is free from the faults of the older version.
As differences in IQ, the status of women in society, and money continue to widen, a new power structure will take shape. When we are upset, we click more, which increases the earnings and market capitalization of internet companies. This will only serve to boost the power of the social movements that are attempting to rebel against the digital giants.
When all of the projected social and economic forces are combined, it will very certainly lead to the same system, which will end in the creation of a technological society that is divided and dystopian rather than utopian. Once again, just a small number of people will control the vast majority of the money and power in the world.
Whether or not these prophecies come true depends on how egalitarian our society becomes, whether or not the greed of high-ranking technologists turns them into technocrats, and, not to mention, how we react to the actions of these individuals and the injustices that are created within the upcoming technocracy.