According to the World Economic Forum, 65% of children currently entering elementary school will hold hold jobs that currently do not exist.
In the not so distant future, human labor will be redefined as we know it. Today, each morning, workers around the globe make, what could be observed from space, as a great Labor migration. This migration consumes great quantities of resources, from Starbucks and gasoline, to other goods or services acquired along the way. What will happen when the future of work changes?
The digital transformation, for better or worse, has made it so that now one can work and communicate with teams anywhere. Technology, such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality exist, which have the capability to allow workers to operate heavy and dangerous equipment remotely, while still reaching customers and communicating with colleagues using gesture and facial recognition technology. The digitization of "the meeting" has already left your retro mom and pops shops where many 20th Century deals went down, struggling to adapt to the new world of work.
Commercial Drone Technology, will radically redefine human capabilities and workforce priorities. Drone technology ranges from deep ocean submersibles, to land-based roving vehicles, low-orbit drones for mapping Earth, and deep space rovers for mining or human exploration beyond the gravitational pull of our native Sun. This capability, to control highly complex and capable machines beyond line-of-sight, allows humans superhuman capabilities, such as flying via Drone, staying submerged under water to work for long periods of time in extreme environments, or controlling an entire hive of swarming robots with a single thought. Such rapid acceleration of technological growth requires a reassessment of work as we know it.
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and its impact on human labor has yet to be fully understood or prepared for. How can one prepare for that which they lack knowledge of? However, A.I., with its superhuman capabilities to make seemingly impossible narrow calculations, may guide us through future extinction-level events, or even through the immense hazards of deep space and intergalactic travel beyond the speed of light. In the workplace today, A.I. is everywhere that a decision can be automated. How do we adapt to such a new paradigm, where the worker is no longer in control?
Many question what this new world of work will look like, or how economies of scale will rewrite business models, in order to maintain relevance in a rapidly evolving and complex automated frontier. Few realize they are already living in it. With new technological capabilities, creative freedom, and reach, what will we endeavor to accomplish with such newfound power? Will we conquer worlds or simply conquer the work day? The ultimate legacy and fate of human productivity, I leave up to you.
Ean Mikale, J.D., is the creator of the National Apprenticeships for Commercial Drone Pilots and Commercial Drone Software Developers. He is also the Founder of The Drone School, a serial Dronetrepreneur, current participant of the NVIDIA Inception Program for AI Startups, IBM Global Entrepreneur, member of the National Small Business Association Leadership and Technology Councils. Follow him on Linkedin, Instagram, and Facebook: @eanmikale