The most fundamental responsibility of a man is to work. Fulfilling one’s obligations is an essential requirement for every human being. Various occupations, professions, jobs, businesses, education became an integrated part of human life to fulfill this requirement. Everyone does some work or the other in order to earn a livelihood. There could be a million
ways of doing it, but the intent remains the same. This topic is vitally important in present circumstances because we cannot imagine the employment scenario 50 years from now. In the recent past, the pace at which Machine Learning and Robotics have emerged can transform the world of employment in ways unimaginable in the next 50 years.
The technical revolution has brought automation in almost all spheres of society. It is natural for many to feel threatened that the future might be dominated by automation, and employment prospects for people will become nil. Such fears loomed large even during the industrial revolution, where people were apprehensive that a large chunk of people would lose their jobs and livelihood, but history is witness to the fact that those fears were baseless. In fact, the employment opportunities increased, incomes soared up, and people are living a more comfortable life. Despite these assurances, it is probably understandable why people are concerned in present circumstances.
There are two types of energies present in all of us – one is the physical strength, and the other is the intellectual energy. During industrialization, machines replaced the physical
strength aspect, but intelligent control remained with us. The advent of tractors in farming and the establishment of industries did not reduce the role of people; in fact, it got
increased because intellectual tasks like communication, information, analysis, etc., were possible only by human beings. But the circumstances being faced today are different
because the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is endangering the role of human intervention for the first time in the history of humankind. People generally think of only
computers whenever the term AI is mentioned, but that is not true. Right from Biosciences to social sciences, we are witnessing automation in all domains. For example, driving
a car involves physical, intellectual as well as ability to estimate. The person driving the vehicle needs to observe that someone is walking on the curve and estimate when he will
reach the road based on his walking speed and appropriately apply brakes. Gradually but surely, we are seeing driverless cars doing this job more efficiently than human beings.
Artificial Intelligence is not just about doing things better and faster; it has a unique ability that humans do not have, i.e., updating or enhancing itself. Many times, people cannot keep up with the pace of changing technological advancement and are left behind. But AI can accomplish this easily. For example, if a new treatment or surgical technique is invented in America, it would take several years for doctors in Africa to learn and use this technique. However, if there is an integrated network of artificial intelligence, this knowledge can be transferred to the entire world with the flick of a button. These features and their pervasiveness ensure that humanity will definitely benefit from them.
Another example is the number of road accidents that are around 13 lakh every year. If driverless automobiles come to the fore, this number can be reduced by 90% right away because 35% of road accidents are because of drunk driving, 30% are because of over speeding, and 25% are because of recklessness. All these reasons can immediately be eliminated by driverless cars. In addition to this, research is now being done on
establishing communication between AI and humans so that AI can understand the person’s mental state and converse with him.
When we look at such instances, it feels like machines will replace almost all human abilities. While this is true, it also means that when most of the daily routine activities of life are
automated, humans will have the time and bandwidth to tackle those problems that have eluded us thus far and have created a threat to our own existence – right from incurable diseases to environmental crisis. In summary, we can envisage new vistas of employment opening where none exist today. So, we can expect that the future will not be about humans competing with machines, but both of them cooperating.
If this situation happens, it would be imperative that humanity gears up and readies itself to face it. When mechanization occurred, not much training was required for humans to learn to
control the machines. Right from driving the vehicles to running the factories, few days of training was sufficient. But to control Artificial Intelligence and make it work might require immense intellectual acumen. Unfortunately, not many people are ready for that. For
example, giving a rifle to a person who does not know shooting and send him to
fight a battle is one level of challenge. But to send a novice without any preparation
or training to operate a drone is a totally different level of challenge.
This discussion becomes very important in the present scenario because planning
for the requisite training ahead of time is very crucial. Otherwise, a majority of the population may find themselves unfit for any employment. This can open the Pandora’s box of all the economic problems and mental and social health issues born out of widespread unemployment.
Amid all these problems, an important aspect that comes to the fore is that when machines fulfill the basic requirements of life, man would be compelled to ponder upon the critical questions of life. What is the purpose of human life? What are we born to do? These questions are not tormenting us today because we have wrapped ourselves in mundane life. Our energies are focused on earning a livelihood and amassing a fortune. If we were not to run around for these daily needs, we might be nudged to think of these questions and thus turn towards spirituality.