Written by:
Associate Professor Niusha Shafiabady – an expert in computational intelligence from the Peter Faber Business School at Australian Catholic University.
AI and technology are changing our lives. Does that mean that people should stop going to universities and learn a trade? How will this implicate blue-collar vs white-collar workers?
When talking about occupations being affected by AI, it is important to consider short-term versus long-term implications of technology and AI on jobs. Looking at the short-term horizon, one can see that the boom of technology and AI is mainly affecting the white-collar type jobs.
Does this mean that people shouldn’t go to universities and study? Definitely not.
There are many capabilities that our kids are equipped with when they go to universities and receive higher education degrees. For example, they learn to be independent lifelong learners or responsible global citizens. These are very important attributes that the future generation must be equipped with.
A lot of the ‘mess’ that we see all around the globe could be potentially avoided if most of us were responsible global citizens. So, as parents, we would appreciate the importance of providing opportunities for our kids for higher education studies.
Going back to the white-collar jobs that are likely to be displaced relatively quickly in Australia, if we are looking at medium-term, it is safe for the kids to go for the majors that equip them with critical thinking capabilities (such as physics or mathematics).
Facing a future shortage of scientists
t is not only maths that helps. Games like Go and Chess, instead of some babysitting games, are also great to help them develop their thinking skills. I would foresee that we will feel the shortage of fundamental science experts in the future, and this is not a joke.
Just look at the computer hardware industry alone, which is based on transistors. The principles related to operating and manufacturing transistors are basically physics. Look at the numbers of the people who are going for majors like data science, which, in reality, is trains technicians rather than ‘real’ AI experts, and compare it with the number of people who are interested in majoring in physics.
Which one is higher? Of course, more students go to study data science to get a job quickly. They forget that a physicist can easily become a data scientist, but the opposite doesn’t apply. Some people say that the easy answer on what to study is go for a blue-collar profession.
They forget that those professions won’t be safe either, in the long run. The white-collar occupations are impacted faster because software production is cheap. It would take decades to exhaust most software applications of AI, but the next wave would affect the blue-collar workers.
So, in the long-term, the blue-collar jobs wouldn’t be safe for the future generations. For example, a brick-layer’s job will be displaced by robots in the future. I would say the best way to deal with the chaos created by the boom of technology in our world is guiding our kids to become critical thinkers and responsible citizens and provide opportunities for them to practise leadership and empathy.
Critical thinking skills could be developed through studying subjects like mathematics and physics. Some of the safest jobs in the future are leadership and governance roles. If our kids are equipped with these skills, they will become better leaders, and the earth and future generation will benefit from it.
The first step to create a bright future is taking a brilliant action now. Hopefully, we will train a smarter generation for the betterment of the world and mankind.
