Cody Hudson
Professor Michelle Grady
Communications Cluster
21 March 2013
Brave New World: Technology and the End of Jobs
“Brave New World” is a phrase said many times by people, since Aldous Huxley wrote the novel Brave New World in 1932, every time a greater technology, for anything, comes about; not necessarily referring to Huxley’s book, but more referring to the fact that modern technology is becoming so great that it will/or has downsized companies by replacing the human element. Sure jobs are lost, but is this a bad thing? One would have to really dive into the question and do some in-depth research and analysis to figure out the answer, but maybe there is not a right answer? Whether greater technology advances are better or not, one thing is for certain; people will lose jobs because of it.
Auto plant workers, factories, coal miners, farming, telephone operators, cashiers, tollbooth collectors, and bankers: These are just a few examples of jobs that are being replaced by greater technology in our present day, even some earlier on. Yes, this is a bad thing for the people employed by those jobs, but maybe for the “greater good,” whatever that term, used by many optimistic people, is really supposed to mean, the same technology that ended those jobs will create more jobs or even better jobs--who knows? Maybe the advances in technology aren’t needed, but created because of corporate greed, to minimize a company’s cost to employees and fatten the wallets of the suits on the top floor? These are, of course, assumptions with nothing more than common knowledge, life experiences, and a little research from years of reading and watching the news. Is technology always necessary in the work place? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Ageism as: “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly.” Companies are dealing with many law suits due to ageism, and are having to spend a ton of money on training their elderly employees on how to use computer programs, smart phones, etc. In a recent article published in Small Business Monthly Jeremy Nulik “Transforming culture is not for the faint of heart, when you do not conduct business as usual, it is not always going to make people happy.” (Nulik). Unfortunately with this time period advances with technology have hurt productivity in many office environments; the internet, and ease of access, can take the blame for that. Nulik makes a good point of (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it because fixing it might be hurting a business more than helping) but this isn’t always true for every work environment. When one reads a list of jobs, like the ones mentioned above, it is easy to say “Oh sure, I can see how those jobs don’t/shouldn’t exist anymore.” and then go about your day not thinking anything else of it. What people don’t realize though is that that job was someone’s career, lively hood, sole source of income which shouldn’t be dismissed so nonchalantly, but maybe, this hypothetical person, should have thought about whether or not that could happen to them. Some jobs are different than others, and yes some should be replaced with better ones that would help the majority of people/or environment--coal mining being one of those careers. There are a lot of miners in our country who’s many family members depend on that income, but does that mean that job should still exist if we have a better alternative fuel solution than coal for the environment and that’s more affordable for people? Again being assumptive here, but most people would say, “No, coal mining should be shut down if we have the technology to get the same outcome that coal gives us, with less pollution.” Our country is already taking this approach and shutting down many mines. One solution for the miners could be government paid training programs to work in a field that’s replacing them; granted that’s probably easier said than done, but it is one solution. Nowadays if one tries to make a phone call in regards to their bank account or if they need a service of some kind they’ll have to listen to an automated answering service that can drive a person insane! Banking is another job that is a good example of being replaced or depleted by advances in technologies. More advanced ATM’s are replacing tellers; call centers are replacing personal bankers, but is this good? It is a career whose future is in jeopardy of being lost due to technology. St. Louis south county area Vice President Jeremy Mast says, “Bank board members like replacing branches with call centers and SMART ATMs because it lowers their overhead costs and increases profit shares which look great for investors.” (Mast). Like coal miners, where would your bankers go? Small farms become super farms, factories are mostly robots—same for cashiers, so how many government programs would we have to create for all those fields, or is it the employer’s responsibility? Ever since we’ve been a civilization, greater technologies have always ended one job or another. In the article “More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People” [referencing mostly from the book, Race Against The Machine, written by Erik Brynjofsson and Andrew McAfee] written by Steve Lohr, published in The New York Times, Lohr writes:
Technology has always displaced some work and jobs. Over the years, many experts have warned — mistakenly — that machines were gaining the upper hand. In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes warned of a “new disease” that he termed “technological unemployment,” the inability of the economy to create new jobs faster than jobs were lost to automation (Lohr).
Some people would look at advanced technology as an improvement or smarter, but it’s probably because they haven’t had their career in jeopardy yet. When one hears of these careers ending because-- robots are more efficient, we’re saving our future environment, or their job just isn’t necessary one should ask “Is it necessary, or are some board members lining their walls with money. And why can’t the greatest country in the world create government programs to protect the people’s job that are possibly in jeopardy?”

Works Cited
Lohr, Steve. “More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People”. The New York Times (2011): 3 Pages. 02/04/2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/technology/economists-see-more-jobs-for-machines-not-people.html?_r=0
Mast, Jeremy. Area Vice President, Regions Bank. Personal interview. 22 Feb. 2013.
Nulik, Jeremy. “Recalibrating Your Business.” Small Business Monthly. [Saint Louis, MO] Mar. 2013. (19)