Week something or other: automation at work

"Move fast and break things" is the guiding principle behind a lot of the business concerns that now run our society. Basically, it means to not think about the consequences of what you're doing and clean up any mess later.

This is, of course, stupid. Automation has lead to the loss of millions of jobs (way more than outsourcing) and, with self-driving cars right around the corner, the impending loss of millions more, millions more angry, unemployed middle-class workers of the ilk that voted for a certain orange hambeast two years ago. Not to mention the negative impacts the big tech giants have had on privacy, journalism, and information control.

As teachers, the generation we will soon be instructing will, likely, have far less jobs and a far more uncertain future. As automation and social-technological changes eat away at what built our prosperous 20th Century, what exactly will we be teaching them for? I leave that question to you.

I've found a video of automation run amok. Be warned, it is...unsettling. And fitting.



Comments

  1. DylanFebruary 24, 2019 at 6:22 PM

    Great points. We will be teaching students how to problem solve in a number of academic areas with application to their lives outside of academia...hopefully. This at least is my goal. I hope to prepare them for further education, but the reality is that in many rural areas the focus is not on post-secondary schooling. In our increasingly automated world our students will perhaps face different challenges than we did. Problem solving skills along with logic and critical thinking habits will help them regardless of what they choose to do with their lives and how automated the world is during their time.

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  2. UnknownMarch 12, 2019 at 6:53 PM

    Great post! I hope that after reading this post, teachers are going to apply information provided to impart knowledge to students on how they can be able to solve a number of problems which may arise as a result of technological changes. problem solving skills are important AND should be taught as early as possible. The skills become even more critical in high school.

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