The future of work is purpose

We are at a cultural moment where it is much easier to imagine dystopian futures and fall into an anxiety crisis over increasing automation than it is to maintain a positive outlook on our future as a species and as workers. At another time, we discussed here how the future of work might be more related to a redefinition of work itself, but other perspectives, such as that of Raya Bidshahri for the Futurism website point to other, even more tangible opportunities in sectors that will remain relevant for quite some time.

While 45% of the services we provide as workers are capable of being automated using technology already available today, there is also the other side, where new technologies will demand more employees specialized in careers that do not even exist yet—and this goes beyond automation statistics. On the other hand, Bidshahri argues that we still have a long way to go before our imaginative and creative work is definitively automated or replaced by the processing power of machines.

If artificial intelligence is already capable of recognizing patterns and creating new objects from those results today, as in the example of The Next Rembrandt, human creativity in creating virtual reality experiences, organ design, and 3D-printed clothing are some of the opportunities that will remain favorable.

And what all these professions and others demonstrate as relevant in this scenario is their multidisciplinary capacity, a characteristic that future generations will be able to develop with the help of new teaching methods such as STEAM, an educational approach to learning that uses science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics as access points to guide inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking among students. The end results are students who make well-founded and calculated decisions (and take risks), participate in experiential learning proposals, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through creative processes. This is the promise for the development of the next innovators, educators, leaders, and students in this century.

Furthermore, studies in neuroscience, bioengineering, and "human enhancement" are other areas that only demonstrate more and more opportunities and challenges to be faced by professionals. If in December we had a sample of the possibilities (albeit dystopian) that open up from the technological development of these disciplines in the fiction of the series Black Mirror, the arrival of Altered Carbon this February reinforces the importance of the discussion about consciousness, interaction, and the bodily conjunction between man and machine, as well as what, after all, defines us as human beings.

With Elon Musk's announcement of his new Neuralink project last year, we see a new path to be followed in the development of brain-machine interfaces, while other approaches closer to the biological and medical sciences also aim to improve our capabilities through treatments and genetic engineering, perhaps even pointing us toward a life extended to 150 years or more, as British gerontologist Aubrey de Grey aspires.

Given this, ethical, philosophical, and political questions also gain relevance (if not urgency) so that we know how to separate the wheat from the chaff—that is, what is possible to achieve with technology versus what is morally acceptable. With the news that Chinese scientists have managed to clone a monkey, the possibility of human cloning is also approaching on the horizon of ideas, and with it, the discussion about how ethical that would be and what social, psychological, political, and philosophical consequences such an endeavor brings with it.

From a more practical standpoint, legislation surrounding artificial intelligence and robotics is also beginning to consider whether machines should be granted citizenship, or how to regulate chatbots and other algorithms used for decision-making, for example. This is why Bidshahri discusses the emergence of professions such as cognitive enhancement consultants, ethicists specializing in genetic modification, digital detectives, privacy guardians, and technology-focused legislators, among others.

Finally, professionals focused on planning and developing a more sustainable future—whether in terms of material resources or human relations—also hold great potential for envisioning and fostering a fairer and more rewarding life and society by 2030, when we reach a population of 8.5 billion.

As Bidshahri argues, the goal is to create a society where work is driven by passion, creativity, and the desire to contribute to the future of our species: “It is exciting that many of these jobs predicted for the future align with this goal. After all, the purpose of ‘work’ should be to contribute to continuous personal or human progress, whether technological, intellectual, or creative.”