This Gartner article discusses the emerging technology RPA (Robotics Process Automation) or "human proxies", that mimic what we do, but do it cheaper, better, and 24/7. One of the primary targeted industries RPA is being developed for is the financial sector.
Ask yourself these three questions in relation to your job (excerpt from the article):
How to Determine Which Activities Are A Good Fit For Robotics?
Since robotics, in theory, can be used for nearly any rules-based process or activity, it can be daunting and difficult to pinpoint where to start. To determine areas that are good candidates for robotics within your finance organization, ask the following questions.
- Can the human activity be mapped as a repetitive process (i.e., therefore could be programmed into a robot)?
- If the activity requires human judgment or a decision, can a set of rules be defined to cover all possibilities?
- Does the activity pull (and put) data from and into the same place every time (i.e., the same field name, same location of the field on a particular screen of an IT system)?
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Perhaps the more important question should be:
Who is society for? Already, structural unemployment is rampant and under-employment is even worse. "We" all just assume that since these technologies benefit the top 5% that the rest of us have to go along with what our betters want for themselves. The top 5% couldn't care less; middle classes are growing in developing nations and perhaps those gains will more than compensate for the loss of purchasing power in America. That may or may not sit very well with the bottom 95%. When you combine endemic job insecurity with the disruptive effects of climate change you're looking either at a revolution or a police state.
I'm not a Luddite, just a realist. Even a Basic Guaranteed Income policy is useless if you can't afford to enjoy your copious leisure time. Instagram, Facebook, and all the rest of our distractions will only take you so far.