Let’s time travel back to 2017 and read something.

Most jobs that exist today might disappear within decades. As artificial intelligence outperforms humans in more and more tasks, it will replace humans in more and more jobs. Many new professions are likely to appear: virtual-world designers, for example. But such professions will probably require more creativity and flexibility, and it is unclear whether 40-year-old unemployed taxi drivers or insurance agents will be able to reinvent themselves as virtual-world designers (try to imagine a virtual world created by an insurance agent!). And even if the ex-insurance agent somehow makes the transition into a virtual-world designer, the pace of progress is such that within another decade he might have to reinvent himself yet again…

“The meaning of life in a world without work“, Yuval Noah Harari, The Guardian, 8th May 2017

We’re on the brink, and while Sundar Pichai may be using lawyers as examples, it stands to reason that there will be a shift in jobs of people who aren’t reading stuff like this to jobs where people… aren’t reading stuff like this.

It’s a really good article and worth exploring, since he condenses some ideas from his books nicely within it. Written 6 years ago, you’ll likely see that the future hasn’t changed that much in 6 years. It’s just gotten closer.

This is an existential thing for many jobs, but everyone is so busy working those jobs that they seem to have no time to notice. What are you doing to pay the bills, and how safe is it from the future?

Well, nothing’s safe from the future, but there are many jobs that will be safe. But there are many that won’t be. Worth considering before you turn on the television and plop on the couch.