Human Diversity Will Save Your Job From the Robot Takeover

Robots have long been celebrated as ideally situated to take over society’s most dirty, dull, and dangerous jobs, from robot vacuum cleaners (dirty) to manufacturing robots (dull) to military robots (dangerous). All those roles, of course, were at one point held by people, and people in those functions will continue to be replaced by robots. But they won’t be alone: Jobs that classically don’t fit into the “three D’s” work category — dirty, dull, and dangerous — are also being eyed as opportunities for robot workers. Many roles are being reimagined and redefined, with technology substituting for human power. They include positions in the rehabilitation field (with the use of wearable mechanical exoskeletons replacing the manual labor of physical therapists) and in the package delivery field (with the use of drones and self-driving cars replacing human drivers). These human-to-robot job transitions are leading many people to worry about their own jobs; thus, it comes as no surprise that there’s been quite a bit of discussion about how robotics and artificial intelligence will affect the future of work and the roles of even more humans.