Working into extinction?

We live in a changed world. As I keep reminding you, it is not just the politics of the world that has changed; business and economics are about to become unrecognisable. Why do I say this? Just look out the window, and you will see how technology is already reshaping the future of work.

Covid has already destroyed the idea of office space. That cosy place where you went for your nine-to-five job and invariably spent most of your time pushing paper, quietly playing solitaire or ferociously typing on the phone screen to look busy to your colleagues while basically doing nothing is no longer relevant.

George Costanza from Seinfeld had an excellent plan for such a place. Always look annoyed. When you look annoyed, people think you are swamped, killing yourself working and will give you a wide berth. Ah, those simple days.

If George's formula got out in countries like South Asia, the officer class would have difficulty keeping up appearances. But as I pointed out, Covid put an end to all that. Since work still had to be done and you were confined to your houses, technology came claiming to be your rescuer as all colonialists do.

To attend an official meeting, you could use Zoom or Skype. Only outdated bureaucracies use actual paper to conduct their daily business. Most work is done on screens. These screens can access office servers remotely.

So, at best, you need a small team to supervise servers on-site. In the end, what matters is results, discipline and transparency. Results because all work is goal-driven. Discipline is important because we mortals are often found guilty of procrastination, especially in a homely environment.

Nothing that an able supervisor cannot fix, but people will still need to get accustomed to self-discipline. Transparency because people are known to use company resources for personal benefits. Take phone calls or machines, for instance. And some people might even disappear with the company hardware (yeah, like that does not happen in traditional workplaces).

But you can see how the Covid experience practically made brick-and-mortar office spaces redundant. Do not get me wrong. There are jobs which require the physical presence of an employee. Manual labour is one example. Maintenance is another. Then, there is the question of what replaces the office space.

Not everyone has a quiet corner at home to keep working. Many have young kids, others have pets, and then there is the problem of the stability of your marital relationship or living arrangement. We were reminded of these realities when commentators on live television encountered difficulties at home during the time of Covid.

I am sure the episode involving Professor Robert Kelly and his lovely family still rings a bell. But you do not have to be a sci-fi enthusiast or a futurist geek to tell that all these minor disabilities will easily be removed by technology almost immediately. As for manual labour, there is a reason why it is said that these jobs are the easiest to replace.

The simplest machines can replace any job that requires repetitive action without much forethought or creative input. The coffee maker at your workplace and water dispensers are some of the easiest examples.

As the use of cheap and protected cloud computing grows and online connectivity becomes faster and cost-effective, the issue of office equipment may also become a thing of the past. It all comes down to affordability and the cost of doing business. When companies can hack all these issues, the brick-and-mortar office becomes just a facet of a business owner's ego trip.

In the television business, things are going to be even easier. Print or 3D-print a good background. Invest some seed money into getting the best lighting, a DSLR-enabled phone camera, a decent mic, a stand and voila, you can appear or host from anywhere.

I remember the days when NDTV 24x7 used to openly advertise that its recordings use Samsung phones. Guess what? Phones are getting better, not just on the software side but on the hardware side. Zoom already lets you blur its background or replace it with an enjoyable view.

Other, better solutions will follow. And imagine if a remotely hosted AI could work as a bridge between the cameras of your two or more phones, seamlessly switching between feeds, editing and streaming the footage simultaneously.

And a simple screen works as your prompter. All these capabilities exist. The only two issues are of integration and latency. Do you think technology and entrepreneurship cannot resolve either of the problems?

You may ask why billionaires like Elon Musk are against working from home. Many explanations could be given. It could be a pressure tactic. An excuse to lay off as many people as possible. It could even be good old egotism of employers at play.

Employers want bang for their buck, after all. And if they cannot physically see their employees toiling away, they think they are not working. But I must mention that there might be more to it than selfish reasons.

Just think about Covid days. It was an ideal opportunity for many businesses to lay off workers and replace them with technology, but most did not. You may argue that technology may not have been as ready or cheap as human labour. This is not true. A lot could have been done. Remember, all significant investments in this context are likely one-time expenses.

AI does not need downtime, home time, mealtime, bathroom breaks, weekend breaks, healthcare costs or commuting time. These objections could then be coming from a place of genuine concern. This is what tech displacement does often.

It can get you accustomed to your comfort zone, and before you know it, both your work and comfort zone are gone. So, the answer to this straightforward question is very complicated.

But who can change the inevitable? All our jobs are likely to be replaced sooner or later. The question then is how much are we ready to reinvent and adapt. Many handicaps exist in this age, but foresight and knowledge are not among them.

You have the advantage of these remarkable thinking machines that can help you determine what kind of jobs will likely survive in the immediate future. Use them. You do not have to be the first victims of tech displacement.

As you age and grow, your perspective changes, and you find that you can handle many problems that you deemed unsolvable back at school. At least, that is my lived experience. Who is stopping you from adding value and acquiring new skill sets? Sam Altman and other tech entrepreneurs say that instead of replacing most jobs, technology will only change human interaction with work. I am keenly hoping to see that dynamic at play.