We view technology as something positive, as something that empowers us to do more and especially more with less effort. It is not only technology itself that is perceived as positive, we admire the founders of Apple, Tesla, Amazon, and to a certain extent, we have great respect for the organisations they founded.
We are the brightest and most powerful generation in history, our instant access to free knowledge and news is unparalleled with even the most powerful individuals of the past. Technology is indeed empowering us in achieving greater heights, but unfortunately technology is enabling “us” and not everyone equally.
As you may have noticed, “we” has been used repeatedly in the story above. We as university students may not give the following a second thought, but we should consider ourselves privileged, privileged to be able to dream of the above and to study at one of the greatest university in Europe. We live in a era where education and intelligence will widen the gap between the haves and not haves like never before. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Digital Age will indefinitely favour and empower the educated and the creative as demand for highly skilled jobs will continue to rise, while those with less education and expertise fall behind. But unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Digital Age will increase demand in the high and low ends of the job market, while hollowing out the middle – meaning that the corporate ladder for the less might vanish.
A technology-driven economy will favour a small-group of successful individuals and organisations by amplifying their talent and luck.
It may sound unrealistic, but the envisioned gloomy future is already here. Remember the great tech organisations we admire? Many of them reside in California, a single state with a higher GDP than France or India in 2015. But if you happen to be a Twitter employee and you would take a stroll to the Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco, you would be blown away by how many homeless people you encountered in just a single stroll.
The reality is not that technology will automate and replace humans in the short or long-term, but rather that technology will increase wealth and opportunities for the few while intensively increasing the competitive job market for the middle and low end. As technological progress continues to hollow out the middle, the majority of the middle class will join the bottom ones in competing for jobs in the low end. Reducing overall wages for the middle class and lesser opportunities for the ones at the bottom.
Take one minute, and imagine your friends and families who may be less educated than you, will they enjoy equal opportunities in life as technological progress may outpace their own learning curve?
I hope this story has reached some of you, and I hope a more equal future exists for all!
Please let me know your thoughts on the future
Sources
“Is technology contributing to increased inequality?”
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/29/is-technology-contributing-to-increased-inequality/
“Technology and inequality”
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531726/technology-and-inequality/
Interesting post and very important questions you are raising.
With every industrial revolution there has always been the fear that less skilled or less priviledged people will be left behind. Digitalization does not automatically mean more equality but it does not necessarily mean more inequality. However, our globalized world is not that easy to evaluate so it would be too shortsighted to only blaim digitalization for creating more unequality. There are many opportunities but of course challenges and dangers as well.
The World development report 2016 published by the World Bank found that traditional development challenges prevent digital revolution from fulfilling ist potential. Many are still left out because of lacking access to digital technologies. Unless countries improve business climate, promote good governance as well as invest in education and skill development the benefits of digitalization will not be realized. Education and skills-development is essential to prepare people for future job requirements (World Development Report, 2016 World Bank).
Similar to other technological changes and vast progresses, in the case of digitalization society has to changes as well and adapt to the changed environment. Policies have to make sure that the gap between rich and poor and skilled and unskilled does not widen. This is a very complex and long-term issue to tackle.
Opportunities are the introduction of an unconditional basic income to cushion inequalities.
Changes in education are necessary to ausrüsten future employees and employees with necessary skills. This is a long-term process which necessarily cannot show effects as quick as digitalization disrupts business and society.
Reference: Worldbank. The World Development Report 2016.http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016
Hi Dai Shen,
Interesting read! I agree that there is a paradoxical effect in technology improving for everyone, yet it’s causing more and more equality.
Cosmologist Max Tegmark at MIT describes in the below podcast a scenario where capitalism has an expiry date. As AI and robotics become more and more efficient and applicable, lots of labor won’t be done by humans anymore. He mentions there being an opportunity at that point, for a slow transition to a more balanced, socialist-capitalist hybrid model where the average workload decreases and people have more time to be creative.
Would you think this could be a solution in the long run for this inequality? Or do you think a more socialistic approach will just cause demotivation and economical instability?
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvScZoETYEs
Best,
Bastiaan van Meijeren