The Emergence of 5G: Great Opportunity or Large Threat

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September

2019

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Over the last century, many technology developments have had major impact on our everyday life, for example, electricity and the internet. Some developments have had such an impact, that they can be seen as disruptive. Disruptive technologies are those that revolutionize a business or an entire industry (Radcliffe, 2018). This could force companies to alter their strategy in order to prevent losing market share. Often, these disruptions can even create new markets, causing a wave of new companies around the innovation, and affecting established businesses (Chistensen, Raynor, & McDonald, 2015). Disruptive technology is often introduced as a way to improve daily life, yet it can have its drawbacks. This is now occurring with the development of 5G; many companies are investing in this new network, while, at the same time, a lot of people are warning for the harm it may cause. Therefore, I find it hard to determine whether 5G is constructive or rather destructive innovation.

Ways in which 5G could change our lives

5G can be described as a network that provides wireless internet connections that are faster and more accessible than ever. Furthermore, it gives the opportunity to implement ‘The Internet of Things’ (IoT), in a way that we not only could have smart homes, but even whole smart cities. With 5G, it would become possible to handle data from millions of IoT devices, which could support intelligently organized traffic flow, energy use or public safety. Another prospect of 5G lies in driverless cars. With 5G, driverless cars will be able to communicate with other cars, road signs or traffic lights, and get instant responses, because of the incredibly fast 5G network.

The dark side of 5G

As mentioned earlier, disruptive innovations may be presented as a positive life changer, they often have their downsides. With 5G, many people fear the negative effects the network could have on health. The networks that already exist nowadays, 2G, 3G and 4G, already create radiofrequency waves that may give rise to health risks. Since 5G will have a much larger bandwidth, which needs to be supported by shorter waves, it will cause more radiation. Thus, some health experts and scientists perceive 5G as a large threat. It should, however, be noted, that these expectations are not supported by a significant amount of scientific research. The influence of radiation can still be seen as rather unknown territory. Yet, the question arises as to whether it really matters if the possible health risks are substantiated. Regarding the concerns about health issues, the implementation of 5G could give rise to distrust and anxiety among people and ultimately cause severe societal unrest, whether justified or not.

Glimpse into the future

There is a possibility that 5G will become a disruptive innovation, as it will replace existing products and give rise to new markets. Since 5G is already in development, it will probably be implemented in the near future. This change could bring many opportunities for numerous industries, however, many fear increased health risks, which will give rise to anxiety and protest among citizens. For that reason, I think it is essential that companies and governments start addressing these possible negative effects, and ensure security and reassurance. Only then, a smooth transition to 5G will become a reality.

 

Bibliography

Chistensen, C., Raynor, M., & McDonald, R. (2015). What is Disruptive Innovation. Harvard Business Review, 44-53.

Radcliffe, D. (2018). Disruptive Technology. Retrieved from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/disruptive-technology.asp

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Preparing for the Future: The Rise of a New Labour Market 

4

September

2019

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From facial recognition to personal assistants: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a development that is increasingly becoming an important aspect of our everyday life. When discussing prospects concerning AI and its impact on the job market, there are often different views. Some people ignore future prospects and consider AI to be like science-fiction, while others fear the future and are afraid AI will take over jobs and become superior to mankind. There is also a group that emphasises the positive effects of AI and expects no difficulties regarding possible unemployment (Müller & Bostrom, 2016). It is interesting to consider which of these scenarios is most likely to become a reality.

AI nowadays

It appears that AI cannot be ignored any longer, since the technology is already being applied in several industries. For example, personal assistants like Siri and Alexa are being used to give directions, send messages, schedule appointments and source the web for information. After a while, their algorithms start seeing patterns and can predict requests thanks to machine learning (Adams, 2017). In this case, AI is more of a life improver than a job stealer. However, virtual assistants, or AI in general, have taken over jobs in several industries. For instance, in the music industry in the United States AI is taking over venue planning, booking, and PR work. With AI, an intelligent bot is developed, that has access to a massive amount of information, hence it can more rapidly respond to requests (Katz, 2018). In this example, AI is already more skilled than people, and this technology is expected to only improve.

 A glimpse into the future

Many scientists and economists argue that many jobs will supposedly disappear due to AI (Rotman, 2017). What I think is important to wonder is whether this will give a massive rise to unemployment rates or rather result in significant shifts in employment. Futurist Ray Kurzweil notices many people fear AI will cause unemployment. However, there is a long history of concerns regarding job loss through technology development, Kurzweil points out during a seminar (Kurzweil, 2017). In 1900, almost half of the people worked in agriculture and a quarter in manufacturing. Today, these percentages are equal to two and nine percent. Instead of 50 percent of the people being unemployed, they found other jobs, that did not even exist back then (Polli, 2018). Therefore, while jobs are being automated and eliminated, new industries might emerge and new jobs will be invented (Kurzweil, 2017) (Mahdawi, 2017). Still, since AI will cause a transformation regarding employment, it might be relevant to redefine the way we prepare youth for the job market. This corresponds with the view of psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer, who wrote about the future of AI. He states: “Rather than letting intelligent technology diminish our brainpower, we should learn to better control it, beginning in childhood” (Gigerenzer, 2017). This means that to succeed in a world full of AI, the new generation will need a different skill set. Since computers will become better at handling explicit knowledge, the educational focus should lie on fundamental human abilities like teamwork, leadership, dealing with crises or rely on intuition (Owen, 2017). This would imply a major change is needed in the way children and adolescents are being educated.

 How to be prepared

In response to the previously discussed views on the future of AI, I would expect the positive view to be the most likely to become a reality, compared to the ignorant and the negative perspective. I think AI could make a lot of things in our daily life easier, and I also believe that new occupations will arise. However, this scenario still contains difficulties, since it is expected that the entire working environment will radically change. The current problem is, people are being educated for jobs that will not be around for much longer. Therefore, unemployment seems not to be the real issue here, but rather not having the right people for the right jobs. If governments invest in retraining and establish a new form of education, people can be educated and trained for the work that is or will be available. Only then will humanity be prepared for the new era of technology.

 

References

Adams, R. (2017). 10 Powerful Examples Of Artificial Intelligence In Use Today. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/01/10/10-powerful-examples-of-artificial-intelligence-in-use-today/#1c811562420d

Gigerenzer, G. (2017). Will Democracy Survive Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. Scientific American. Retrieved from http://www.bsfrey.ch/articles/D_283_2017.pdf

Katz, A. (2018). How Virtual Assistants Have Taken Over The Music Industry and Beyond (and Why It’s OK). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/02/07/how-virtual-assistants-have-taken-over-the-music-industry-and-beyond-and-why-its-ok/#15e74a184240

Kurzweil, R. (2017). Mirror | Ray Kurzweil debunks Technological Unemployment again. Singularity University. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6OjxVnxt5k

Mahdawi, A. (2017). What jobs will still be around in 20 years? Read this to prepare your future. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health

Müller, V., & Bostrom, N. (2016). Future Progress in Artificial Intelligence: A Survey of Expert Opinion. Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence(376), 555-572. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-26485-1_33

Owen, J. (2017). Education must transform to make people ready for AI. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/ab5daa64-d100-11e7-947e-f1ea5435bcc7

Polli, F. (2018). AI And The Future Of Work: Will Our Jobs Disappear? Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/fridapolli/2018/03/20/ai-and-the-future-of-work-will-our-jobs-disappear/#5519c15650ab

Rotman, D. (2017). The Relentless Pace of Automation. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603465/the-relentless-pace-of-automation/

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