A holiday packing list has never been this short:

1. VR-Glasses;
2. Chair 

You might think; What about a passport and sunscreen? Well, during this particular holiday people won’t even need to leave their room.

The virtual reality industry is booming. The vast majority might associate this with entertainment such as video games. However, in the healthcare sector, especially for elderly, this technology has become extremely valuable. VR enables elderly with dementia, for instance, to experience some parts of their old lives. A research led by Dr. Chee Siang (Jim) Ang, a senior lecturer from University of Kent, has shown that the technology provides a richer and more satisfying quality of life than is otherwise available, with many positive outcomes. Better quality of life has been shown to reduce levels of anxiety, depression, and hostility within wards, the study found. 

“I’m sorry but you are not able to drive anymore” or “I’m sorry but you can not go outside by yourself anymore”  are statements elderly hear often as they grow older. Their quality of life becomes more and more dependent on the few visits of their grandchildren and the weekly walks in the care home gardens. However, through Virtual Reality, they can now go where ever they want without even leaving their seat. The canals of Venice or China’s Great Wall, elderly are able to travel the world. The University of Tokyo started Virtual Reality Travel Project among Japanese elderly. They found that the project works in conjunction with physical rehabilitation in nursing care facilities. The excitement for these seniors is unreal; they feel full of life again “walking around” through an African safari parc, seeing elephants just in front of them.  However, where elderly have so much life experience, youngsters don’t, and are gaining more experience every day by exploring the world. Should we be afraid that this will replace real-life experiences, young adults actually still can experience in real-life?

K, Fischer. (2019) How VR Can Help People With Dementia. Retrieved on September 29, 2019 https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-how-vr-can-help-people-with-dementia.

J, Sit. (2019) Virtual reality helps Japan’s elderly travel the world. Retrieved on September 29, 2019 https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/japan-vr-elderly-travel

This question must have popped up in everyone’s mind once or twice, especially when witnessing the rise of Sophia and hearing about the rise of Robotics and AI. We learn about different technological innovations every day; one being even more mind blowing than the other. Throughout history, humans have always been looking for ways to enhance efficiency by making daily tasks faster and easier. Where the vast majority of the world’s population used to be employed in agriculture, the industrial revolution and the fast pace of technological developments and innovation, now two percent is employed in agriculture (ourWorldInData.org). Perhaps the rise of Robotics and AI will once again make us change the way we work nowadays. Will we look back and laugh at this century for letting us execute these boring, repetitive tasks, which robots can easily do? What happens with the people doing this tasks?

People today are heavily dependent on the skills and experience they gain at university or from previous work. Those with a lower education will be victimized the most, as mainly administrative tasks are being automated. Nevertheless, robotics and AI will keep on developing, enabling them to execute more complex jobs, putting the higher educated at risk of losing their jobs as well. It must be noted, though, that a large group will actually benefit from automation as it frees them from these boring, repetitive tasks, leaving them with more time to focus on more valuable activities. So, probably in the near future, robotics and AI will not completely take over our jobs. Mostly, it will work alongside humans as it remains dependent on human input. However, it is up to you how fast these technologies will catch up on you. We should prepare for yet another wave of technological growth and keep in mind that instead of competing with them, we should work together with them. New jobs will evolve for us to perform. Perhaps, tedious work, as we know now will be no longer needed anymore…who knows.

Bridging the Skills Gap. Retrieved September 28, 2019 https://growthtribe.io/blog/project/bridging-the-skills-gap/
Davenport, T. (2018) On Ai and Jobs, We Are All Augmentarians Now – Retrieved September 28, 2019 ://www.forbes.com/sites/tomdavenport/2018/06/08/on-ai-and-jobs-we-are-all-augmentarians-now/#118646e1980a
Genda, E. (2017). All the Ethical Questions Surrounding Ai and Robot Employees – Retrieved September 28, 2019 from
https://www.peoplebank.com.au/blog/2017/11/all-the-ethical-questions-surrounding-ai-and-robot-employees
Roser, M. (2013) Employment in Agriculture. Retrieved September 28, 2019 https://ourworldindata.org/employment-in-agriculture