Cadence on the Beat Blogs

“Oh no! Automation is going to cause massive job losses, causing the downfall of society itself!” shriek the pundits who look at employment figures.

Now, this may be true. There’s no question that robots and automation have already caused a loss of jobs. But this is not the first time that innovation and automation have happened in human history. And with each jump, I would argue that the world has become all the better for it.

And now for a very brief history lesson.

Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers in the Stone Age

To quote an article in National Geographic:

Taking root around 12,000 years ago, agriculture triggered such a change in society and the way in which people lived that its development has been dubbed the “Neolithic Revolution.” Traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles, followed by humans since their evolution, were swept aside in favor of permanent settlements and a reliable food supply. Out of agriculture, cities and civilizations grew, and because crops and animals could now be farmed to meet demand, the global population rocketed—from some five million people 10,000 years ago, to more than seven billion today.

A huge transition

What did those people in the Fertile Crescent do with all the extra time and resources that they had at their disposal when they no longer had to hunt and gather every day just to have enough calories to survive? They reproduced. No longer did every single person in the tribe have to contribute to the food stock, and the “automation” of making the earth provide sustenance instead of searching for it changed the work of every human. Settlements, towns, and cities began to appear. The main tools for farming were made of stones, wood, pottery, and biodegradable materials, and it worked for a good long time.

The Bronze and Iron Ages

Fast forward about 7000 years: with all the successes in farming, there had to be a way to keep track of all the food that was stored, traded, and consumed. There were people who kept this information in their heads, until — oh my goodness, someone came up with the idea of writing things down. Sumerian cuneiform writing system and the Egyptian hieroglyphs were the first to show up (that we know of) in about 3200 BC, originally to keep track of who owed whom what.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Also around this time, people figured out how to make tools out of bronze, and later, iron. It’s a lot easier to harvest grain with a metal scythe than with blades made of stone or wood. This is another innovation that defined an age and led to more growth, migration, and an explosion in population.

Are you sensing a theme? Innovation is not the death knell to civilization, it is a boon.

Fast-Forwarding to Now

The relationship between innovation and the fall of the feudal system in Europe is pretty well documented: with the extra time created by innovation, the serfs and peasants got rid of an entire socio-economic system. A new way to grind flour? Now all those millers who did it by hand were out of a job. New kinds of animal husbandry? More food and wool and dairy and fertilizer, reducing the need for as many workers. Governmental and socio-economic systems evolved with the ages, leading to the rise of urban centers and more scientific discovery and engineering innovation. The Renaissance saw a resurgence in art and science, leading to the economic and social rise of Europe. The Age of Discovery saw the innovation not only the technology required for long-distance nautical travel, but also advances in physics, chemistry, and more.

With scientific discovery also came developments in philosophy, religion, and art

The classic example of innovation changing the world is in the Industrial Revolution, which brought about factories that pumped out textiles, automobiles, clothing, products of all kinds — that were previously made by artisans and workers by hand. Now, instead of weaving cloth by hand or assembling cars piece by piece, those artisans and workers were working in factories that created fabric or building cars in a production line. These products became more affordable, giving rise to a middle class, thus changing the world economy yet again. What happened to those artisans of yesteryear? For better or for worse, these artisans and workers now worked in factories.

The rise of the computer speaks for itself. This happened in the working memory of many of you reading this, I think; or at least of your parents’ generation. My favorite example of the ramifications of the development of the computer was highlighted in the recent non-fiction book and film, Hidden Figures. Before calculators and computers, the space program relied on people, called “computers” — people who did the computing — to check and re-check the required calculations to get to the moon. With the rise of the “IBM”, those jobs were in jeopardy. But, of course, the IBM computer needed people who knew how to work the machines, so it was a logical shift that the people-computers at NASA flowed into those new positions, programming and maintaining the machines. In the film, these were the African-American women who had before been performing calculations by hand. (Side note: in the early days of computers, I don’t think there was nearly the gender divide in computer programmers that there is now. I’m not sure what happened in the 80s to make that change, but that’s a topic for another day.)

The Industrial Revolution, broken down; we’re now transitioning to the fourth wave

With every innovation, there comes work that is suddenly easier to do, leaving the workers to have the time and resources to do something else — whether it be making art, philosophizing, nation-building, making more offspring, or focusing on the next innovation to come. Yes, workers’ work changes because of the innovation. But without that innovation, the world would become a stagnant place. Besides, I would also argue that it goes against human nature to accept things as they are, rather than as they could be.

What makes us think that the innovation of automation today will be any different than the rest of human history? I can’t wait to see what the next wave will bring. Yes, there may be some growing pains. Ultimately, though, I think it will be for the best.

—Meera