How to Agile Your Way Out of the Robot Apocalypse
If you’re a roboticist you’re probably mad at me now. You’d say, “stop spreading fake news!”
Yes you’re right. Disclaimer: this video is not about that we shouldn’t develop robots, and that robot apocalypse scene is just sci-fi. And it doesn’t have to happen, if we start thinking about our coexistence with machines and planning for it, now.
According to Yuval Noah Harari, who has written several best selling books such as Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 questions for the 21st century. He said that if we let AI development run its course without thinking about the consequences then the world might eventually be divided by superhumans and the useless class.
In a world where humans don’t have to work any more, because all the available tasks are automated, super humans are basically those rich people who control all the assets and resources, including the value-generating AI. Therefore the superhumans have total control of the value chain and can enjoy the dream lifestyle.
Superhumans also benefit from the latest advancement in biotechnology, which means they never get sick, they don't get old, and they're always young, healthy and beautiful. The rest of the people who are not so lucky? Useless, which Yuval referred to in the book as “the useless class”.
In the superhumans’ eyes, these useless people do not provide any economic value anymore. The danger then is the fall of democracy, because why would the super humans have to listen to the useless class who generate no economic value?
First solution - acquiring skills of the future
Check out this fun website called “will robots take my job dot com”. And this data is based on the Oxford research called “The Future of Employment”. According to the research, jobs such as drivers, telemarketers or real estate agents are in danger of being automated, because there are a lot of repetitive tasks in these jobs. And on the other end of the spectrum, you have teachers, surgeons, nurses, and composers. These jobs require a lot of human interactions, emotional intelligence, as well as creativity, and they're a lot harder to be automated.
Pew Research also provided a list of top skills one should acquire for the future of jobs:
emotional intelligence
curiosity
creativity
adaptability
Resilience
critical thinking
Second solution - adopting the agile mindset and methodology for ourselves
How is it connected with Agile? In the agile manifesto, it is clearly stated that,
Individuals and interactions value more than processes and tools
Working software values more than comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration values more than contract negotiation
Responding to change values more than following a plan
What does it mean to take an agile approach to life? It is to really understand the market and what people need, and evaluate what we have to offer. Our “product” in the agile development could be our skills, or whatever we create. We need to deploy it to the market, and gather feedback to find product market fit. Incremental improvements can be made based on learnings. We continue to ship, deploy and gather feedback and then improve and deploy again. That's how we need to live our life in the future in order to face the change - and change is coming at an accelerated speed.
In the end, projects, clients, even companies, are made of humans. If we focus on working with other humans, we would have to tailor how we work to each project and client. Personalization beats automation.
Are you ready to agile your way to the future?