Let’s take a trip back in time. In the early 1800’s, the Jacquard loom was invented, which was a machine that made fabrics manufacturing much faster and cheaper, and enabled factories to produce fabrics with much more intricate designs than before.
Thanks to these machines, clothing was commoditized, and millions of common people could now afford to dress in clothing that was previously only available to the rich.
But this came at a price: thousands of weavers lost their jobs almost overnight. Many of them revolted against the rise of the loom machines, to no avail. No one really cared about the weavers, because the new manufacturing method made economic sense. As a result, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
They started an “anti-loom” movement that began breaking into factories and destroying the new loom machines. The movement was led by a man named General Ned Ludd, and the people involved in the movement were called the “Luddites.”
The Luddite revolt was short-lived and totally ineffectual. Interestingly, the word “Luddite” is still in use today to describe people who are averse to technology.
But that was just the start. Over the next century, the industrial revolution went into high gear, and machines were introduced in pretty much every industry. Suddenly, there were machines in factories and in farms everywhere.
This mass industrialization caused a lot of concern. Many people were convinced that human beings were doomed, that there were not going to be enough jobs, that there would be mass unemployment, poverty and starvation. That there would be no way to feed the world’s population, which was a billion at the time.
Doom and gloom all around. A slice of doom and gloom for you, sir?
What actually happened? Not only did people survive, they thrived! Over the 20th century, the world’s population grew from 1 billion to 7 billion. Did humans get wiped out by the machines? No. People found other things to do. Human beings found other jobs that they could do. And today, the world economies are stronger than ever.
Then what was all the fuss about?
You see, there are many people, particularly sensationist media, who want you to believe that, thanks to technology, we are doomed. That technology is going to take all jobs away and leave us all as human beings high and dry. And that we are probably going to starve to death.
They terrify you with talks about scarcity and unsustainability.
Or worse still, some suggest the AI systems will realize that human beings are the scourge of the planet, and we are part of the problem rather than the solution, and completely wipe us all out of the face of the earth.
Both scenarios are very, very scary. But really, what is the truth? What is going to be the situation going forward? Let me tell you.
Now, what I’m about to tell you are not just fluffy words that are intended to make you feel good, but a reality based on facts. Let’s go.
• Fact 1: None of this is new. You saw it in the story above. There is always some new tech that threatens to take your job away. Always.
• Fact 2: History repeats itself over, and over again. The story of the looms was just one example. When computers were invented, office workers were supposedly doomed; when spread sheets were invented, accountants were doomed; when social media came into existence, news media were supposedly doomed. Are you seeing the pattern? None of that materialized!
• Fact 3: Tech does, in fact, take jobs away. There is no hiding from that
fact. But tech creates other opportunities. It frees us to evolve to higher order types of work. For example, before spread sheets, accountants had to do all the calculations manually – an extremely time-consuming and error-prone work. Then along came spread sheets and freed them up to focus on more important things. Are you getting the picture?
• Fact 4: When change happens, there are always the leaders and the followers. Who are the leaders? They are the ones who become the tech entrepreneurs and revolutionaries of their times. They become Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sam Alman and Mark Zuckerberg of their time. The followers end up working for them.
• Fact 5: Leaders possess more than just tech skills. They possess the 6 power skills covered in this book.