Automatization is a broad term that describes all processes that are carried out automatically by software or robots. Robotization, on the other hand, encompasses only that part of the practice where physical machines replace human beings. One of the main benefits of automation is that business efficiency increases and staff costs go down. At the same time, there are also significant disadvantages, such as the inferiority of the technology and the threat of job losses for the real people. However, digging deeper into this topic, it becomes clear that automation and robotization are not acute threats to the workforce and cause far more benefits than detriments.
The automatization process appeared almost immediately with the emergence of manufacturing. However, with the emergence of automation of work processes and its active implementation in almost all areas of human life, there have also been opponents of such a transformation. The Luddite movement in the early 19th century is sometimes attributed to psychological or even religious causes. The workers are portrayed as almost savages who were frightened by incomprehensible machines and tried to destroy them. Still, everything was much simpler than that – the machines endangered the most skilled workers.
In nineteenth-century England, where there were no social security arrangements, wage cuts could easily have been disastrous: workers lost their homes and the means to support their families. Their protest was directed against the injustice symbolized by the machines (Coniff 2). In many ways, their discontent turned out to be prophetic. Britain’s industrialization had benefited the rich and the country as a whole, but it had been a disaster for the workers themselves. Longer working hours, reduced wages, the use of child and women’s labor, and the famous London smog were all direct consequences of the mass proliferation of machine tools. It took a century of hard political and social struggle before factory workers began to benefit at least somewhat from the mechanization of their work.
Nowadays, technophobia is primarily based on the fear that the growth of automation will start to reduce the value of the live workforce or make several professions irrelevant altogether. This does happen for a limited period at each new stage of development (Nova 4). In the past, this temporary negative effect was offset by the general trend. However, in recent years, the situation has started to change. What is fundamentally new is that machines have begun to creep upon intellectual work. Today, people who have spent years of their lives learning are just as likely to lose their jobs as skilled workers were in the past.
Improvements in tools and the adaptation of machines to replace humans in production processes caused an increase in the level of production is recognized as the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Industrial Revolution shaped the required conditions for the mechanization of production, primarily in spinning, weaving, metal, and woodworking. Scientists of that time prompted the transition from the use of individual machines to an “automatic machine system.” The conscious function of control remains with man: man becomes close to the process of production as its controller and adjuster. The invention of the automatic steam boiler feed regulator and the centrifugal speed regulator for the steam engine were significant milestones of this period.
Before the 19th century, the study of automatic devices was confined to classical applied mechanics, who regarded them as separate mechanisms. Automation laboratories were created in research institutes of power engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, machine building, municipal services. Technical and economic studies of the importance of automation for industry development in various social conditions were initiated (Vardi 3). The prerequisite for this is the more efficient use of economic resources – energy, equipment, labor, and capital. It improves the quality and homogeneity of production and increases the operational reliability of installations and structures. These inventions brought about significant changes in factory production, railways, and private enterprise. Social changes also appeared – some jobs acquired great prestige in society, while others, on the contrary, declined in demand.
Nowadays, automation is also having a substantial impact on the workforce. This mainly occurs by introducing specific automated processes that were previously carried out by humans (Autor 3). Based on this, some professions may decline in relevance or even disappear altogether due to automatization. In the first instance, these are professions involved in keeping various accounts, such as accountants. With the introduction of automation, it is easy for a computer to do accounting independently. Secondly, professions related to the translation industry may also disappear. Many automated online translators can translate quickly and efficiently, and the number is only growing. Thirdly, occupations associated with the security of premises are in danger of disappearing. Automation has given us high-tech security systems equipped with many cameras and alarms, thus negating the need for a security guard. Therefore, the jobs associated with monotonous, mundane tasks will be eliminated. At the same time, there will be a vast number of new jobs in the world. Experts with rare expertise and skills will be in demand. There will be more free time for creative and intellectual tasks, development, and implementation of new directions and ideas.
Work is ingrained in human life as an integral part of it. The fear of automation, the emergence of Luddism, and the many discussions on the subject have one basis – the fear of losing one of the essential things in our lives – work. The main reason that people need to work – making money for a living – has long been superseded by other equally important factors (Thompson, “Workism is Making Americans Miserable” 4). One of the leading such factors is that people are filled from within through their work. Work gives people a sense of importance and need and allows them to occupy themselves every day and develop (Thompson, “A World Without Work” 7). These days, people need work precisely because it allows them to express their exceptional abilities in a particular field and makes them feel fulfilled.
Based on all of the above arguments and considering the historical background to automation, we can conclude that it is not an acute threat to the workforce. With the disappearance of some jobs, hundreds of other, more creative jobs cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. With technology advancing relentlessly, automation will be introduced into more and more areas of human life. However, new developments will not be aimed at replacing humans entirely but making life easier and relieving them of routine work. Instead, humans will have far more resources to do creative work and apply their exceptional skills and qualities.
References
Autor, David H. “Why Are There Still Jobs.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 29, no. 3, 2015.
Coniff, Richard. “What the Luddites Really Fought Against.” Smithsonian Magazine, 2011.
Nova, Annie. “Automation Threatening 25% of Jobs in the US”. CNBC, 2019. Web.
Thompson, Derek. “Workism is Making Americans Miserable.” The Atlantic, 2019.
Thompson, Derek. “A World Without Work.” The Atlantic, 2015.
Vardi, Moshe Y. “What the Industrial Revolution Really Tells Us About the Future of Automation and Work.” The Conversation, 2017.