Today we see unprecedented development and advancement in every field of human endeavors. New feats are being accomplished in fields of Medicine, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Arts and Sports to name a few. Some of the feats considered impossible and unimaginable are being attained and surpassed each day. We are told about two thirds of jobs school kids today will be doing in future are yet to be created as disruptive technology and innovation keep churning out new things that make the incumbent obsolete hence demanding knowledge of the new.
A careful look at artificial intelligence and robotics show they have helped drive automation thus pushing productivity to heights hitherto unachievable. However, like every great advancement of man, we see in its trail a budding problem – large scale redundancy. Driverless cars threaten Truck drivers just as automated machines have been making Machine Operators obsolete in the past 2 generations.
Wealth redistribution that brought the emergence and growth of the middle class in the past 800 years is being assaulted by automation and robotics by swelling the wealth of entrepreneurs as middle class blue collar jobs are being eroded. White collar jobs are now being threatened too. Suggestions are being made on how to address these: machines or robots who take human jobs should pay taxes or we pay humans universal basic income, an approach already adopted by some countries. This might solve financial problems but not the deep social problems that come with job losses.
Yet man thinks he has all the answers but wise men know they don’t. The immediate past US President admitted “..for every two steps forward, they had made a step backward.” The Bible tells us “…every man at his best state is altogether vanity….” Psalms 39 vs 5. A humble recognition of this fact will lead man to acknowledge his weakness and see the need for God, whose existence he vehemently denies today.
We were told when Enosh, whose name means “mortal man” was born, then men began to call upon God in prayers (Genesis 4 vs 26). As much as humanity tries to deny the need for God, our innate weakness and the inherent failure of our successes point to the need to call on the perfect God-Man – Jesus Christ.
