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Stephanie Jay

Professor Lohmeyer

English 101

27 April 2018

Technology in the Work Force and Our Lives

What if I told you that there was a robot made by humans that was able to control its own

emotions, use artificial intelligence to see people, understand conversation, and form relationships? You

might think that this is ridiculous, given that only humans are able to perform these functions. But meet

Sophia—she is a robot created by humans that can make jokes, has facial expressions, and seemingly

understands what is happening around her (Gershgorn 1). Being engineered with all these functions,

Sophia seems in a way unnatural, and even scary to many people. She has made many people

reconsider the effects and consequences that may come from new and surprising advances in

technology. Many people have also speculated that introducing new projects such as Sophia to the

world may result in harm—harm such as taking over segments of the job market. Unless technology is

crucial to the job you perform or to your everyday life, there is research to suggest that one can be

negatively affected from its overuse. If we continue to use technology in progressive ways such as

artificial intelligence, we will have to deal with ethical and economic consequences in the future.

There are many debates on the topic of the rapid progression in technology, and many authors

will suggest that it has immensely improved our economy and our ability to complete tasks in the

workforce. In the medical field there are numerous advances that technology has brought into the

workforce. The author of “Medical Technology” states, “Out of all of the industries that technology plays

a crucial role in, healthcare is definitely one of the most important. This merger is responsible for
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improving and saving countless lives all around the world” (Demarco 1). There seems to be a necessity

for technology in the medical field, and people’s lives are depending on its use. The author of “Digitizing

Healthcare: How Technology is Improving Health Care” makes the point that, “The main purpose of all

this innovation is the gathering of information, leading to more specific, personalized care” (Hussung 1).

In “Artificial Intelligence in Medicine,” the authors state that, “Over the coming years, Artificial

Intelligence will help increase research productivity and improve our ability to diagnose, prognosticate

and make treatment decisions” (Kahn 12). These authors laud the fact that technology is becoming

more prevalent in the medical field and it is being used for the benefit of humans.

Authors and many others are not only talking about the advances in the medical field, there has

been technological progress in many diverse areas. For example, Clive Thompson, the author of

“Smarter than You Think” makes an interesting point on chess players using a computer to practice and

play against. He states, “Some think advanced chess is a grim sign of machines’ taking over the game,

and others think it shows that the human mind is much more valuable than computer software”

(Thompson 351). Thompson also notes how every new technological tool we have access to has the

ability to shape the way we think, and what we think about (Thompson 348). One author, however,

disagrees with some technological advancements and believes that we may become too reliant on it if

we’re not careful (Carr 328). Nicholas Carr, author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” makes the point

that the “…process of adapting to new intellectual technologies is reflected in the changing metaphors

we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of

their brains as operating ‘like clockwork.’ Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them

as operating ‘like computers’” (Carr 320).

Although technology may hurt our workforce numbers drastically, and may harm us in

additional ethical ways, many authors believe that technology in the workforce will more likely lead to

benefits. The author of “Importance of Technology in the Workplace” discusses how technology is put
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into our jobs and makes our lives easier. “At its most basic level, technology allows you and your

employees to be more productive and efficient” (Emma 1). Thompson, in “Smarter than You Think,”

believes that technology may actually help our communication skills instead of hurting them. He notes

that today’s technological tools make it easier for us to find connections in areas such as ideas, pictures,

people, and even in news (Thompson 349). These authors believe that technology is helping us in our

everyday lives both economically and ethically, and we will progress from its use as well.

Although many people believe that the revolution of technology in the workforce has helped

and will continue to help us, I believe that there may be a major problem with its use and our

economical outcome may be a result. We have come to a point where technology in the form of

artificial intelligence has become so advanced that we might in time not even rely on ourselves to do our

own work. In the article “Will Robots Take Our Children’s Jobs?” Alex Williams documents a great

concern that many people share on how “artificial” humans could take the place of real ones. He states,

“Artificial Intelligence could make countless professions obsolete by the time my sons reach their 20’s”

(Williams 1). (His two sons are aged four and seven, and they already know about robots as well.)

Williams decided to ask one of his sons why children are so receptive to and intrigued by robots. His son

responded by saying “Because they work for you” (Williams 1). Williams and many others find it

alarming that children are already admiring robots for much of the manual work they can do, and they

suggest that in time perhaps too much manual work will be done by robots. Along with many jobs being

taken away, the simple task of driving a car is even made easier with cars that can now drive

themselves. Uber, a company that uses a smartphone application to let passengers hire a driver to take

them to a destination, announced that between the years 2019 and 2021 the company will utilize

24,000 driverless vehicles (Williams 1). The demand, then, for Uber drivers will inevitably decrease if

there is no need for them in that area of the workforce. If we create these new types of technology and
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keep advancing more and more in areas as diverse as driving and surgery, we can all probably foresee a

day in the future when a robot or some other form of artificial intelligence is also doing our job.

Although there are areas where technology in the workforce has helped save lives, it has also

caused much damage. David Rotman, author of “How Technology is Destroying Jobs,” states that

impressive advances in computer technology are largely to blame for sluggish employment growth over

the last 10 to 15 years (Rotman). Most economists agree that the employment rate has being affected

negatively by technology, and it will inevitably affect our jobs one day. Rotman also documented the

decrease of the productivity to total employment ratio, and how the two began to be less correlated.

“For years after World War II, the two lines (productivity and total employment) closely tracked each

other, with increases in jobs corresponding to increases in productivity. The pattern is clear: as

businesses generated more value from their workers, the country became richer, which fueled more

economic activity and created even more jobs. Then, beginning in 2000, the lines diverge; productivity

continues to rise robustly, but employment suddenly wilts. By 2011, a significant gap appears between

the two lines, showing economic growth with no parallel increase in job creation” (Rotman 1). He

suggests that the lines between the two will continue to drift apart as technology progressively takes

over the workforce, and we can expect the drastic loss of human jobs.

Economically, the rise of technology has taken over many of our jobs and will affect our

economy in some areas in negative ways. However, another problem I have with the rise of technology

in the world is the ethical standpoint. Nayef Al-Rodhan, author of “The Many Ethical Implications of

Emerging Technologies” discusses the ethical effects of using technology in the workforce. “The ethical

consequences of such developments (such as artificial intelligence) should be thought through. Having

our emotions controlled in detail by smart machines will pave the way for dangerous forms of

dependences and new understandings of our humanity and the emotions that define us” (Al-Rodhan 1).

These consequences may come from having technology and artificial intelligence replace many jobs
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within our workforce. With technology more prevalent in the workplace, we may become less sociable

and lose many of the interpersonal skills that we use now. Even something as simple as email has made

us become less communicative with each other. “While e-mail enables users to interact with clients on

the other side of the globe, it has also diminished some of the trust and rapport that previously evolved

from face-to-face meetings and phone conversations” (Hamlett), the author of “The Adverse Effects of

Technology in the Workplace” states.

While technology has helped many people in the world in ways that we cannot even know

about, it has also become a detriment in many ways as well. It’s instructive to think about what may

result both professionally and personally when new advances and additions to technology and artificial

intelligence in the future affect our own jobs. “As we come to rely on computers to mediate our

understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence” (Carr 328). I

believe Carr is right. Instead of thinking on our own with the new artificial intelligence, there’s a chance

that we will become completely reliant on thinking through a machine and have that very machine take

over our own job and life as well. And if we’re not careful as we progress in the technological world,

artificial intelligence may come to override in some cases our own human intelligence further erodes

our human physical and mental work. We need to make sure that humans are able to continue in

meaningful jobs, and that the line between productivity and total employment can come back together.

Maybe we should take the chance and go to the cashier instead of the self-checkout or talk to a person

face-to-face instead of over email. And I believe that when technology does replace human workers,

then we as a civil and helpful society should make the effort to retrain individuals and ensure that we all

continue to have self-worth.

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Works Cited

Al-Rodhan, Nayef. “The Many Ethical Implications of Emerging Technologies.” Scientific American. March
13th, 2015, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-many-ethical-implications-of-emerging-
technologies/. Accessed 2 May 2018.
Demarco, Elizabeth. “Medical Technology.” Healthcare Business & Technology. Date not provided,
http://www.healthcarebusinesstech.com/medical-technology/ . Accessed 2 May 2018.
Emma, Linda. “Importance of Technology in the Workplace.” Chron. March 15th, 2018,
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-technology-workplace-10607.html. Accessed 2 May 2018.
Hamlett, Christina. “The Adverse Effects of Technology in the Workplace.” Chron. March 26th, 2018,
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/adverse-effects-technology-workplace-22649.html. Accessed 2 May
2018.
Hussung, Tricia. “Digitizing Healthcare: How Technology is Improving Medical Care.” King University
Online, March 26th, 2015, https://online.king.edu/healthcare/digitizing-healthcare-how-technology-is-
improving-medical-care/. Accessed 2 May 2018.
Kahn, Omar. “Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.” Oncology Exchange, Vol. 16, Issue 4, Pages 8-13.
http://www3.northern.edu:2171/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=7fc08eee-2439-476f-bf0a-
44bf772309e1%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=126798907
&db=a9h . Accessed 10 April 2018.
Rotman, David. “How Technology is Destroying Jobs.” MIT Technology Review. June 12th, 2013,
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/ Accessed 1 May
2018.

Thompson, Clive. “Smarter than You Think.” They Say/I Say, edited by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein,
and Russel Durst, W. W. Norton & Co., 2006, 340-360.
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