‘Well every Monday morning
When the bluebirds begin to sing
You can hear John Henry a mile or more
You can hear John Henry’s hammer ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry’s hammer ring’
By Syed Faiz Ahmed
ne of the characters of American folklore, John Henry, showed the world that the muscle of the human body and its prowess can triumph over that of machines. Henry raced with machines only to die in victory with his hammer in his hand as his heart gave out from stress. However, he was successful in hoisting the drape of humankind higher above the machine. Henry may become a legend but he also personifies an epoch when humankind, especially workers, envisaged machines as their adversary.
The tale of that tumultuous time, when industries excelled by the grace of modern technology, can be found in numerous films and works of literature and proved a pivotal point in the progress of humankind. Economies were boosted, capitalism thrived and most interestingly the machines actually enhanced opportunities for workers.
About 70,000 years ago some minor developments in the human brain helped them attain the cognitive revolution which led to Homo sapiens gradually becoming a force to reckon with in the animal kingdom, whereas once their role was quite insignificant.
bout 10,000 years ago human beings invented agriculture as their numbers started to multiply. They also started to domesticate various animals and more importantly their lifestyles leading to shifts in economic activities.
Since then, most people in the world were involved in agriculture until the rise of the industrial revolution. Even after the revolution, agriculture did not lose its importance and apart from feeding humanity it also backed up the industry and economy, and more importantly the sectoral workforces could be interchanged. For hundreds of years, the working class used to work both in the agricultural sectors as well as the industrial sectors as civilizations grew on the brawn of their workers.
However, the cognitive revolution that fueled the human race previously had not been fully realized at that point.
Workers like Henry fought against the machine as he realized machines could be more efficient and consistent for physical work thus could replace human workers. Initially, lots of people lost their jobs but in the long run, it was proved that not only was the problem fixed but rather it proved to be beneficial for workers.
As time progressed, people did not have to break bricks by hands or manufacture things manually but newer technologies still required human expertise. This led to broadened economic horizons which led to larger production capacities, creating various types of new employment.
However, even if short-term unemployment was offset by job creations in the long-run, the 19th century taught us that transition phases can be traumatic. Economic growth took off again after a long period of stagnant living standards, but after this, it took a few more decades before this was fully reflected in higher wages. The rapid shift of growing populations from farms to urban factories contributed to unrests across Europe. The respective Governments then took a century to respond with new education and welfare systems that could adapt to this shift.
or example, in old days or the pre-industrial era the garment products were made by loom and with not requires much division of labor. However, with the invention of modern technology, mass production of garments products was possible and many skilled and unskilled workers were required in the factories to mitigate the growing demand. The complex structure of urban life and ease of communication created plenty of new types of jobs so the fear of machines taking over slowly evaporated. Muscle power remained a driving force, but that all changed during the middle of the last century.
Another paradigm shift took place whereby economies shifted from a manufacturing base to a service base. In other words, societies evolved from being industrial economies to knowledge economies. The key component of a knowledge economy is the greater reliance on the intellectual capabilities of its workers than their physical inputs or the country’s natural resources. The value addition of the workers changed, thus they were hired for their brains instead of their brawn.
Various researches suggest that some of the new jobs that have been created over the past few decades are fundamentally different from the ones that have been lost. The new jobs tend to favor workers with greater education and intellect which has become evident after the improvement of computer technology.
anic broke out regarding “technological unemployment” in the 196Os (when firms first installed computers) and the 1980s (when PCs landed on desks). Each time, it seemed that the widespread automation of skilled jobs was right around the corner.
But like the previous industrial phenomena, this service-oriented technological and economical shift created more jobs than it destroyed over the long-run. As the automation of one chore increased, demand for people to do the related tasks that were still beyond machines was still going strong. For example, replacing some bank tellers with ATMS has made it cheaper to open new branches, creating many more new jobs in sales and customer services areas. Similarly, e-commerce has increased overall employment in retailing.
In short, now the human being has become a different entity and the revolution that started 70,000 years ago is finally reaching its zenith. In the modern day USA, only 2% of population is involved in agriculture, whereas the lion’s share is a part of the knowledge economy.
owever, developing nations like Bangladesh lacked many of the features and blessings of a knowledge economy. Many of these countries are still in their archaic stages as far their economic activities are concerned. However, due to globalization throughout the world, no one can afford to lag behind.
Although Bangladesh is still trying to become a knowledge economy, our system is still playing catch-up with the rest of the world. The avalanche of changes on the technology front hasn’t helped the scenario either.
Human beings now face competition from the advent of artificial intelligence, sophisticated robots, and even cyborgs. Although we’ve ultimately seen seen how human effort has prevailed in the past, people will need to be even more proactive and creativity to tackle this new competition.
However, this time, the transition is likely to be faster as the impact from the introduction of new technologies diffuse more quickly than they did in the past. Now the strategy must be two-fold; firstly, how to help existing workers acquire new skills and secondly, how to prepare future generations for workplaces already dependant on artificial intelligence and other technological innovations.
As technology changes, the skills required for each profession also changes, therefore, workers will have to adjust accordingly. This implies that education and training facilities have to be flexible enough to be able to incorporate new programs quickly and efficiently. A greater emphasis on lifelong learning, online training, and on-the-job training will be essential. Artificial intelligence may help by personalizing computer-based learning and by identifying skill gaps and opportunities for retraining.
Social and character-based skills will gain greater importance as well. When jobs are perishable and technologies can come and go, social skills can build a strong foundation for working people. They can give humans an edge, helping them to do work that calls for empathy and human interaction—traits that are beyond machines.
hat will also open up the new horizon of human economics. In the human economy the most valuable workers will be hired hearts, not body or even mind. To compete against the intelligent machine the human traits those can’t be fathomed through programming will lead to machine.
Although a rather utopian concept, we may be fast approaching an era where human economics will be the driving force for nations, where the most valuable asset will be hired hearts, instead of mental or physical attributes. Either way, humans must pro-act rather than re-act to carry on the progress and uphold the power of humanity just as John Henry did, albeit in a completely different manner.
