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Technological Revolution
Every day, our world is faced with new technological breakthroughs surfacing at an exponential rate. Innovation has been an ongoing theme, a way to make our life easier. Alibaba’s chairman and founder, Jack Ma believes that the emerging technology could be a possible threat to more than just jobs.
During a CNBC interview, he revealed that the new technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence could possibly lead to the third World War. Ma explained, “The first technology revolution caused World War I, the second technology revolution caused World War II. This is the third technology revolution.” Our world is going through a time of innovation and revolution. We live in a time where paying with our phones are preferred rather than physical money, cars are in the works of driving and maneuvering automatically, drones deliver directly to your doorstep, and so much more. People are creating and redesigning methods to help make our lives easier and more tech savvy.
These developing technologies have also raised worries for the average workers. Many are worried that their job will be overtaken by the automated ways, such as robots, emerging. In the past, cars were manually assembled by workers, but now, in a number of car manufacturers robots have taken their place. Automated assembly is becoming more and more popular due to the fact that it is more efficient, which is threatening to some workers.
According to Ma, the potential work displacement caused by the rising technology can lead to economic stress on political systems as well as the individual. There will be a handful of people that will benefit greatly from these advances, but some will get left behind. The first World War emerged from the Industrial Revolution and the difference of economic fortunes and classes that came along with it, and similar consequences led to World War II.
In order to prevent this from surfacing again, Ma said that government intervention is required. He believes that the government needs to take action regarding the displacement and to help prevent it bu adapting the workforce to take on new jobs for those that could potentially lose their job to help prevent negative outcomes.
With the rate that technology is growing, it will be challenging the job market and work force. If actions aren’t taken to help prevent or alleviate this from happening, it will cause a lot of turmoil. In the end, Ma states, “I don’t think machines, artificial intelligence, is going to replace the wisdom.”