There was a time when there were no PC’s, the internet was a far-fetched reality. But soon came a generation which brought advancement to the lives of people with path-breaking technologies in the late 20th and 21st century. The internet changed the way we look at our lives, the way we live our lives. The E-commerce industry changed the traditional world upside down where now you could even order your vegetables to your smartphone online. The online platforms made a significant change in everybody’s lives. Each & every human being and entity was affected in some or the other capacity after the rise of online platforms around the world and so were the blue-collared jobs which have gone through a major transformation!
We can start with little examples where there used to be guy who used to work with a five star hotel in Mumbai as a valet driver and a guest chauffeur for the past six years suddenly decided that he can earn more than 25k, the salary which his employers are paying him by taking the advantage of the online platforms! He did the smartest thing! He registered himself with Uber & with their help he also bought his own car where he started working for them! Now, not only he is his own boss but he also earns around 40 to 50k a month! All he needs to do is on the smartphone, the GPS map, his Uber app inside the car & wait for the customers! What’s more there were also incentives to add icing on the cake which made him realize that the life of a blue collared worker is indeed getting appreciated!
But as we say, there are always two sides to the coins, while on the other side such utility apps have made the lives of many a better place to live right from drivers, carpenters, baby-sitters & many more but to some extent it has also affected them equally.
Have you heard of this bird “blue parrot” in India? Yes, once there were a lot of blue parrots in the 20th century but soon with advanced infrastructure and technology where ecology and environment got affected, these birds became endangered! Similarly if you go to America or any developed country today, you will hardly find such workers “blue collared” as we say! As such unskilled labors are no more needed for employers. You are straightaway not needed in this tech-laden countries! All thanks to advanced automation, robotics and computers! Big time employers are always striving to replace men with machines where the physical need or strength of a human being is less needed! Now you don’t need a clerk or a secretary in U.S or anywhere to maintain accounts or the attendance of all the employees! There is already a software installed in the computers, there are finger print sensors inside the office where employees records and attendance are calculated automatically everyday!
Now you don’t need a driver for your car full-time, there are numerous apps which sends drivers/ cars on demand!
Now you don’t need hundreds of laborers inside a manufacturing unit to pick load from one place to another! Now there are automatic loader trucks or robots who do those activities with sublime ease!
Few years down the line, when you will enter a shop to buy medicines, there may be a robot behind the counter replacing the store keeper! Where the robotics would not only pick, but also dispense and package your individual dose of medicine or any product which you are looking for!
Google, Tesla and so many companies are just on the verge of launching driverless cars which will change the way we look at our cars? What about the profession of drivers then?
Financial advisers or financial experts or analyst will probably be replaced with highly advanced machines with super fast and effective algorithms which will suggest the best investments or places or stocks to invest!
Japan just came up with a full-robot staff restaurant where everything right from taking orders to preparing food is done by the robots! Now, do we need waiters and chefs?
Look at Amazon and Fedex! Amazon is already in final stages of delivering their products through their automated drones! What about the courier guys then? Fedex just recently stated that by 2020 they are going to develop a pilot center where those highly advanced and highly skilled four-five pilots will probably run and handle the entire Fedex fleet which comprises of over 200 hundred airplanes right from the advanced pilot center!
Professors and colleges are already feeling the heat with all types of courses you can do online right from your computer. Even exams you can give online and learn the syllabus from online or e-modules! Very soon talks are on that humanoid robots may start teaching mathematics and physics to students in the near future!
So in short we can go and on but the end conclusion is, the online platforms has changed the lives, has affected the blue collar workers too, to some in a positive way to some in a negative way. But at the end of the day its upon us to finally decide how much is worth enough to extract from technology and how much should be left for the human beings! Because no matter what, there are a few things and activities which robots can never replace it from human beings!
Haineel Shah
Gossipwale
