I work. I drive my car back and forth, do chores to sustain certain standards. Clean clothes, clean house, cook. I speak to my children, not enough. Somedays, I work out. Then I get back to my computer and continue to work. Next day, I repeat. I like to work. I like to feel like I contribute.
My concern is a temporary one, because in a few years, I know it will go away all by itself. My children will no longer care to spend their free time with me. They do now.
For quite a while now, I have pacified myself and passed off the sentiments as unproductive, soft - even unnatural.
In my line of work, I get to explore robotics and automation, I get to set up innovative experiments with businesses challenging products and services around internet of things, places and people. Technology is fascinating. But more than that, the glimpse into possible implications for our society, how we spend our time, and how we structure an economy around us calls for visionairies in politics, in research and in corporations everywhere.
The question is not what is possible. If we focus on that, we risk taking a serious detour into the valley of too-much-too-soon, job protectionism and fear. The question I want to explore with anyone who cares to join in, is what type of society we want to design for our future; how do we gear ourselves - brains, bodies, our youths, our academic institutions and vocational schools, what jobs should be human jobs? - And if we become ever so productive, and wealthy, by deploying bots in the workplace, perhaps everyone of us would get creative in boosting a personally owned one with upgrades and trading systems to perform more tasks better.
While we eagerly await the societal and structural changes, spending idle time with family remains a luxury. But recognizing that we are in-betweeners, in transition, please, let us all contribute in deciding what type of life we want to design.
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