Technology vs. Jobs – A Free Agent Society

 

As I watched the Microsoft Ignite conference in Chicago, Illinois recently, I was fascinated by the new technology being presented. However it was also sobering because of future implications for the generations of my children and granddaughter’s.

One of the comments made during a presentation at Microsoft Ignite was that businesses would be able to have both employees and outside contractors sign into a business infrastructure together. This is a significant change because previously server systems and networks, because of security, tended to be closed to outside contractors or “free- agents. “It was noted that business models are changing and more and more people are going to become “outside contractors” [free agents] as opposed to employees.

This concept is discussed in Talent Management magazine (April 2015) in an article entitled “The New Free Agent Nation” by Max Mhelliah. The author notes:

“At an increasing rate, companies are collecting the names of talented freelancers who make up the ever-growing population of the workforce.”

Further he presents a historical perspective:

“In 1997, there were roughly 25 million free agents in the United States, which represented about 16 percent of the country’s workforce, according to U.S. government data. Since, that number has more than doubled to 53 million Americans, according to a 2014 study by research firm Edelman Berland.”

As was noted at the Microsoft Ignite conference, the article discusses this change in our society. The following is from Lauren Schulte, director of enterprise marketing, Elance-odesk Inc.

“For generations, our culture has valued long-term, full-time employment,” Schulte said. “There was a time when it was a point of pride to work for a single company for a lifetime. These days are behind us. The average tenure of a job in the U.S. is 4.6 years. Pensions and retirement plans are a thing of the past.”

The statistics presented in this article are telling.

“Tenure times, while decreasing, vary depending on age. Median employee tenure is generally higher among older workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median tenure of workers aged 55 to 64 is about 10 1/2 [ten and one-half] years – more than three times that of workers aged 25 to 34 years, who tend to stick around for an average of three years.

Those born between 1980 and 2000, the Millennials, is predicted to make up more than half the workforce by 2020 according to the article. They took their first job, “when the job market was at a notable low”.

Generation Y is the generation born between 1982 and 2004 (http://www.ask.com/world-view/generation-y-age-range-4974e5c1fa43793d). The article notes:

“Given Generation Y’s desire for flexibility at work, it’s easy to imagine a workforce increasingly made up of freelancers. Elance-odesk predicts the workforce could be half freelance by 2020.”

Another article entitled Robots increase manufacturing productivity by Andrew Wilson, Vision Systems Design Magazine, [April 2015] shows the way robotics are advancing.

“Robotic systems are now commonplace in many automated manufacturing processes. In the automotive industry, for example, such systems are used for the assembly of engines, transmissions and axles, as well as car body painting and welding.”

”When deployed, these systems both relieve human operators of such hazardous, highly repetitive and manually taxing tasks while increasing the productivity of manufacturing production lines.”

“Traditionally, such robotic-based systems have been separated form human workers by safety guards to prevent injuries caused by fast-moving robotic operations.”

However, that is changing rapidly.

“… manufacturers are now introducing a new generation of robots that employ torque sensors and vision systems to allow such robotic systems to work more closely with human beings. By combining the cognitive abilities of human operators and the potential of robotic automation, these so-called force-limited robots sometimes incorrectly called collaborative robots (or cobots) will thus increase the productivity of automated manufacturing processes.”

Just like in the computer industry, manufacturing is becoming increasingly automated. People with be called in when they have a specific skill or talent needed for the job at hand. There will be less and less people needed on a full time basis to operate our high tech, as well as, our basic industries.

Another article entitled It’s Time to Investigate the H-1B Mess by William NG, Design News Magazine [May, 2015] notes:

“Clearly some companies are gaming the system. The recent Southern California Edison case, in which 500 employees lost their jobs to overseas workers and foreigners holding H-1B visas, served as a clear example of that. According to Senate testimony of Ronil Hira, a public policy professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, the offshore outsourcing firms that hired the California Edison employees paid them about 40% less than the American workers they replaced.”

Clearly this is another way to cut costs, but to what end? If the majority of our global businesses are able to use “free-agents,” either to cut costs or due to increases in technology and robotics, then what? Where are the customers who are able to afford the goods and services made by these more productive, and more efficient, leaner corporations?

So why aren’t we as a nation talking about this transformation? While I enjoy technology and am certainly not a “Luddite,” I decry the fact that both our national leaders and our global leaders continue to talk and develop policy as if we were still in the mid-1800s industrial revolution. They pass legislation based on the 1950s model of General Motors and subsidize mega-international corporations with federal (government) dollars just to create the illusion of normalcy, wealth and economic growth.

As I have noted in several recent blogs, our leaders both globally and in the United States (both the “R’s” and “D’s” as I term them) are either clueless about the issues or don’t care about maintaining anything but their own lifestyle and portfolio. In my opinion, they are too smart/educated to be clueless. Which leads me to believe, that with the exception of a very few, they (the elite) will do and say anything which will serve to protect, preserve and enhance their lifestyle and position.

On this Memorial Day [May 25, 2015] in the United States, we honor the men and women who have served and those who paid the ultimate price for “our freedom.” However, I know that what we have today is not the country my Dad and Granddad envisioned when they served.

To me, true leadership is being of service to those subordinate to you. This clearly is not a definition the majority of political/business leaders either in the United States or globally adhere to. Sadly, these leaders, which typically are part of the top 1% (elites) in wealth and resources, apparently don’t realize that the stronger the global “middle class” the more secure their leadership position. It seems, at least in the United States, we have one party, “the Party of Me.”

If this is not so, where are the substantive discussions of the impact of technology on jobs and a vision of an increasingly automated global society? Why are our leaders not discussing how our global economy needs to change to incorporate this new technology in the form of computers, medical technology, transportation design and robotics, while creating a sustainable lifestyle for the general population? Clearly, we cannot even discuss global climate on a rational basis without introducing generalities and political platitudes.

How do we continue to develop and maintain a high standard of living as more and more people are replaced by robotics or become “free-lance” workers? What does this mean to our increasingly expensive health care and insurance systems? How do people enjoy the “fruits” of this increased productivity when they have no way to “earn a living” because they don’t fit into the select few job skills which are in demand?

Technology has tremendous promise in many fields such as medicine, computers, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. Some of this promise can be seen in recent space missions. One of the first of these missions is presented in my downloadable EPub entitled EROS Adventure, Journey to an Asteroid. The 300 plus high resolution photographs included in this publication are stunning to say the least. It is a tribute to the beginning of our advancing technology.

Our lives will be revolutionized, on one hand. However, the downside may be dire as well. How will we cope with the transformation from a human driven society to a machine driven [automated] society? If the majority of our goods and services are produced or performed by robots and automation, how will we respond? What will that model look like? As noted previously, where does the money come from for most of the population to buy these new goods and services, as well as the more common day items such as food, clothing, electricity and housing? In a word, how do we feed and provide for our families under these conditions?

I talk about this issue in my EPub entitled World Collapse or New Eden, which follows over 100 predictions made in the 2008-2011 time-frame through 2015. It makes a fascinating read with many links to the topics presented. A number of the predictions are relevant to this technology verses jobs discussion.

For the sake of the next generation, that of my son and daughter, and the next generation after them, that of my granddaughters, we need to be educating ourselves and really discussing these issues. We need to demand that our leaders discuss these issues in a meaningful way. To go into a major election (in the U.S.) with candidates named Hilary, Jeb, Christy, Cruz, Huckabee, Perry, Santorum, Walker and others talking about “lost emails” or “where and who to go to war with next” is utter stupidity and a total distraction. One of the only candidates in the presidential field discussing a significantly different agenda is Rand Paul, and I suspect he will be marginalized as his father was.

Should we continue down this path and allow our “leaders” and “future leaders” to continue this deception with the aid of the corporate owned (elite) mainstream media, then we deserve what we get. However, our children and grandchildren do not deserve the future we are handing to them.

Sincerely,

H. Court Young
Author, publisher, speaker and geologist
Promoting awareness through the written word
Research, freelance writing & self-publishing services
Facebook: HCourtYoung
Phone: 303-726-8320
Email: tmcco@msn.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hcourtyoung
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hcourtyoung
Blog: http://hcourtyoung.blogspot.com

A Tribute to My Mother and her Generation of Small Business

 

In memory of my Mother’s birthday which was in April, I am presenting a tribute to her generation and the small businesses which made America the global power it is. I remember the small town in southern Illinois which she was born and grew up. The photograph is of her parent’s family business which started as a small garage and grew into a local hotel located on the main street of this southern Illinois town.

During her lifetime and her parent’s lifetime, which spanned the entirety of the 20^th century, the world changed exponentially. At the turn of the century between 1899 and 1900, the mode of transportation was the horse. Large loads and multitudes of people were transported via rail. In fact, I remember one story which my grandmother told about arriving in San Francisco via train with her mother one day before the 1909 earthquake.

By the time my mother was born, cars were the main mode of transportation, but rail was still very prominent. Her family had one of the first automobiles in this small Illinois town. She would describe trips taken across the United States via automobile. They had quite an impact on her. The entire family would travel together, including my grandfather’s parents. One trip, when she was seven years old, was to Colorado (where she ended up living for most of her life). They went to the top of Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs. Another family trip was to New York City.

Her family and millions of others like it worked in or owned small businesses in small towns across America. Many more were farmers and ranchers on small acreages producing the food and livestock to feed an expanding population. Because this area of southern Illinois had an abundance of oil and natural gas, coupled with a lot of agriculture, the great depression of the 1930’s was not as severe as it was in other parts of the country. Businesses bartered with each other, much as they had done prior to the depression. They traded goods and services to the benefit of the community and its members. By today’s standards, they lived a relatively modest life style, but they seemed much happier and contented than today’s first world societies.

World War II changed society in the United States. Many of the men went off to foreign lands to fight, while the women took jobs previously reserved for men. “Rosie the Riveter” was the name used for the women who took these factory and shipyard construction jobs, building the material to wage war.

When Dad came home from the Pacific Theater, he and Mom moved to Colorado. Dad started mining for silver, lead, zinc and uranium in the central Colorado Rocky Mountains. Many of the men who had been off to war, came home and started businesses, or went to college on the G.I. Bill. Often, they were the first in their families to be able to do so, thanks to the financial help from the government. This help enabled a generation of men and women to become engineers, doctors, lawyers and accountants. They applied what they learned and with a lot of hard work and dedication, built a nation, the likes of which the world had never seen.

This economy was still fueled economically primarily by small business and family owned farms. However, as money flowed, standards of living rose and profits made small businesses and farms larger. Large companies began to dominate the American and global economy. Things began to change. Because our society was more mobile, children began to leave the small towns of their parents and move to the large cities. Family ties were being broken by an increasingly mobile expanding society.

One of the first trips I remember taking on an airplane was to Hawaii. It was in 1962 and the trip was amazing. Mom, Dad and I felt extremely “pampered” by today’s standards. Air travel gradually became the “norm” and it morphed into the “dollar-hungry” ordeal of today.

As my generation came of age, many of us went to college, as our parents had done. However, the rise of the military – industrial complex (MIC), which President Eisenhower warned us about, was becoming increasingly dominant. Wars, such as Vietnam which was one of the first, became “profit centers” for these large corporations and their huge government contracts. As the money flowed into the mega-defense/government contracting corporations, they bought lobbyists, politicians and other “influence” peddlers to slant legislation in their favor. The political influence and impact of small business (as well as that of the individual) declined rapidly.

Throughout my youth, technology was advancing at a rapid pace. Computers, developed during WWII, were becoming part of everyday life. Companies such as Microsoft and Apple were started by the same entrepreneurial spirit and quest for knowledge shown by the generation of my Mother. This technological revolution is still one of the bright spots in our world today, in my opinion.

That being said, where will it take us? For example, there are an increasing number of articles and blogs concerning the development and use of robotics. As the use of robotics increases, what will happen to the workers who previously filled those positions? What is our educational system doing to offset the impact of this new technology? Are the young people of today going to be able to find meaningful employment? If not, what skills do they need to learn to be competitive?

Why aren’t our “leaders’, both in government and the private sector having this discussion publically in a meaningful way? As the United States enters into yet another “election cycle” why are we hearing about “lost emails” and “the necessity of starting/continuing yet another war” against people that can’t harm us? This lack of meaningful dialog makes almost anyone who attaches an “R” or “D” behind their name essentially a “sad joke on the American public”, in my opinion. With perhaps one exception (Rand Paul), I won’t be voting for any of these “R” or “D” candidates who claim to be “aspiring public servants.”

I included over 100 major predictions about these and other issues in my EPub entitled World Collapse or New Eden. These predictions, starting in 2008, have been carried forward to 2015. They show trends which are unmistakable and more than slightly discouraging.

Contrast the predictions in World Collapse or New Eden with the marvelous technology shown in my EPub entitled EROS Adventure, Journey to an Asteroid. It contains over three hundred high resolution photographs of this amazing billion mile space mission to a small near-Earth asteroid. This NASA/JPL mission, completed in 2001, is a testimony to the triumph of technology. Why do we continue to reduce our government and private space and science expenditures in relationship to that of the MIC? Clearly the benefit of the few out weigh improvement for the many.

So what about the promise shown by my Mother’s generation? Have we (the sons and daughters of her generation) really “frittered” their accomplishments away in such a short time? I have a very high regard for the generation coming up, i.e. that of my Mother’s grandchildren. They seem to be operating on a different “wavelength” than my generation (their parents). While I probably won’t see the outcome, I see the same promise in them that was in my Mother’s generation. I can only thank my Mother and her generation for their wonderful accomplishments and hope for a swift transition in power from my generation to that of her grandchildren.

Sincerely,

H. Court Young
Author, publisher, speaker and geologist
Promoting awareness through the written word
Research, freelance writing & self-publishing services
Facebook: HCourtYoung
Phone: 303-726-8320
Email: tmcco@msn.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hcourtyoung
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hcourtyoung
Blog: http://hcourtyoung.blogspot.com

American Exceptionalism, Reflections of the Past or Today’s Reality?

 

As we enter what would have been Dad's 98th year, and I continue to write about our lives together, I wonder about the concept of American Exceptionalism. This term is “bantered about” by all of those with an ‘R’ or ‘D’ behind their name, especially in election years.

In this age of exceptional greed, is it still possible to have an exceptional culture? What does that really mean or look like?

First, we must define the term. Wikipedia notes the following:

“American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other nations.^[2] In this view, U.S. exceptionalism stems from its emergence from the American Revolution, thereby becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation"^[3] and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, democracy and laissez-faire. This ideology itself is often referred to as "American exceptionalism."^[4]”

“Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and other American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense.^[4][5] To them, the U.S. is like the biblical "City upon a Hill"—a phrase evoked by British colonists to North America as early as 1630—and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.^[6]”

I believe most in America today would, if not explicitly, then implicitly use the “neoconservative” approach of superiority of the American culture and race. However, to Dad’s generation it meant something far different. While they may have expressed it in “neoconservative” terms, that is not what it meant to them.

In my book entitled, The Orphan Boy, A Love Affair with Mining, I note the following about a man who demonstrated true American Exceptionalism:

“One September afternoon I sat on the dump of a small mine in Colorado with a unique man, my dad, Herbert T. Young. Even at 12,000 feet, the sun was bright and warm, and the sky was so very blue. Below, the aspen leaves were just starting to turn gold, and there was a hint of fall in the air.

We had talked on the way up the rocky, steep road about the mines and the history of the area, as we often did. I never got tired of the many stories Dad told about his experiences and information he gathered in researching the mining district.

Arriving at the Orphan Boy mine, we sat down and had a cup of coffee from Dad’s ever present thermos. Even though I had previously heard many of his stories about this mine that started his love affair with mining, they seemed much more real as I sat with him in that remote and peaceful basin.

My eyes were drawn to the rugged splendor of the high peaks; Brittle Silver Mountain, Grizzly Peak, Revenue Mountain... Along the horizon were Gray’s and Torrey’s, two of Colorado’s fourteeners. The air was so clean I felt like I could almost reach out and touch the peaks across the Warden Gulch basin. Morgan Peak, behind me, and Santa Fe Peak to the south looked so close it seemed like I could hike to them in just a few minutes.

Everywhere I looked were evidences of the mining and prospecting that went on in a different time. I noticed the reddish brown and yellow gossans that streaked the mountain slopes in several places. All the while, this remote valley was very quiet, almost as if our thoughts themselves interrupted the solitude. This scene stirred something in my soul that words cannot begin to explain.

I thought of Dad and the many experiences he related to me. I noticed he was also scanning the mountains, deep in thought. He turned and smiled at me, with his brown eyes shining. I knew we were thinking, feeling and experiencing the same closeness to God in that moment.”

The feeling of kinship I experienced while sitting on that mine dump were similar to the feelings I had during the times Dad and I worked underground together. Working underground brings a special sense of closeness where everyone looks after one another. Even with 30 years difference in our ages, we were kindred souls.

A good example honoring others as you would yourself is as follows. This is a passage in my upcoming book, Light at the End of the Tunnel, about my Dad and our relationship:

“When mining at the Orphan Boy Mine, a story told in my book entitled Orphan Boy, A Love Affair with Mining, Dad offered his partners a ‘buy-sell’ agreement. He fully intended to buy them out and continue mining the Orphan Boy Mine.

Had Dad not offered his partners a ‘buy-sell’ agreement, not realizing they had the funds to buy him out, which he honored and was subsequently was bought out, things might have been different. This [Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA)] grant would have given the money to do the exploration at the Orphan Boy which Dad planned and always wanted to do and probably would have found the mineral that Dad always thought was there.”

Unknown to Dad, during the summer of 1952, his elderly partner, Fred Brooks, stated to the DMEA office staff that because the DMEA grant had been approved, his nephew had bought out Mr. Young’s interest and was attempting to buy out Mr. Schoonover (the third partner in the Orphan Boy Mine).

This grant was awarded before Dad was aware of it, and it was these funds that was used to pay back Mr. Brook’s nephew. Dad could have fought the buy-sell agreement, which could have been financially beneficial. This would have been the “neocon” approach. But Dad had given his word and made an agreement (which he signed), which he honored regardless of cost to him.

There are many other instances of this sacrificial type behavior throughout Dad’s life. He truly believed in “doing unto others as you would like them to do to you.” He loved people and it showed. He got a lot of joy in helping others and gave much of himself. He got a lot out of life and friendships.

I worked with Dad during the summers and after college graduation until his death and had the fortune to experience firsthand why his generation was named the “greatest generation.” He was typical of the World War II generation whose lives were interrupted by that war. When they came back home, they changed both America and the world in a special way.

Two other people in my life show this quality of “American Exceptionalism,” my son, William and my daughter Laura. They both are very talented, but deeper than that, they have the same gentile, quiet spirit that my Dad had. They both care about others and give much, but they get much from life as well.

As I note in Light at the End of the Tunnel:

“Years later, eating lunch as I sit on the dump [of the Orphan Boy mine] with my son, William, and my daughter, Laura, the memory that comes back most often is a sunny afternoon with Dad. I think of Dad and the many experiences he related to me. As I watch and listen to my children, I see in them the same fascination with life my Dad had. They look from one high peak to another with shining eyes and a sense of wonder that I saw so many years before in my Dad. These are gifts passed from one generation to another.”

I have met some of that generation (the 30 something’s) through William and Laura. I like what I see. They seem to be very practical and much more like the generation of their grandparents than my generation is.

My generation, from whom the current crop of “leaders,” corporate and political, come from, in general, doesn’t reflect the exceptionalism they are so fond of talking about. Our society is clearly a reflection of their views and qualities. In my opinion, very few show the same measure of exceptionalism of their parents.

It is for this reason I am writing about Dad, and our relationship. I want to touch the lives of others through writing which is why I attempt to “promote awareness through the written word.” It is also why I wrote my EPub, “The Art of Writing an EBook, How to Enrich Yourself and Others”.

All people have stories to tell. You have no idea the number of people who tell me that writing is “too hard” or “I don’t know where to start.” My EPub entitled “The Art of Writing an EBook, How to Enrich Yourself and Others,” can help with the “I don’t know where to start” challenge. I encourage you, my reader, to take a look at this EPub. If you have any desire to put your story into print, it is a resource which will help with many common writing challenges.

I had a mentor, best friend and Dad who demonstrated true “American Exceptionalism.” I see the same qualities in those of the generation of my children.

So, it seems that American Exceptionalism is alive and well in today’s world. It is not what those with an ‘R’ or ‘D’ behind their name term it or understand it to be. It is especially not what the “neocons,” corporate leaders or mainstream media (MSM) tell you it is. It is also not just an “American” trait, but is universal among people who truly love and value others as themselves.

American Exceptionalism is the quality of self-sacrifice and love of the other person that was demonstrated so well by my Dad’s generation and that is budding in the generation of their grandchildren. It is both a reflection of the past and a reality in today’s younger generation.

Sincerely,

H. Court Young
Author, publisher, speaker and geologist
Promoting awareness through the written word
Research, freelance writing & self-publishing services
Facebook: HCourtYoung
Phone: 303-726-8320

Email: tmcco@msn.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/hcourtyoung

As a tribute to my Dad’s 98^th year, I am offering a promotional discount of about 17% off on the EPub version of my book The Orphan Boy, A Love Affair with Mining. Visit Amazon.com by clicking of the link and check for this discount.