This third post on automation will discuss the cyclical nightmare people who are automated will find themselves in. When an individual or group of individuals are automated, their immediate question would—and should—be: how, where, and when will I find another job? The nightmarish aspect introduces itself when those automated-individuals realize they will be stuck in their unemployed, unfulfilled, and unproductive situation for many months, years, and possibly decades.
For this post, I’ll relay the tragedy of automation in a short story. I hope it sheds a deeper insight into how lives will be reconfigured as more people and jobs are automated.
Becoming Automated
Tim is a warehouse worker in 2023. Having worked in Amazon’s warehouse in Los Angeles for about two years, he is one of the senior people at his workplace. He knows his team very well, and choose to stay in the job because it makes ends meet for his family. The perks of the job are stable income, working with his friends, and spending time away from his family (mainly his girlfriend—he just had a baby boy, who cries a LOT).
Some cons include monotonous, repetitive work—however, Tim ignores these because he really has no other choice. He barely graduated high school, chose not to go to college, and has racked up a ton of debt gambling. This warehouse job is the only way for Tim to pay off his debts, keep his family and overall life afloat, and generate some meaning in an otherwise dull life.
Towards the end of 2023, Tim comes into work. On the surface, it’s another normal day for him. It’s important to mention that during his two years, Tim was never late, never complained, never asked for a raise, never cut corners, and—Tim never wanted to admit it—actually enjoyed the job because it was mindless.
This particular day, however, was different. As Tim walked into the warehouse, men in suits were walking around handing out papers. In the middle of the warehouse was the regional district manager. The rest of the warehouse employees huddled around him, sheets of paper in their hands. The noise of a warehouse is always particularly loud, but on this day, the noise level was deafening. The warehouse workers were shouting at the top of their lungs at the RDM and the other men dressed in suits. Wondering why, Tim went up to his friend, Alex, and asked what was going on.
Alex, who was in tears, handed him his piece of paper. It read, “Employee #487245: On December 31, 2023, effective immediately, you will be released from your contract at LA Warehouse 0-7B.”The rest of the contract was lawyer-talk, which went right over Tim’s head. It might as well have been gibberish, but that’s not the point. As he handed the piece of paper back to Alex, he got a tap on the shoulder. It was one of the men in suits. He handed Tim a piece of paper, saying the same thing on the same date. Again, Tim was not sure what to feel. His main question was, Why?
Tim joined the crowd surrounding the RDM. The men in suits had finished handing out the papers; now they were trying to calm the crowd down. The RDM continued speaking, unfazed at the dismay of the warehouse employees. He said, “Look, we had to cut costs in the name of business. Our automated factories in China were doing well, forcing us to make some tough decisions here in America. We have decided that our American factories will be entirely automated by the start of 2024. I’m sorry about this. I relish telling you this. I’ve had to tell all the other warehouses in this district the bad news. It’s difficult to relay such horrible information. Good luck in your next venture!”
After the RDM and the other men left, Tim and his friends realized they had all been automated out of a job. All that hard work Tim put in for years went unnoticed; the lack of complaints, time off, lates; his passion for his role. From a simple and single piece of paper, Tim was thrown into a different life altogether. He wondered how he would explain this to his partner, who is a stay-at-home mother; how he would support his baby boy with no pay check; how he would find another job without a college education? These questions flooded Tim’s head as he took a bus back home to deliver the bad news.
The 2024 Job Market
Six months have passed since Tim received the bad news. It took around two weeks for the realization of being automated to set in. He didn’t make rent after month one, so he’s now living in a shelter; he wasn’t able to feed his child, and was forced to give him to an adoption centre—this obviously caused his relationship to his girlfriend to collapse entirely. He also had to file for bankruptcy due to his inability to pay back his gambling debts.
Tim is living off unemployment insurance, for now. He was notified on month four that his unemployment benefits will last only a year since there has been a massive uptick of unemployed citizens. The U.S. Department of Labour can only provide unemployment insurance to each individual for a limited time. After the benefits run out, that person is left to their wits.
Tired of sitting and particularly frustrated at the situation he is in, Tim thinks enough is enough. One event will not dictate the rest of his life. He will find another job by transitioning his skills. He goes to the local library and does some research, coming to the conclusion that his next venture will be in front end web development. With the little money he has left, he takes some online courses to develop his skills. Eventually, he starts applying to front-end software development jobs.
The market is far too saturated in 2024. Everyone is trying to transition into different jobs, attempting to extract some form of safety or security in their lives. Tim is up against stiff competition. His lack of college education renders him invisible on the resume shortlist. He constantly receives the automated messages that he hasn’t been selected. It’s not looking good for him.
One day, he gets a phone call from Alex, his friend from the warehouse. Alex has transitioned into front-end development as well, and has even landed a job with an established company. Alex tells Tim that he can get him an interview, if he wants—Tim immediately accepts. Knowing his people skills are up to par, he is confident he can find a way to land that job. And he does. Tim excels in the interview with the hiring manager, who hires him on the spot! Tim has successfully transitioned, with the help of his past relationships and his meticulous understanding of people.
Rinse-and-Repeat
Having gotten off unemployment insurance, found a studio apartment for cheap (he sweet-talked the realtor), and working in front-end web development for the past year, Tim’s life has turned around for the better. He made a promise to himself, to transition and find a way to live a normal life again, and he did it. Unlike most from the warehouse, who drank themselves to death, overdosed, or committed suicide or homicide, Tim went against that narrative: he won the good life.
In 2025, right before he logs in for work, Tim receives an email. Contained in the email is a PDF attachment of a document with strangely familiar attributes. Tim has seen this before. This is the notification you receive when your job is being automated.
Tim understood why he was automated the first time. He worked in a monotonous job before, so being automated was a question of when rather than if. In stark contrast, front-end web development is supposed to be creative, non-routine, cognitively-heavy. How could these roles be automated?
The document explains that certain breakthroughs in AI technology have been replacing the tasks of front-end engineers for quite some time. Now, business leaders have made the decision that the time has come for AI to take over the entirety of front-end engineering roles. Tim reads the words “business decisions,” “sorry,” and “good luck” all over again as a nasty wave of deja-vu is washed over him. He can’t believe it. He has been replaced again. All that hard work has gone to waste again. All those nights of losing his baby boy, his girlfriend, his life were made better by this one job; and it was taken from him without remorse. Again.
Devastated, he calls Alex, wondering if his friend shared the same fate. A different voice picks up the phone; the police. Alex committed suicide after receiving the email.
Tim doesn’t know what to do. He tried everything, turning his life around, gaining back some form of meaning and purpose. With a snap of the fingers, he was back to square one.
He is unable to transition again. Rather, he has no motivation for it. He knows what will happen once he does.
Automation is not one disruption. It’s not a singular event. It is a brutal, uncaring force. A force not of nature, but of man and its relation to technology, power, and greed.