The Future of Work Must Be Human Oriented
Weekly research, commentary and analysis on how tech is changing our working lives
The Future of Work is a weekly issue from The Sunday Letters Journal that takes a look at current research, commentary and analysis on how our working lives are changing due to advances in technology. If you are a paying subscriber, you’ll get access to research papers, essays and articles that you may not otherwise through paywalled sources. Prepare for the future of work. Get each issue every Friday.
We are more than our cognitive function, more than the chatter in our heads, more than the need to collect things and obtain success. But this “more” is not more per se. Instead, it is quality, rather than quantity. But if we look at human behaviour and motivation, we might be convinced otherwise. The natural world and all that lives in it are seen as mere inputs in the pursuit of outputs. From the dawn of the industrial revolution, and arguably long before it, human beings have been treated as means to commercial ends components in a hydraulic system.
Today, despite physical working conditions having undoubtedly improved, this seems to be still largely the case. Psychologically and emotionally, work remains an assault on the person for many. In spite of our best efforts, the contemporary workplace appears to make us sick. And the advancement of AI and associated technologies might fast-track our movement along this trajectory. However, there is also the opportunity for it to make things better
We are more than the collection and processing of data. Why not let the machines do that and let us pursue more eudaimonic ends? I’m not sure we have the capacity, though, given how we have been conditioned by the world of work. We should try nonetheless.