AI and Vonnegut: Choosing a job just got tougher

Jobs.

Yours may seem like it sucks until you don’t have it anymore.

If you’re raising a family or just trying to rent an apartment to put a roof over your head, a job, a regular paycheck, is like gold.

When you’re an adult, you will either regret your wasted days in high school or be glad that you chose a profession that would provide.

These days, though, the job landscape is changing, thanks to the rapid expansion of generative AI. Anyone not stuck under a rock already knows this.

So, choosing a profession that will still be around in five years, much less 10, 20, just got that much harder.

In fact, a recent story published by NBC News put it better than I could have:

“NBC News asked people who recently finished technical school, college or graduate school how their job application process was going, and in more than 100 responses, the graduates described months spent searching for a job, hundreds of applications and zero responses from employers — even with degrees once thought to be in high demand, like computer science or engineering. Some said they struggled to get an hourly retail position or are making salaries well below what they had been expecting in fields they hadn’t planned to work in.”

Meanwhile, they have a hefty college loan that’s collecting interest.

Students who can’t find a job can ask for an unemployment deferment (up to 36 months), which is renewable annually, and the interest accrued will be put on hold.

If someone can get a federal student loan, it’s better than a private loan, mainly because interest will continue to accrue with private debt, vs. no accrual with a fed student loan, provided one has gone through the process getting the unemployment deferment.

Unemployment? The economy is booming.

If you say so.

What Will Last?

In the “old days,” since rebranded “back in the day,” kids in high school used to try and think about what profession they might want to pursue.

White collar? Blue collar?
The ones who went to college often changed majors at least once, maybe twice.

The kids pursuing the trades were either working HVAC, with an electrician, plumber, carpenter, or car mechanic before they finished high school.

If you had a bachelor’s degree, chances were pretty good that you could land at least an entry-level job. The college grad with a bachelor's degree really did have a leg up in most professions, most business- related fields.

Today, though, the times have changed.

After AI really broke on the national scene in November 2022, it first targeted the entry-level jobs, and now it’s going after the mid-level jobs.

White collar. Meanwhile, Wall Street, no heart, loves what it’s seeing – the cost of production creeping ever lower. The fewer humans who have to be paid, the better.

Plus, AI never asks for a raise, and it won’t sue the company for sexual harassment.

Meanwhile, recent college grads, much less the middle-aged people who have been laid off from a job, are facing a rough road ahead.

Call me pessimistic, but looking ahead, for many in the workplace, it will become a matter of survival.

First Wall Street offshored the manufacturing jobs to cheap-labor markets. Now, huge corporations can keep the jobs in the U.S., but use AI to accomplish many tasks.

Viva cheap labor costs, they say as the opening bell sounds for today’s Stock Market session.

Kurt Vonnegut Was Right

One of my favorite writers, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was way ahead of his time when he wrote his debut novel, “Player Piano.”

First published in 1952, I read Vonnegut’s novel circa 1973, which was the year that the economy started heading down, down, down. By 1974, the unemployment rate peaked at approximately 9 percent.

“Player Piano” is so reflective of today and our future, in my opinion.

In summary, the book is a dystopian satire exploring automation's impact on society. Set in a future America, machines and computers have replaced most human labor, creating a highly stratified world.

The story follows Dr. Paul Proteus, a talented engineer managing an automated factory in Upstate New York.

Society is divided: a small elite group of engineers and managers oversee the machines, while most people are relegated to menial jobs or the unemployed 'Reeks and Wrecks,' living in segregated, purposeless communities.

Sounds vaguely familiar.

The novel critiques unchecked technological progress, corporate control, and the loss of human agency, blending dark humor (my personal favorite) with poignant commentary as only Vonnegut could deliver. The novel culminates in a rebellion that questions whether humanity can reclaim meaning in an automated age, leaving the outcome ambiguously open to interpretation.

Prescient in the extreme, Vonnegut was a writer of many talents.

Last but not least -- good luck to students today who must navigate a world of employment dotted with too many landmines.

If you’re a middle-aged worker recently laid off, you have my sympathy and hope that things will improve.

Viva hope.