Nathan Mageau

2/2016
Synthesis Paper
How Does the Advancement of Technology Affect the Job Industry?
Technology has been advancing at a continuous pace for hundreds of years. Thousands of
agricultural workers were replaced by the cotton gin in the late 1700s. Horse carriages were
eventually replaced by cars and washing clothes by hand for hours was replaced by todays
advanced washing machines where all it takes is the press of button. Although technology is
known to be such a key component to our society, if it is to continue to grow exponentially does
it pose a possible harm to society? Not in a sense that robots will one day destroy the human
race, but will they eventually cause raging unemployment and one day eliminate the need for
humans to work in any occupation? There are several writers for well known organizations that
each have varying opinions on this potentially global issue.
Wendell Wallach, a consultant, ethicist, and scholar at the Yale University
Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, defines technological unemployment as the concept of
technology killing more jobs than it produces. Wallach and numerous others have noticed the
rapid speed that technology is advancing at and the potential harm this could cause to the
lower/middle class of America. One study done by Oxford University in 2013 concluded that
almost half of the current jobs in the United States could become computerized in the next few
decades which supports this argument (Thompson). Many jobs such as business secretaries,
travel agents, and telephone operators have already been replaced by technology at a vast scale
and there are several other jobs being targeted. One such occupation is truck driving, which
according to data from the US Census Bureau, is the most popular job in 29 states and is

currently at risk of being replaced by self driving cars currently being tested by Google and
Tesla. If this form of technology is to be developed and used, there will be millions of middle
class workers out of a job. Also, this will have a negative financial effect on food businesses
along the highway that rely on the service from these truck drivers, which could result in more
cut jobs (Nuwer). Cadie Thompson, a writer for Business Insider, brings up a differing yet just as
concerning point that many of these new technological industries are much different than the
older ones. For instance, automobile companies such as Ford and Chrysler bring in billions of
dollars in revenue and employs millions of middle class workers. On the other hand,
technological companies such as Google and Apple make trillions of dollars and employ only
hundreds of thousands of workers. This is causing our countrys already existing wage gap to
increase at a ridiculous rate (Thompson). Jim Edwards, another writer for Business Insider, wrote
an article to combat many of the arguments made by Thompson. He believes that all of this
concern is a huge overreaction over something that has been happening for hundreds of years. He
states that although companies such as Facebook and Twitter only employ hundreds of thousands
of workers directly they also employ millions indirectly through advertising. Also, there are
many individuals who make their money through selling things on eBay and Amazon.