By:
Joseph Mandla Maseko Ph.D., LLB, MPhil
The online Cambridge Dictionary[1] defines a technophobe as “someone who dislikes new technology, especially computers, and is not able to use it with confidence.” But in the context of this paper, I propose to expand this definition also to encompass anyone who sees technology as taking jobs away from humans
As a lawyer and an adjudicator in the past few decades, I no longer do light writing. I hardly even do light reading. But I feel impelled this time to address the many technophobes who are the present-day Luddites (Baggaley, 2010, Pp. 337–343). These are people who fear; hate and sabotage technology; as they see it as an enemy. I am now too sensitive to do light writing as I am also prone to employing footnotes and in-text citations of references and sources of assertions; as some may not be my original ideas.
In the week of 23rd to 29 September 2019, TV (SABC News; 2019) news items cover bank workers and their union (SASBO) going on strike. This strike is to protest against the invasion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the banking sector. They are not the only entities concerned with the growing use of technology in the workplace, and they won’t be the last either. According to those news reports, “between 30,000 to 40,000 members across the financial industry” were likely to take part in that strike. This so-called strike seemed to be protest action as envisaged in section 77 of the labor Relations Act No. 66 of 1995; or not. Both of these may be protected if certain pre-conditions exist.
According to the news reports (Ibid.), the main reason for the protest action is that “Many local banks have closed a number of their branches as a result of digitalization…”It is this very reason for the protest action that prompted this article. The aim of this article is not to criticize or support the operation. That is a matter strictly between the banks; the unions; their customers and their affected employees. What I am interested in is the fear of technology.
Since I also had worked for a bank when banks introduced Auto-teller machines (ATMs) around 1982, I can recall the anxiety that ran amok from the fear that there would be job losses in the banks. Those job losses never really came as anticipated. Even where the ATMs took over from humanity, the jobs were merely displaced for only a short while; while bank employees were trained to do the jobs that the machines could still not do. The ATMs perform tasks faster and more accurately what we as tellers (at the time) could do. And they kept very reliable records and sliced through the queues better than bank clerks could ever do.
I do not doubt in my mind that if we were to abolish planes, cars, trains, and trams, we would have more and more people in jobs; carrying things around on horseback and by hand. That is if we would not turn on the horses for taking up jobs that we could do. These jobs would all be mostly manual and backbreaking. We would be back to take three years to run from Johannesburg to London to pass messages as the telephone would also be as offensive. Another three years would be needed to travel back to relay replies.
We would have to; once again; weave clothes by hand. Food would be cultivated by hunting and gathering as all the agricultural implements are some form of technology. The Luddites among us would be offended by these tools all over again.
Hugo, V. (1861, p.68); is famous for saying, among other things; that “Armies cannot stop an idea whose time has come. No army can stop an idea whose time has come. Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.”[2]
As humans, we need to reimagine the life that we have to live; than sabotage progress for our irrational fears and hatred. Our insecurities are products of our thoughts and how we perceive technology. A bank worker, for instance, who would consider this digital development more logically; might instead; negotiate an arrangement for a win-win situation. One such possibility, to name, but one, could involve establishing a private facility and insourcing it to banks, or selling directly to consumers, in which one trains the consumers how to relate to the new digital environment as it unfolds.
A human can do this for a small cash amount, on new digital applications, YouTube channels (free) and talks, workshops, seminars, and the like. One could even provide such services and tips free of charge and create traffic to visit your own YouTube channel. In that way, the same banks would come and advertise their products at a platform you have created. The possibilities are limitless. Other former employees can also join in and combine forces and tender for related services. Technology only displaces and replaces humans where the computer is better and faster than us at a task. But the human service remains needed.
A person can even set up a social media[3] service where consumers send questions for a fixed rate of or cost of that text message limited to a certain number of words. If two million consumers were to send just one inquiry for R1.00 in one month, you would be a millionaire overnight. The service introduction is not impossible. The banks can also initiate such processes to prevent possible retrenchments by incorporating such social investments while growing their pool of partners.
Digitization provides opportunities, not hindrances. It also transforms our society from an ancient one to a post-modern one in which the world (not the earth) becomes truly flat - Friedman; T.L. (2007, p. ix). Friedman, (Ibid.), also explains that the flattening the world “… means equalizing, because the flattening forces are empowering more and more individuals today to reach farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before, and that is equalizing power—and equalizing opportunity, by giving so many more people the tools and ability to connect, compete, and collaborate.”
The whole concept of jobs is not necessarily the ideal one for humanity. Work is okay, but “job” is not necessarily a good thing for humanity. In other words, a job is not the best thing that can happen to a human being. There are far better things than a job that humanity used to and should now look forward to, than a job.
References
Baggaley, J. 2010, “Reflection: The Luddite Revolt continues,” Distance Education Vol. 31, No. 3, November, DOI: 10.1080/01587919.2010.513957, downloaded from http://www.informaworld accessed on 25 September 2019.
Friedman; T.L. (2007), “The World is Flat-A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9PcuZSUxnk accessed on 25 September 2019.
Hugo, V. (1861, p.68); Les Francs-Tireurs by Gustave Aimard, downloaded from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo#Letter_To_M._Daelli_on_Les_Misérables_(1862) accessed on 25 September 2019.
SABC News 2019, and Business Tech News, “South Africans said to fill up on petrol and draw cash ahead of banking strike.” https://businesstech.co.za from https://www.google.co.za/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNQqQXFfxN accessed on 25 September 2019.
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[3] 5 simple SEO Tips for your Vacation Rental https://www.lodgify.com/blog/vacation-rental-seo-tips/
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