Well, the future is looking bleak folks. BLEAK. A word that’s sure to become more familiar and hit the Top 10 baby names for 2024. According to a study by Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), the United States is highly vulnerable to the effects of technological advancement, namely automation, trade and urbanization.

But there’s a twist. As reported by CBS News:

According to the study, these include so-called STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, jobs, such as computer programming, data entry, electrical and electronic drafting, and computer and information research. Among the occupations most likely to be disrupted by automation in the years ahead are some people in the mathematical sciences, such as math technicians, who typically work on engineering projects or are involved in scientific research.”

So, it’s not just low-skilled jobs. It’s also STEM jobs. Or are STEM jobs really low-skilled jobs? Meh, semantics. One questions. Who’s creating the tech that replaces the “low-skilled” STEM jobs? And who’s manufacturing the tech? Cleaning? Repairing? Or creating interesting, technologically advanced storage cases for the tech that’s replacing these tech jobs?

The report has some valid concerns with offshoring and urbanization, but does not seem to consider the effects of global workforce changes and the trend toward larger economic woes in the US. There are all sorts of giggles in the article though, from saying the, “nation has largely recovered from the 2008 recession” to the idea of when, “people lose their ability to make a living, they lose their resilience to bounce back, get retrained and transition to other careers.”

If I wan’t laughing so hard, I’d be crying. We’re all doomed.

Author

Josh is founder and editor at SolidSmack.com, founder at Aimsift Inc., and co-founder of EvD Media. He is involved in engineering, design, visualization, the technology making it happen, and the content developed around it. He is a SolidWorks Certified Professional and excels at falling awkwardly.