{"id":31137,"date":"2021-04-02T22:24:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T02:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=31137"},"modified":"2021-04-04T22:39:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T02:39:54","slug":"useless-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of the Useless Class: Is It Inevitable?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is a useless class? Is the emergence of a useless class an inevitable consequence of advances in technology? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>21 Lessons for the 21st Century,<\/em> Yuval Harari makes a point that advances in technology, specifically AI, are likely to lead to the creation of a useless class, much like mass industrialization created the working class. And although the AI will create new jobs, it&#8217;s likely that there will still be a net loss in employment, creating a useless class of unskilled workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn about the rise of useless class and what can be done to tackle it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Emergence of the Useless Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The rise of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/technology-and-globalization\/\">technology and globalization<\/a> brought speculation that equality would increase among people all over the world, but the opposite is happening: A small class of the tech elite possesses a huge portion of the world\u2019s wealth, while billions struggle in poverty. If AI creates a useless class, the gap will widen further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although AI has the potential to eliminate many jobs, it can also create or shift work in three ways:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Integrating the technology will create jobs related to its use.<\/strong> For example, if human pilots are replaced by drones, the change will create a need for people to maintain the drones, pilot them, and ensure that they aren\u2019t hacked.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>The money saved in payroll can go toward funding research and innovation.<\/strong> For example, in the medical field, if AI doctors begin diagnosing patients, human doctors and lab assistants can research diseases and develop new treatments.&nbsp;<\/li><li>In some fields, <strong>human workers can team up with computers <\/strong>to perform better than either could do individually.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Despite these possibilities, it\u2019s likely that there will still be a net loss in employment, creating a \u201cuseless class\u201d of economically irrelevant workers.<\/strong> Some workers will be able to get training in a new set of skills, but technology will continue to change so rapidly that those new skills could also become obsolete a decade later. Even in fields that introduce human-computer teams, the computers may eventually perform so well that they no longer need their human partners. This volatility in the job market presents its own challenges, such as:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Making it difficult to unionize and establish labor rights<\/li><li>Causing stress for workers who face a never-ending cycle of training for jobs that soon become automated<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Faced with the possibility of a useless class, there are a few possible routes that the government can take:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Step in and slow the adoption of technology and automation. <\/strong>Just because a technology exists doesn\u2019t mean that it has to be used\u2014even if it could increase efficiency and profits.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Create new jobs.<\/strong> However, this approach requires the government to subsidize workers\u2019 extended education and training, and to create a safety net for workers\u2019 transitional periods between jobs.<\/li><li><strong>Develop systems to cope with inevitable unemployment<\/strong> in the AI-automated world.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a useless class? Is the emergence of a useless class an inevitable consequence of advances in technology? In his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Harari makes a point that advances in technology, specifically AI, are likely to lead to the creation of a useless class, much like mass industrialization created the working class. And although the AI will create new jobs, it&#8217;s likely that there will still be a net loss in employment, creating a useless class of unskilled workers. Keep reading to learn about the rise of useless class and what can be done<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,24],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-31137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-society","tag-21-lessons-for-the-21st-century","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Rise of the Useless Class: Is It Inevitable? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to Yuval Harari, AI is likely to create a \u201cuseless class,\u201d much like mass industrialization created the working class. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rise of the Useless Class: Is It Inevitable?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to Yuval Harari, AI is likely to create a \u201cuseless class,\u201d much like mass industrialization created the working class. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-03T02:24:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-05T02:39:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poverty-beggar-alms.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Rise of the Useless Class: Is It Inevitable?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-03T02:24:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-05T02:39:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poverty-beggar-alms.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"21 Lessons for the 21st Century\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Economics\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/\",\"name\":\"The Rise of the Useless Class: Is It Inevitable? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/useless-class\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/poverty-beggar-alms.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-03T02:24:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-05T02:39:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"According to Yuval Harari, AI is likely to create a \u201cuseless class,\u201d much like mass industrialization created the working class. 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