MT Magazine November/December 2024

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024

25

Hit or Myth: Automation and Tomorrow’s Workforce BY CHRIS CHIDZIK | PRINCIPAL ECONOMIST Political dramas like “The West Wing” and “House of Cards” are popular for their depictions of politicians and their staff as people motivated by some combination of idealism and Machiavellian ambition who develop and carry out elaborate schemes to serve those ends. While this makes for entertaining television, a running joke among those who have witnessed Washington in action is that reality is far closer to the comedy “Veep,” where events play out more in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of way. In a similar vein, popular depictions of automation point to dystopian futures populated with robots that hunt humans, or artificial intelligence-driven computers that bring about the destruction of humanity. The reality is probably closer to the episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy and Ethel were tasked with wrapping chocolates coming down a conveyor belt. While the work began simply and efficiently at a leisurely pace, the chocolates began to arrive at ever-increasing speed, hilariously outpacing the characters’ abilities and altering their relationship with the automation.