I am no luddite, but I have some level of concern about automation. It will decrease the need for human labor.
But not all humans are capable of being systems analysts, AI programmers or network architects.
I think we might want to look into forming self-sustaining communities where people know how to farm, build houses, create and maintain machines. Not so much because they need these skills to survive — automation is likely to create a post-scarcity world where you have “stuff” and way too much time. Back to the land movements can be good because the alternative is to sit and home and watch The View on TV all day long.
Basic skills, it seems to me, are always a good thing to teach.
When I was a supervisor at the unemployment office you should’ve heard the shouting if I turned off the TV in the lobby.
I worked in a Tier I stamping plant for 35 years and saw first hand how increased automation reduced jobs but improved the productivity of the company.
There will forever be kids who don't have the intelligence or motivation to go to college and those are the ones who have to be convinced that learning a trade will be their only assurance of a good paying job when they become adults. Automation will always break down and there has to be someone to fix them..........
There should be more trades related classes offered in high school that would help steer kids to a trade of their choice and more trade schools to host them once they leave high school........