A report about the possibility of robots taking over people's jobs released by the Pew Research Center on Thursday exhibited a couple of very interesting conclusions. While 65 percent of the 2,000 adults who were surveyed believed that automation would rule the workforce about 50 years from now, about 80 percent of the respondents believed that their own jobs would not be at risk.
The results are quite curious, right? In a way, the findings of the Pew study found that Americans, while believing in the prospect of a future where most jobs are taken over by robots, still cling on to the belief that their own professions would not be at risk.
Maybe it's good old human irrationality. Maybe it's just plain wishful thinking. Whatever the case, it does seem to point to one thing.
While people are fascinated by the emergence of robots in the workplace, only a select few seem to be able to contextualize the role that robots play in the grand scheme of things.
After all, when people hear the word "robot," an image of a machine akin to "Star Wars'" C-3PO usually come to mind, instead of small, remote-controlled machines fighting fires and cleaning windows - machines which already exist, and which are already starting to take the place of humans in the workforce.
With regards to the Pew study, however, the researchers themselves were unable to provide the main cause of the paradox involving human-robot interactions and its implications in the workplace. Aaron Smith, associate director of research at Pew Research Center, addressed the disconnect that became evident in the study's participants.
"There's a real disconnect between what people think will happen in the abstract and the extent to which they think it will impact them," he said.
Thus, while it seems like the respondents of the study were fully aware of the risks that widespread automation poses, they personally did not feel threatened by the change. In fact, among the conclusions of the study, it was found that 11 percent of the participants feared that they might lose their jobs, not because of robots but because of employees willing to work for less.
One in ten workers are concerned about losing their current job due to workforce automation, but competition from lower-paid human workers and broader industry trends pose a more immediate worry," the study stated.
Apart from this, 26 percent of the respondents believe that their job is at risk ultimately because of poor management.
At least, for now, it seems like the cause of people's fears about their employment remains distinctly human.