The logistics industry has seen constant technological advancements to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction. Now these advancements near a time where machines will displace humans. Whether this robotic overhaul will take over other industries remains to be seen; this blog will, nevertheless, explain how humans can be part of that future.
Source: Amazon (2019)
In April 2019, I sat opposite from a robotics student who told me about his aim to rid humans of their jobs. He sat there, smug. Only now do I realise the sentiment behind that wry smile.
The advent of the Amazon Prime Air Drone is a stark warning of that future. Who asked for them? Well, the answer quite simply is us. We didn’t directly ask for it through words but through action. The logistics industry transports everything from pinewood to your one-day rush Halloween costume you ordered from Amazon yesterday. The reason we need these innovations, that remove the agency of human delivery drivers, is a need to feed consumer culture.
Within a capitalist society, consumer culture is a co-produced phenomenon (Jasanoff, 2004). As we attach our worth to the accumulation of material goods, we define a new set of challenges for competitors in the space. We want things faster, to our door, and with no errors. Therefore, to maintain this reality, the biggest proponents of these innovations label them as necessary to the continuation of human life (Harvey and Knox, 2015). Furthermore, the hype around the possible introduction of these products is fuelled by this insistence on perpetuating consumer culture (Zukin and Maguire, 2004).
Our desire to be stronger, faster and better has now led us to other ourselves (Said, 1978). Amazon has already automated most of its warehouse operations, relinquishing the necessity of human interaction. Or does it? While I don’t believe that robots will take over the world, nor the whole logistics industry, there is a role for humans in this technologically-advanced future.
A study by Finnish researchers found mixed reactions to the hypothetical introduction of robot nurses in care delivery. Nursing requires compassion and soft-touch, which robots are currently not able to replicate. This type of intervention exemplifies that human role, as technology is yet to mimic human emotional intelligence accurately.
The question remains: How do we train the next generation of workers when the required skillset changes intra-generationally?
The answer: soft skills. In an interview, the CEO of Goldman Sachs David Solomon said that the top skills they look for in new hires are communication, empathy, conflict management, leadership, and so on. These skills provide a timeless rubberstamp quality of the human race, which will also prove vital in political diplomacy and cross-cultural communication. While consumer culture has insisted on the circulation of knowledge in exchange for capital, the next wave of innovation will require circulation of soft skills in exchange for human relevance.
It seems as though the robotics student might be right about jobs, but it’s likely he’s only right about ridding himself of his own.
Bibliography
Amazon (2019), ‘Amazon Prime Air’s New Delivery Drone’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HJtmx5f1Fc, date accessed 1st January 2020
Harvey, P. and Knox, H. (2015), ‘Roads: An Anthropology of Infrastructure and Expertise’ (Itahca, NY: Cornell University Press) pp. 21-76
Jasanoff, S. (2004), ‘States of Knowledge: The Co-production of Science and Social Order’ (London: Routledge)
Zukin, S. and Maguire, J. S. (2004), ‘Consumers and Consumption’, Annual Review of Sociology 30 pp. 173-197
Said, E. (1978), ‘Orientalism’ (New York: Pantheon Books)
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