Millennials, amiright?
They’re out here killing things left and right already, content to keep twirling their fidget-spinners and listening to their Zune-killers.
But there is one thing millennials aren’t doing: worrying about the robots that will take jobs.
In the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers 2017 survey, thousands of young adults between the ages of 18 and 35 (because the millennial net is wide) from 186 countries answered questions about the economy, technology, and their hopes and dreams for the future.
And after surveying over 24,000 respondents, it looks like millennials are most worried about climate change, with 48 percent of respondents saying it’s the most serious issue affecting the world today. And when it comes to climate change, 90 percent of people either somewhat agree or strongly agree that climate change is caused by humans.
And around 55 percent either somewhat or strongly disagree that young peoples’ voices are taken into consideration by their country’s government before a major decision.
Then we get to the robots and, by nearly 80 percent, those surveyed said they thought technology was creating jobs instead of destroying them. At the same time, 63 percent acknowledged that tech advances will most impact jobs.
Robots replacing humans has been a growing trend story, a narrative that splits the desire for better technology with the need for, well, jobs. And, depending on your industry, it doesn’t look good for us overall.
Of course, robots are more likely to take jobs that millennials don’t want, like truck drivers, than the ones they’re currently seeking out, like craft cocktail bartenders.
On the flipside, though, it does seem that at least millennials are aware of the dangers in robots becoming our overlords. Around 50 percent either strongly or somewhat disagree with trusting decisions made by robots on their behalf (around 24 percent were neither and the other 25 percent on the agree side of the spectrum).
Meanwhile, nearly 50 percent disagreed with supporting robot rights, while 36 percent said maybe and 14 percent said yes.
So while they’re not sweating losing gigs to the robots, millennials are just as likely to rule our robot friends like malevolent masters of the universe, ensuring that the robot uprising will be bloody no matter which generation is in charge when it happens.
