Technology, Both
Miracle and Burden
In Yalta, Ukraine Mr. Milner stated
that one of the most controversial things of this time is that it is a time o
positive economic innovation at the same time as being a time of painful
erosion of the way of life for middle-class families. Mr. Milner describes this
technology revolution as an unprecedented innovation that brings many benefits
and savings to those who are consumers. However, economists bring the truth of
the matter when it comes to middle-class jobs and the impact technology is
making. With technology being so popular and all ages learning how to navigate
different programs, we often forget how ground-breaking it still is and how it
has reshaped our lives. Mr. Milner discusses platform, free, and e-commerce and
describes them as being the three big “stories”. Platform means to be able to
breakthrough companies overnight and build their own businesses. Free is
referring to the fact that massive global brands can be created overnight.
E-commerce is not necessarily a new idea; however Mr. Milner believes it is
moving from being a sideshow to becoming the main event. Mr. Milner believes
that by having retail online that it will be a positive impact to the world and
where there will no longer be retail jobs, there will be higher paying technology
jobs. We aren’t talking about a few jobs being lost though. We are looking at
forty million jobs in the next twenty years. Dr. van Reenan believes that it
won’t be the quantity of jobs but the quality of jobs available. Because of
this, the middle-class will began to hollow out and it will be harder for the
middle-class to support their families.
How will this affect families
globally? Families who are blue-collar working middle class will not be able to
provide for their families. Even though this article was written in Ukraine, it
is true all over the world. Technology is up and coming and it is not slowing
down. This week, people all over the United States lined up to get the newest
iPhone. Technology is replacing people and their jobs because you are able to
save time and money by ordering something from online rather than going to the
store. Machines now replace the jobs of many factory workers because companies
are able to have work done at a faster and cheaper rate. In fact, because of technology, we are able to outsource products and jobs for cheaper rates from other countries which means that people are loosing their jobs here in order to have things cheaper as stated in Chapter two in our book "Global Problems". While on the outside
it seems to be helping our economy because things are easily accessible and are
cheaper, what we don’t hear as often as we should are the numbers of people
still being laid off. Like stated in the article, if we continue at the same
rate, technology is going to make the poor and middle class poorer and the rich
richer. This isn’t just in Ukraine or even the United States, technology, is
affecting the lives of the middle-class globally.
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