[Jabanga]

You will not need to become a programmer or roboticist to have a job, anymore than you have to be a mechanic or factory worker to have a job today. Assuming we don't have human-like AI, there will be vast numbers of tasks that only humans will be able to do.

[BrandonMarc]

Vast numbers? Will? What job category is increasing in demand today, and with no foreseeable threat from robots in the near future?

Tell me about today, and I'll believe your prediction for the future.

[hutzlibu]

All kinds of therapist. Society gets older and needs more treatment, especially with the current livestyle. And while some work might be done by robots, it needs at least strong KI to replace a good therapist. Also, teachers, artists, ...

[ensiferum]

Just an example:

There are about 4 million truckers in the US whose jobs will be axed the minute self driving trucks become reality on a mass scale (i.e. in the next +5 years when the tech is ready and the final bill passes).

In the meanwhile, how many teachers and artists and therapists do you think there will be (or are needed for)?

[hutzlibu]

Well, needed are probably much more. But paying them at our current society is a different question, and that you dont become a good therapist from beeing a truck driver for 40 years that easy. So what?

I just gave a counterexample to "What job category is increasing in demand today, and with no foreseeable threat from robots in the near future?"

But in general, there are allways so much things needed to be done, but dont because society dont pay for it, and the people cant afford in their free time. So I see zero problems with having too little work in the future. Just with the thing, for what people get money for. Not an easy thing to solve ...

[drvdevd]

Perhaps we at Hacker News are prone to acceptance of the idea that our own skill sets are the ones that will remain when automation burns everyone else's.

Personally, I doubt it. If I'm being honest with myself, I'd have to say there is nothing I can do that a machine couldn't do better.

[BrandonMarc]

Have you seen CGP Grey's video "Humans Need Not Apply"? Nearly every profession is vulnerable, even software development.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU

[pseud0r]

I can think of ways to automate most jobs long before we have human-like AI. There might be many things that will end up being too expensive to automate before we have human-like AI though, we'll see.