If Offshoring is Dynamite, Off-peopling Is Nuclear Material Ready to Explode

On April 9 we released a new report, "Off-peopling" -- A Social Time Bomb Few Hear Ticking. As offshoring grabs headlines, another force may be grabbing the lion's share of U.S. employment, and undermining our society. While offshoring could claim 3.3 million American jobs by 2015, according to Forrester Research, "off-peopling" could suck tens of millions of jobs into the sinkhole of automation within 20 years, according to think tank EraNova Institute (www.eranova.com).

"Off-peopling" -- a term coined by EraNova's director, Richard W. Samson -- is the transfer of human tasks into all-automatic solutions. For example:
- grocery checking into self-service counters,
- assembly work into automated factories,
- surgery into robotic arms that wield scalpels, and
- college teaching into e-learning systems.

"It's happening rapidly but in small increments, so we tend not to notice," says Samson. "The press isn't making a big deal out of it, and business isn't looking at it, since profitability today depends on squeezing out human costs." Click here to see the complete report. Spread the word about MIND OVER TECHNOLOGY
- posted by Richard W. Samson @ 2:58 PM