Category: Tom Frey

Technology innovations are rapidly changing the nature of work. Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are especially transforming the workforce landscape at an accelerating rate. Jobs of tomorrow will not resemble those of decades past, nor even those of today. 

By ROBERT J. MARKS AND KERI INGRAHAM  

Futurist Thomas Frey estimates that approximately 50% of today’s jobs will cease to exist by 2030. Specifically, AI will replace jobs that algorithm-based machines can perform. In other words, jobs whose functions can be automated by computer programming will become extinct. This is already well underway, for example, as parking garage attendants have largely been phased out by machines capable of collecting payment and opening the gate for customers to exit during off-peak hours — resulting in financial savings for parking garage owners. 

Similarly, assembly line workers performing repetitive and sometimes dangerous tasks have increasingly been replaced by advanced programmable robots, who can complete the tasks more rapidly, accurately (removing the element of human error), and at a lower cost thanks to AI. 

However, despite the popular notion, robots will not eliminate all jobs because skills that aren’t programmable, which require human ingenuity, won’t be replaced by machines. 

Continue reading… “PREPARING STUDENTS TO WORK IN AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WORLD”

By Thomas Frey and Trent Fowler

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Listen on the Futurati Podcast website

Joel tries to position his two shows as crypto news and commentary for the everyman. When he first heard about bitcoin and bitcoin mining in 2012, the concept didn’t resonate with him. The idea of mining with a computer seemed asinine, and he paid it little attention.

It wasn’t until a conversation with a friend in 2017 that he really understood the transformative potential of the blockchain, an experience which reminded him of encountering the internet in 1995.

This reminded Thomas of a technique he teaches in his “Future Like a Boss Course” called ‘attractionary futuristics’. This involves trying to identify high-probability, high-impact developments in the future and building towards them today.

(For more on how futurism is done see Futurati Podcast interviews with Woody Wade and Peter Leyden)

Thomas then asked Joel when he thinks major retailers like Amazon or Walmart will start accepting Bitcoin. Joel was surprised they haven’t done so already, especially given the fact that El Salvador now accepts it as legal tender, but he suspects we’ll be in the early stages of more widespread adoption in five or six years.

Joel takes a dim view of financial institutions like banks and thinks they’ll start accepting payments in cryptocurrencies when they have no other choice. He does think that day is coming, though, and Thomas speculated that as soon as 2030 there could be mortgages or loans being denominated in cryptoassets.

Thomas notes that much of what drove the early development of cryptocurrency technology were philosophical libertarians with a penchant for writing code. Today, many of those same people have driven the move into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse.

Joel derided those who lack the vision to see the potential of these technologies as being the same people who thought Jeff Bezos was a fool for selling books out of his garage.

Continue reading… “Futurati Podcast Ep. 56: Joel Comm on blockchain, NFTs, and cryptoassets.”