The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The following is a letter addressed to Dr Jonathan Rodgers

Dear Dr Rodgers,

As usual when you speak about our economy, your words at today’s Business Outlook Conference were highly stimulating.

But I found myself stimulated to the point of strongly disagreeing with you on one major theme. You appear to accept, without regret , a sharp shrinkage in high-level employment categories —what used to be called “white collar” jobs, now more accurately “computer-literate” jobs.

First, you report, correctly, that a major decline in the number of people working in banking and the financial sector has already occurred.

Then you predict that three other professional services will become largely automated, reducing the human element even further: lawyers, doctors, and real estate brokers. Why not add accountants, insurance agents, book-keepers, and other paper-pushers, who can be partially replaced by computers?

Yet you appear to expect and demand a higher level of education than we enjoy at present, eliminating rote-learning in favour of participative and imaginative ways of gaining knowledge.

My question is, with the decline of white collar jobs, what will be the objective of this new type of education? To produce more and better construction workers, restaurant wait-staff, and hotel chamber- maids?

You have mistaken radical changes in the USA as examples of reducing human employment, citing Tesla in the transportation sector. In fact, Elon Musk’s ingenious development of new technology has created thousand of high-end jobs in building autos, batteries, solar heating systems, and moon rockets.

The real lesson of technology, whether in The Bahamas or USA, is that it can and should be used not to reduce human employment but to help humans fulfill themselves by doing their jobs better. We all know of the growing backlash against automated services by frustrated customers who want to deal with flesh-and-blood counterparty blessed with some educated smarts, which can indeed be taught.

RICHARD COULSON

Nassau,

January 18, 2018.