How to Avoid Being Redundant When the Robots Have Replaced Most of Us Instead of worrying about a robot taking your job, start thinking about how to keep robots working for you.
By Ryan Stewman •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You wake up in the morning, wobble to your feet, and your bed begins to make itself. As you enter the bathroom, the shower starts running at your favorite temperature. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the coffee machine is brewing the best cup of coffee you'll ever taste.
After you exit the auto-washing enclosure, an appliance robot delivers your clothes right into your hands. It holds your pants open and then buttons your shirt up. You realize as all of these modern marvels are spinning and moving around you, that you're one of the few living the good life. You are thankful you had the foresight to see what was coming.
The year is 2030, and you didn't get a house full of these luxuries by accident. You spotted a trend back in 2016, one that changed the game for you. You saw the rise of the robots.
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In 2016, you realized software was reaching a renaissance. It was getting easier and easier to develop and implement programs. At the same time, you recognized software companies were partnering up with robotics companies like Tesla and their self-driving cars, Google and their iRobot prototypes, Amazon with Alexa; the future of software had to be robots.
For decades, workers had been complaining about robots taking their jobs, and they were right to be on edge. You've seen McDonald's replace cashiers with ATM-type machines. Bank tellers went out of existence in 2018. By 2020, realtors were working for minimum wage due to phone apps equipped with special codes and the standard installation of cameras in homes.
You've seen thousands of unreplaceable jobs lost, but you were lucky enough to note the next big thing and take action. You started looking for robot-proof investments, similar to flipping homes and creating cheap software. Eventually, you owned your own robots. In a world where everyone was being replaced by automations at a steady rate, you were smart enough to figure out a way to own the supply.
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I'm no expert, but the above story makes a helluva lot of sense. When monsters like Google, Amazon and Tesla are creating robots - right in front of our faces -- don't you think it's time to take them seriously? There's an old saying by Bugs Bunny that goes like this, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." And I don't know how anyone is going to beat the coming robot wave.
This is no longer science fiction. With the Large Hadron Collider in operation, and Space X shooting rockets to Mars that are capable of landing without human intervention, it's safe to say the future is now.
It's time to make the most of what you've got while you've got it. If you harbor even the slightest fear that your job may be the one dissolved because of the imminent robot rush, you better start making moves to ensure your value now. Invest in robot-proof businesses and industries.
The goal is to have enough money to either own software and a fleet of specialized robots or the company servicing them. I've put together a plan to bankroll me into the future. I know the one percent will most likely be made up of the people who own the robot rights.
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So, I want to make sure I'm in that one percent.
Now, there's always a chance robots will work for us for free, that they'll do everything we want, and our only responsibility will be to party all day and all night. While that sounds like a bright and utopian dream, you know how our planet works. A few greedy people tell the other seven billion how to live. That's just the way it goes. Your job is to be one of the greedy few. If you wait until it's too late, you'll be forever stuck in the bottom seven billion.
Maybe you think I sound like a nutcase. I'm not saying the rise of the robots would be the end of the world. I'm just trying to plant a seed in your head of what's to come. So, what if I'm wrong? But what if I'm right? Either way, it's better to be prepared than to be left behind.
