The Future Looks Bleak. What Are You Gonna Do About It?

I know I’m not the only one with what is sometimes rather unromantically referred to in modern parlance as a ‘side-hustle’, desperately trying to keep my head above water. I also know I’m not the only one filled with fluid ounces of ontological dread every time I read a newspaper. The question is, is there anything that can be done?…

Nicholas H. Simpson
5 min readNov 1, 2021
Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

Do teachers even ask kids that question anymore. You know the one I mean: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It used to be an easy answer (other than the existential struggle of deciding what your future might hold, of course). You picked a job, say ‘doctor’ and let fly. Wise nods (“Oh, that’d be right up your street!”) or knowing, belittling smirks (“I’m not sure that would be quite right for you, my dear…”) would ensue and then you’d just go back to your colouring-in or comic book.

Kids answering the same question these days ain’t got it so easy. It has, after all, rather ominously been foretold by all and sundry that the machines are taking over and that AI will take the place of the majority of human workers in the not too distant future…

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Nicholas H. Simpson

PhD candidate, language geek living and working in South Korea. All about UK culture, Korean life, cross-cultural differences and English language.