Just how talented ARE today's robots?

As I've mentioned recently, the more I look into the world of future jobs, the more I read and hear about robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) taking over jobs now done by humans.  We are all familiar with sci-fi robots like R2D2, C3P0, and the Terminator.  But just how crazy are the robots out there in the real world?  Here are several different types of robots that are functional and in development right now.  You'll notice that a lot of them mimic animals of various types.  Does the world really need a robot shark?  Definitely not near good surf breaks, but I'm sure various military and intelligence agencies have uses for it. 

It's funny that a robot chef now exists, but we still don't have smoke detectors that automatically order a pizza when you burn dinner.  That one seemed obvious to me.  I'm sure someone will market it soon.

How Simon Sinek found his "Why?"

I ran across one of Simon Sinek's TED talks about two weeks ago.  I've been listening to lots of his talks since.  Simple yet powerful.  If you figure out why you do what you do, you'll work your ass off at it.  And you'll very likely succeed in ways measurable and immeasurable. 

Why do you do what you do?  

I write, blog, and do art to bring me in contact with new people and old friends.  Once I've met them, then I can share what I've learned about life after being homeless for years and having life stripped down to its barest essentials.  I love helping people figure out what they want to do next in life.

The Start of a Real Big Goal

Here's well known scientist Dr. Michio Kaku with his thoughts on what humans jobs will disappear and what jobs will continue to be done by humans.

Back in 2003, I had just started driving a taxi again when the company I worked for took out the CB radios and put in a computer dispatching system.  Literally over night, the entire industry changed.  The change in technology made it impossible to make a good living as a taxi driver.  Later came Uber and Lyft, driving more coffin nails into the taxi world.  Self-driving cars will deal it another death blow in the years to come.

But technology changing industries and taking over jobs formerly done by humans is not new.  The same thing has happened to millions and millions of other jobs in recent decades.  Experts project 6% of today's jobs will be taken over by robotics, artificial intelligence (A.I.), or some other form of new technology by 2021.  That's over 9 MILLION jobs lost in the next 5 years.   Another report says 47% of human jobs will be replaced in the next 20 years.  That adds up to over 72 million jobs lost by the time today's toddlers graduate college.

I had already come to the conclusion that I needed to create my own job here in North Carolina.  I just couldn't find a "real job," despite a wide variety of experience in my life.  As I looked deeper into this issue, I realized just how devastating these tech-related job losses will be to our society.  I also realized that very few people are really looking at this huge issue.  There are three ways people are addressing this huge issue.

1.  Ignore it.  Most people don't realize how big this job loss is going to be, and how catastrophic its impact will be on the United States, and other nations.  If we ignore this issue, it could honestly lead to the end of civilization as we know it.  Really.

2.  Universal Basic Income.  The majority of people talking about this issue are from the high tech world.  They see the writing on the wall, and understand how serious this loss of millions of jobs will be.  Most of these people are backing the idea of 'universal basic income."  That means every single person in the country would get a check, with an amount around the poverty level, each month.  This would pull a lot of people out of abject poverty, and people could work to earn higher incomes.

Personally, I see this idea enabling millions of people to get high and play video games all day.  Yes, a lot of people would be helped.  But it would also likely lead to more widespread drug and alcohol addiction, and a lot of people would still live in poverty because of poor role models in their life which would lead to poor life choices.

To make universal basic income happen, the Republicans and Democrats would have to work together, raise taxes on the wealthy and well-to-do, and pass a huge law that most people will see as a Socialist policy.  I don't see that happening anytime soon.

3.  Raise income of low wage jobs.  Urbanist and economic development expert Richard Florida says we need to make the millions of low pay service jobs into better paying jobs.  Again, this would help millions of people, and is a good idea.  But this would take the Republicans and Democrats of the U.S. working together to pass a huge law that's in the best interest of the people, but not the politicians.  Again, I don't see this happening any time soon.

Those are the three main ways people are looking at to deal with the huge, long term, issue of technology replacing TENS of MILLIONS of human jobs.

I propose a 4th way to deal with this issue.  Let's take our economy, and future job losses, into our own hands, and bring back the idea of American Ingenuity.  I say we encourage Americans to start millions of new businesses in the next 25 years.

Here's the goal I propose:

Encourage Americans create 100 million new businesses by the year 2043. 

From now on, I will use money made from my artwork to help promote this idea.  I will use money made from my writing to help promote this idea.  This is what I'm working towards, a future where most Americans run their own businesses, like Americans did early in our history when most people were either farmers of craftspeople.

This is my focus for the next 25+ years.  I could use your help.  You can help support me by buying my creative work.  You can share this idea in your networks of people.  You can start a small business of your own.  You can help another person who's starting a business.  You can buy the products and services of small and new businesses in your area.

Oh... and you can help make sure your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and younger people everywhere will be able to find meaningful work and make a good living in the future.

Are you with me?

#100millionby2043

Robot arm versus Samurai Sword Master

I ran across this video a month or so ago.  Since I blogged yesterday about how robotics will take over lots of human jobs in the coming years, its wise to see just how good robotics can be.  I first saw a sword master cutting rolled bamboo mats as a kid in person.  It's freakin' amazing how good these guys (and gals) are, and how sharp and strong a katana is.  But this clip blew my mind.  I give the flower cut to the swordmaster.  But the pea pod cut is just plain amazing. 

A couple of lessons here:  Don't piss off a Japanese kendo master or a blue robotic arm holding a katana.  The longer term lesson is, if a robotic arm can be this precise, what jobs won't it be able to do in our future world?

The Crazy Future of the Work World

It's a bit sad that this 4-year-old TED talk by Mr. McAfee is still one of the best takes on where the work world is heading and the challenges we all face because of these changes.

Here are some facts about what's happening now and in the future:

According to the August 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics info, there are 238, 331, 000 Americans (who are not "institutionalized") over the age of 16.  35.6% of these people are not working.  This includes retired people and other categories in addition to people unable to find work.

There are 153,439,000 people working in the U.S.

The teen unemployment rate is 13.9%

 7.1 million people are officially unemployed, and 448,000 more are considered "discouraged workers."

No one really has any idea how many underemployed people there are in the U.S., though an estimate of 30 million has been tossed around a lot.

6% of current jobs are projected to be replaced by new technology by 2021.  That's about 9,206,340 more people unemployed in the next five years.

47% of jobs are projected to be replaced by robotics, artificial intelligence, and other new tech in the next 20 years.  To put that in perspective, if you have a toddler right now, there will be about 72,163,330 LESS jobs when they graduate college than there are right now.  Really. 

 This trend is causing many highly intelligent people to push the idea of a "guaranteed minimum income" for every person, paid for by the government.  Think we can get the Republicans and Democrats to agree on that one in the next few years?  Me neither.

As most of my Facebook friends know, I've been struggling to find a viable way to make a living since I came to North Carolina in November 2008.  I've stood in lines of 2,500 people to hand a resume' to be added to a huge stack of resume's by people much more qualified for the handful of jobs open.  Several times I dove into online job boards, applying for jobs at local restaurants and any other thing available so I could "just get a job" like everyone here kept telling me.  I got one reply from a local fast-food place, and the manager changed her mind when she saw me. I have three solid years of restaurant work in my background.  But I'm now over 50, fat (thought losing weight big time), have bad teeth, and my last career was as a taxi driver.  Those things seem to make me completely unemployable here.

I've been blogging since I came to NC, and looked into ways to make money doing that.  But most "make money blogging" affiliate marketing programs involve getting people to buy an over-priced ebook about how to make money by selling over-priced ebooks.  So I didn't do that.

Instead, the entrepreneurial side of me, that was born in the action sports world in California, went to work.  I started reading about how technology was changing our world, particularly our business world.  I started attending the University of YouTube, watching all kinds of videos by the fairly small number of people who really understand aspects of this huge change we're all going through.  I started self-educating.  Out of that came the one thing that has made me some money over the last year, my artwork.  It hasn't made me much, but I'm making steady progress at it.

Most important, I was finally able to make at least a little income, something that seemed nearly impossible since I landed in the Triad region of NC where my family wound up living.  My years in the action sports world, writing for magazines, and working on TV crews mean nothing here.

While I draw pictures in my unique style to earn what I can, I'm going to also be looking deeper into the future of jobs, meaningful work, and the ways we can deal with this huge social changes led by new technology.  There just aren't enough people focusing on this huge issue right now, and raising awareness is one thing I can do right now as I search for solutions and ways to deal with a very uncertain future.

What bothers you about where the work world is headed?  Let me know.

Work is changing... FAST

I don't have kids of my own, like many of you do.  But I do have young family members who will be starting their working careers soon.  Above you see my four-legged niece Willow Belle, my smart, baseball-playing nephew Ethan, and my lovely and talented niece Katherine.  Ethan just started high school and Katherine just started college.

Five short years from now, as Ethan heads into college and Katherine heads into the career world, there will be about 9,206,340 LESS jobs in the U.S. than there are right now.  Really.  Those are jobs projected to be taken by robotics, artificial intelligence, and other technology by 2021.  Don't believe me?  Watch the CNBC clip below.  No one knows how we will find work for those left unemployed by tech, and any future economic downturns.  Are your kids ready for this?  It's a good time to think about that.






Willow, being a very affectionate dog, doesn't really have to worry.  And she can always get gigs as a Jerry Garcia K9 look-a-like if she does need to work.

Future Shock 2017: Jobs are going bye bye fast

I'm the taxi driver in this video who was taken out by technology, except fatter and with more hair.  From about 2003 to 2007, I worked 7 days a week as a taxi driver, 15 to 18 hours most days.  I lived in my cab because I couldn't afford an apartment, sleeping in it six nights a week and getting a cheap motel room one night.  What did I get for busting my ass as a taxi diver?  A lot of crazy stories.  And I bulked up to 374 pounds, nearly died from MRSA infections, and wound up homeless and panhandling to survive for a year.

I'm not alone.  This kind of thing is happening to millions of people as high tech like robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) improves at an exponential pace.  Most of the taxi drivers here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where I now live, drive cabs just to get a car to drive around.  They don't even try to make a living at it.  I just talked to one yesterday.  The same is true in cities nationwide.

No matter who you are, no matter what you do for a living, this loss of jobs to technology WILL affect you.  If you don't lose your job to tech, you may lose customers for your business who lost their jobs to tech.  

This little video gives a quick and fairly good look at what is one of the biggest issues facing modern society that is being largely ignored.  How secure does your job seem?

This is the big issue I'm putting my thoughts and effort into as we move forward in what will be a rapidly changing and highly interesting future.

Crazy Little Bugger

So... a couple weeks ago this crazy video popped up on the side of my YouTube page.  Like a moron, I watched it.  Then, last night, right as I was falling asleep, a bug BASE jumped into my ear.  It was a million dollar shot, straight into my ear canal.  Then it crawled deeper. 

I was kinda freaked out, because I could feel all its little legs going like crazy.  I grabbed a nearly empty bottle of peroxide, and poured a little into my ear.  The bug turned into a tiny Tasmanian Devil.  It tried to burrow into my ear drum.  That is a really, REALLY crazy feeling.  I flushed my ear out with water twice, and it started to back out.  I tried to pull it out with a pen cap, but it crawled back in deeper.  After a few minutes it finally died.

So I slept with it in there, and walked to the Emergency Department this morning. Over the course of about five hours of waiting, a doc tried to flush the remaining pieces out, but they were stuck tight.  So he ended up putting some numbing stuff in, and dug at it to get the pieces out.  It still hurt a bit.  But it's out now, and I'm back to every day life.  Having the video above fresh in my memory definitely DID NOT help the time I laid there waiting. 

I know a lot of you out there like to try new things.  Don't try this.  It sucked.  

Teasers for the upcoming Earshot art show

Right now I'm working on a series of music inspired drawings for my upcoming show at Earshot Music here in Winston-Salem.  I'm not going to tell you exactly who I'm drawing, but here are a few teasers...

The Man in Black

The Guys with Black hair and Black jackets

The Man in who made his mark in Purple

The Guys who made Halloween an everyday thing and weren't satisfied with just a kiss

And probably...

The Woman who just wanted a Mercedes Benz

The girl who got fed up with being a girl, and filmed a fight scene in India

And maybe one or two more...

Prince tribute drawing: take two

 After Prince's surprise death last year, I did a drawing of him.  That drawing was snapped up by Rob Lawrence in the U.K..  In the course of drawing that one, I found a ton of Prince music I'd never heard before, and finally realized what a musical genius he was.  Purple Rain and Raspberry Beret were part of the soundtrack of my high school years.  But I hadn't heard much after that. 

So the idea for another drawing started brewing.  Now that I'm doing my first solo show for local Winston-Salem music shop Earshot, I knew it was time to make it happen.  This is the only drawing that will be in the show that I'm going to put on social media ahead of time.  It's 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, colored in my unique "scribble style."  $120 if you're interested.

Rider's Choice BMX Freestyle Hall of Fame: 1980's

I could spend all day agonizing over what video to put here.  There are dozens of great riders who left their mark on the early days when freestyle was spreading across the world from SoCal.  But one of the riders we all were stoked to watch was NorCal ramp man Hugo Gonzales.  Before the term "Huck it" became popular, Hugo was keeping us all on the edge of our seats.  We never knew what he was going to try.  I'm pretty sure he didn't even know sometimes.

To nominate a rider for this list, I need three separate riders from the era to nominate them.  This isn't a formal thing.  I just kept hearing chatter on Facebook about what rider was going make this year's "official" Hall of Fame.  Like so many ideas in years past, I thought, this is a DIY sport, why doesn't somebody do a their own freestyle Hall of Fame?  And nobody did.  So here it is.  Start droppin' names and lets see what happens.  People can be in as many categories as they legitimately fit.

BMX Freestyle Pioneers
Bob Haro-  The whole thing was his idea 

1970's Jumping Pioneers
Scot Breithaupt- The Godfather of BMX- (SE, 

Jumping
"Trash Can" Morgan- (SE,
Chris Moeller- (SE,

Flatland
R.L. Osborn- (SE,
Woody Itson- (SE,
Martin Aparijo- (SE,

Old School Skateparks
Eddie Fiola- (SE, 
Mike Dominguez- (SE,
Brian Blyther- (SE,  
Jeff Watson- (Bill Bunting,


Wedge Ramps
John Dizz Hicks- (SE,
Mike Buff- (Mike Garrity, 

Quarterpipes
Ron Wilkerson- (SE,
Mat Hoffman- (SE, 
Hugo Gonzales- (Jason Goldsmith, Brian Reed)

Halfpipe 

Street
Dave Vanderspek- (SE,
Eddie Roman- (SE,

Overall Riders-
Dennis McCoy- (SE,

Dave Voelker- (SE,

Photographers
Bob Osborn- (SE,
John Ker- (SE,
Windy Osborn- (SE,


Video producers/editors
Don Hoffman- (SE,

Eddie Roman- (SE,
Mark Eaton-  (SE,


Industry Pioneers
Scot Breithaupt- (SE,
Bob Haro- (SE,




Rider/Entrepreneurs
Chris Moeller- (SE,
 

OK, These first few names are my nominees to get the ball rolling.  The first three people that nominate each rider will get their names in parentheses after the nominee.  I could EASILY add 100 names to this list myself.  But I want all old school riders to get their voices heard, unlike that other HOF.  Remember, this is where it all started:

Rider's Choice BMX Freestyle Hall of Fame: 1990s Riders

When I thought of great, all-around riders from the 1990's, my old P.O.W. House roommate Brian Foster was the second one who came to mind.  He's got pro racer speed, gets huge air, rides all kinds of terrain, and has one of the classic styles of all time.  The first guy to pop in my mind was Ryan Nyquist, but I know he'll be on the list below on no time flat.  Yes, I know Brian was riding in the 80's, and this clip is from a few years ago.  But he really made a name for himself in the 90's.

To add a name to this list, I need three separate riders from the era to nominate that person.  You can submit names to me on Facebook (Steve Emig-Winston-Salem, NC) or email them to stevenemig13@gmail.com .  I expect to be overwhelmed, so be patient, it may take a while for your nominee to get put on the list.

Jumping
Brian Foster (SE, 

Flatland

Street

Vert/Park

Rider/Entrepreneurs
Mat Hoffman-(SE, 

Originality

Progression

Photographers

Video producers/editors

Rider's Choice BMX Freestyle Hall of Fame: Post 2000 most influential riders

Never met him, but Morgan Wade has been one of my favorite riders to watch in the 2000's.  To add a worthy rider to the list, I need three separate riders to endorse that name.  You can contact me (Steve Emig- Winston-Salem, NC) on Facebook or email me at stevenemig13@gmail.com .  It may take a while to get your guys on the list, have patience.

Jumping

Flatland

Street

Vert/Park

Originality

Progression

Photographers

Video producers/editors