Will our kids have jobs? Written on 11/12/95, and up dated 6/2000     This is a very serious question. As we look around, we often see new technological advances eliminating jobs. Years ago, unskilled workers had lots of job prospects, but recently we have seen some of the skilled banking jobs eliminated by automatic teller machines. The kid at the fast food restaurant has the correct soft drink provided by a machine. Soon various voice technologies will eliminate the order taking at fast food restaurants, and more banking jobs. There are three new technologies that are quickly moving out of the R / D Labs: Nanotechnology, atomic manufacturing, and molecular manufacturing. These, almost completely unknown, technologies could eliminate large numbers of jobs in the next 20-40 years. Is all lost, are we all on the verge of losing our jobs.
    I strongly recommend that you independently verify my feelings. Because, I feel that the impact of these technologies will be profound, and several companies are down played what they will be able do. I work in Research and Development, I study new technologies, and these are not toys. They are being developed at a much faster rate then anyone had predicted just five years ago. They will have a major impact on the number and types of jobs that will be available to our kids in the years 2010 to at least 2050. Do not believe the sugar coated press releases that are floating around, dig for the truth! It would be a real benefit to the companies that are developing these technologies if they just seem to magically appear one day. I also wish to make it very clear that these technologies are not the Devil incarnate, but they will change the entire job market, eliminating many jobs. It means that all of us have to take a fresh look at our jobs, what they mean to us, and what future jobs will mean to our kids. It is obvious that new technologies will continue to change and eliminate jobs, while creating new more complicated jobs for our kids.
    What jobs will be around in the future? Obviously, there will always be a need for people that can fix things, people that mine minerals, people that invest money in new products and companies, and people that will own and run those companies.  Even if those companies consist of hundreds of robots, and only three or four real people. I want you to notice that I listed "investing" as a job.  There are two basic ways to legally make money in this world. You can "work for it," or you can "think for it".  If all of the "work for it" jobs are gone then it's time that we start training our kids to "think for it".  Don't get me wrong. I'm not against teaching kids how to "work".  Work is great, and there are many good honest skills that can be learned from work.  But, as many of us have learned the hard way, you can't trust your job to be there tomorrow, and neither will our kids.  There needs to be something that we can do for our kids today.  We need to do something that will help them, no matter how many jobs of what ever kind are available in the future.
    I propose, open for discussion, and thought the following ideas:  Let us put foreword a real effort, teaching our kids the ability to access the wisdom of God in their daily lives.  Lets make a real effort to teach them the financial arts, the arts of saving, and investing wisely. The ability to be flexible, and resilient in a world full of upheaval.  These are the rights and privileges of the overcoming children of God.  If anyone has the right to overcome anything the world can dish out, it's the children of God, young and old!
 

- What are nanotechnology, atomic manufacturing, and molecular manufacturing?

For starters I need to give you some (very simple) definitions:

1. An atom is the smallest part of anything. All things are simply an assemblage of atoms. Cars, chemicals, minerals, people, food, trees, animals, everything is made by assembling atoms in the correct order. There are about 103 basic elements, or kinds of atoms. (I am trying to keep this simple.)
2. When a few atoms are combined they form molecules. For example: If you combine two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom you get one molecule of water. Water is not one of the 103 basic elements or kinds of atoms, it's something new, more complicated, that is made by combining atoms. This three-atom molecule of water is so small that it would take a special microscope to see it.
    Nanotechnology is the theoretical side of atomic manufacturing, and molecular manufacturing. Molecular manufacturing is the ability to make or build things with molecules. You can also take things apart down to their simplest molecules. Fore instance, If you had a cake, you could take it apart by separating the basic molecules into separate bins: Water in one bin, flour in another bin, sugar in another and so on. This is really great for recycling, even very bad chemicals, can be broken down into several bins of harmless molecules. You could also build the cake by putting the molecules together. It's called making a cake. Atomic manufacturing can build and disassemble things down to the atom.

Now these three technologies may sound rather harmless, but their impact on our kids will be profound. Because with a basic supply of atoms (many are very easy to get right now!): a tank of Oxygen, a bin of Carbon, a bin of Aluminum, and so on, 103 bins and tanks in all, you can make anything! Most foods can be made with less then thirty different types of atoms. So if I could go to a machine in my house and talk to it (we can do that now) and tell it what I want to eat, and it gives it to me. Why would you need the farmers? Why would I need the people that make the tractors? Why would I need the trucks that haul the food? Why would I need the grocery store? Why would I need anything but the miners, and a few others that are supplying me with these basic elements? Which, when you are done eating and you go to the bathroom you can recycle those atoms and make something else. By the way, most homes will only need about thirty elements or kind of atoms to make all of the food and many other common things people use.

When this discussion was originally written in 1995, I honestly did not expected these technologies to have an impact for 40-50 years. Boy was I wrong. I recently (June 2000) saw a NASA TV program that openly stated that NASA is already building computer hardware with these technologies. A company announced, in August 2000, that they had developed molecular memory, and that it would be in consumer products in two years. I have also discovered that the computer industry already has nanotechnology scheduled for full blown chip production by the year 2010. To put it very mildly, these technologies will have a major impact on the job prospects of today's children. People that worry about passing the family farm on to their kids should stop worrying. Your kids won't be able to keep the farm anyhow. Their world will be very different from ours! They need all of the help and prayers we can give them.

To some this may seem very scary, but I believe that there will be lots of opportunities for well educated, sharp Christian kids that can tap into the wisdom of God. But, we must do a good job of teaching them today.

For more information on: nanotechnology, atomic manufacturing, and molecular manufacturing, check the Internet. You will be surprised by how much information you will find on these topics.

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