Reboot

Reboot

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  • Rohit Talwar
    Rohit Talwar
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    Future Jobs - An insight survey
    Hi

    I am a London based futurist running a study on the kinds of jobs that will be created over the next 20 years as a result of advances in science and technology.

    We have identified 20 examples of such jobs and are running a survey to get the views of future thinkers on the potential value and impact of these jobs.

    If you would like to take part in the survey, please take a few minutes to read the list of 20 job descriptions below and then take the survey at
    http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229HP2J3ALX

    You can answer as few or as many questions as you want. We will send a copy of the final report to everyone who completes the survey and leaves their email address.

    We will donate $1 to children's charities for every survey respondent.

    Closing date for responses - August 20th 2009. We hope you'll enjoy taking part.

    1. Body Part Maker
    Due to the huge advances being made in bio-tissues, robotics and plastics, the creation of body parts - from organs to limbs - will soon be possible, requiring body part makers, body part stores and body part repair shops.

    2. Nano-Medic
    Advances in nanotechnology offer the potential for a range of sub-atomic 'nanoscale' devices, inserts and procedures that could transform personal healthcare. A new range of nano-medicine specialists will be required to administer these treatments.

    3. Pharmer of Genetically Engineered Crops and Livestock
    New-age farmers will raise crops and livestock that have been genetically engineered to improve yields and produce therapeutic proteins. Works in progress include a vaccine-carrying tomato and therapeutic milk from cows, sheep and goats.

    4. Old Age Wellness Manager / Consultant Specialists
    Drawing on a range of medical, pharmaceutical, prosthetic, psychiatric, natural and fitness solutions to help manage the various health and personal needs of the aging population.

    5. Memory Augmentation Surgeon
    Surgeons that add extra memory to people who want to increase their memory capacity and to help those who have been over exposed to information in the course of their life and simply can no longer take on any more information - thus leading to sensory shutdown.

    6. ‘New Science' Ethicist
    As scientific advances accelerate in new and emerging fields such as cloning, proteomics and nanotechnology, a new breed of ethicist may be required. These science ethicists will need to understand a range of underlying scientific fields and help society make consistent choices about what developments to allow. Much of science will not be a question of can we, but should we.

    7. Space Pilots, Architects and Tour Guides
    With Virgin Galactic and others pioneering space tourism, space trained pilots and tour guides will be needed, as well as designers to enable the habitation of space and the planets. Current projects at SICSA (University of Houston) include a greenhouse on Mars, lunar outposts and space exploration vehicles.

    8. Vertical Farmers
    There is growing interest in the concept of city based vertical farms, with hydroponically-fed food being grown in multi-storey buildings. These offer the potential to dramatically increase farm yield and reduce environmental degradation. The managers of such entities will require expertise in a range of scientific disciplines, engineering and commerce.

    9. Climate Change Reversal Specialist
    As the threats and impacts of climate change increase, a new breed of engineer-scientists will be required to help reduce or reverse the effects of climate change on particular locations. They will need to apply multi-disciplinary solutions ranging from filling the oceans with iron filings to erecting giant umbrellas that deflect the sun's rays.

    10. Quarantine Enforcer
    If a deadly virus starts spreading rapidly, few countries, and few people, will be prepared. Nurses will be in short supply. Moreover, as mortality rates rise, and neighborhoods are shut down, someone will have to guard the gates.

    11. Weather Modification Police
    The act of stealing clouds to create rain is already happening in some parts of the world, and is altering weather patterns thousands of miles away. Weather modification police will need to control and monitor who is allowed to shoot rockets containing silver iodine into the air - a way to provoke rainfall from passing clouds.

    12. Virtual Lawyer
    As more and more of our daily life goes online, specialists will be required to resolve legal disputes which could involve citizens resident in different legal jurisdictions.

    13. Avatar Manager / Devotees - Virtual Teachers
    Avatars could be used to support or even replace teachers in the elementary classroom, i.e., computer personas that serve as personal interactive guides. The Devotee is the human that makes sure that the Avatar and the student are properly matched and engaged.

    14. Alternative Vehicle Developers
    Designers and builders of the next generations of vehicle transport using alternative materials and fuels. Could the dream of underwater and flying cars become a reality within the next two decades?

    15. Narrowcasters
    As the broadcasting media become increasingly personalized, roles will emerge for specialists working with content providers and advertisers to create content tailored to individual needs. While mass market customisation solutions may be automated, premium rate narrow casting could be performed by humans.

    16. Waste Data Handler
    Specialists providing a secure data disposal service for those who do not want to be tracked, electronically or otherwise.

    17. Virtual Clutter Organizer
    Specialists will help us organise our electronic lives. Clutter management would include effective handling of email, ensuring orderly storage of data, management of electronic ID’s and rationalizing the applications we use.

    18. Time Broker / Time Bank Trader
    Alternative currencies will evolve their own markets – for example time banking already exists.

    19. Social 'Networking' Worker
    Social workers for those in some way traumatized or marginalized by social networking.

    20. Personal Branders
    An extension of the role played by stylists, publicists and executive coaches –advising on how to create a personal ‘brand’ using social and other media. What personality are you projecting via your Blog, Twitter, etc? What personal values do you want to build into your image - and is your image consistent with your real life persona and your goals?


    Please share your thoughts on these jobs by taking the survey at
    http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229HP2J3ALX


    Thank you

    Rohit Talwar
    Fast Future
    rohit@fastfuture.com
    • 17 Aug 2009, 12:58 am
  • Matthias Müller-Prove
    Matthias Müller-Prove    Group moderator
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    Re: Future Jobs - An insight survey
    Hi Rohit,
    thanks for posting this compelling list to the forum.
    The only one that I find totally out of all bounds is #5, the "Memory Augmentation Surgeon". I suppose we haven't even understood how our brain works, let alone to add some memory banks to extend its capacity. On the one side of the spectrum we have the neurons. AI aims to apply some of the concepts to neural nets to tackle the issue of learning and recognizing -- with quite some success. But pattern matching is not the same as creative problem solving, or semantics (on the other side of the spectrum). And what about the interface between the wet ware (ie. the human brain) and the artificial system?? So the amount of unsolved questions in this area is tremendous. I would be very surprised to see any significant progress in this area.

    On the other hand, we already have a medium to extend our mental capacities: language, writing with pen and paper, books, digital media. None of these is hard wired to a human brain. But language is a well established channel to transfer meaning from one mind to the other. It is still fascinating to see how well it works -- most of the times.

    Related_ http://www.mprove.de/script/09/reboot/coevolution.html

    cheers
    Matthias
    This post was modified on 19 Aug 2009 at 03:03 pm.
    • 19 Aug 2009, 3:02 pm
  • Rohit Talwar
    Rohit Talwar
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    Re^2: Future Jobs - An insight survey
    Hi Matthias

    Great comments - did you take survey?

    Regards
    Rohit
    • 20 Aug 2009, 01:30 am