Tag: jobs

How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming the Future of Work

Posted on by robbie

Artificial intelligence intersects with many aspects of our daily lives, from navigation apps to search algorithms, email filtering to online shopping, and more — but the technology is also beginning to shape the workplace of today and tomorrow. Its tremendous potential and its power to disrupt entire industries is becoming a critical issue in the modern office.
As AI’s capabilities continue to accelerate, the technology is increasingly being used to create new ways of working and altering the skill sets that tomorrow’s workers will need in order to thrive.
In a meeting with leaders in technology, business, academia and the nonprofit sector on this topic, Samsung NEXT and NationSwell explored how AI is impacting the workplace, which uncovered a number of key benefits ahead, as well as risks that may need mitigating.
Here are five key takeaways.

AI Is Restructuring Jobs and Roles

AI is transforming today’s workplace, serving to restructure some jobs while introducing others more highly in demand (e.g., data scientists). As AI is increasingly leveraged to perform work tasks that can be repetitive and monotonous, humans are freed up to perform an array of value-adding functions.
One key issue is how to blend the roles played by both humans and technology, enabling each to do what they do best. Human workers may need to develop new skills in order to take advantage of AI and accommodate its growing use in the workplace.

AI Solves Some Challenges Better Than Others

AI is better suited to solving some challenges than others — for instance, where large and complete data sets are available, where issues are well-defined or where ethical concerns are less critical.
However, as Jean Horstman, founder and former CEO of Interise, notes, “The evolution of AI is what Russ Ackoff called a ‘wicked mess’ — high human behavior and high dynamic system complexity. How is AI going to evolve to actually improve outcomes for all people, mitigating the unintended negative consequences that will arrive if both types of complexities aren’t addressed together?”
Robert Nagle, chief product officer and CTO of Interactions, believes that the future of work involves a careful blending of technology (like AI) and humans, allowing each to do what they do best. “The future isn’t so binary,” Nagle says. “We’re showing how to supplement AI with human intelligence. Each can complement the other, with both improving in our closed loop.”  

Hiring Is Hard, But AI Can Help

Some companies, such as Unilever, leverage AI to screen candidates early on in the hiring process, then arrange human interviews with the few remaining candidates. Using AI in these ways can help reduce the cost and time of hiring, a massive benefit for companies and workers alike.
Some participants expressed concerns around how using AI in hiring might hinder the promotion of fairness and inclusion. Much of that hinges on whether there’s enough of the “right” data available to “solve” the challenge of hiring the right person for the right job, especially when there may be potential bias hidden in the data sets.
Samsung AI

Better Data Means Better AI

More and better data can support the effective development and use of AI. But it’s important to examine what data goes into building algorithms. More and better data can support the effective development and use of AI. But it’s important to examine what and whose data goes into building algorithms. “Our unconscious biases can be built into the data [underlying AI systems],” Horstman says.
Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures, expresses special concern about one element of risk: “Our inherent gender biases are getting captured in these algorithms, while we should be promoting more diversity and inclusion.”
Shawn Bohen, chief transformative impact officer at Year Up, points to the use of college degrees as a screening criteria in hiring. Requiring a college degree may exclude highly capable talent who may actually have the requisite skills to succeed in today’s landscape of accelerating change, where the ongoing ability to learn is as important as what is learned.

We Need to View AI in a Multidisciplinary Way

Discussions involving actors from a variety of disciplines are key to optimizing the opportunities and mitigating some of the risks of artificial intelligence. And those who work on the technology can help with this process by more clearly communicating to a lay audience its potential impacts.
Ali Amarsy, co-founder and CSO of Gram Labs, says, “There’s a responsibility to have more transparency with data sets. Especially if the data sets are public, the algorithms [built using them] should also serve the public.”

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Article produced in partnership with Samsung NEXT, Samsung’s innovation group that works with entrepreneurs to build, grow, and scale great ideas. NationSwell has partnered with Samsung NEXT to find and elevate some of the most promising innovators working to close the opportunity gap in America. Click here to meet the finalists.

America Resurgent: Albany

Posted on by robbie

Albany, New York is the epicenter of a workforce renaissance.
Following decades of manufacturing job losses, the city capitalized on its infrastructure and advances in technology to create thousands of new jobs and increase its GDP more than 60 percent between 2001 and 2015. More than $49 million worth of state and federal funding helped the Port of Albany-Rensselaer expand its shipping operations for clients like GE Power, while simultaneously creating 1,400 jobs.
At the same time, the construction of the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University of Albany added an additional 4,000 jobs and helped the city become a leader in the worldwide semiconductor industry.
But despite these advances, Albany’s poverty rate still remains higher than at the turn of the century, with 36,827 residents living in poverty as of 2015.
Watch the video above to see how Albany’s growth has changed the nature of this capital city.

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#AmericaResurgent is a five-part series that elevates the changemakers, approaches and innovations that are driving urban revitalization across the nation. Look for the next four installments in the weeks to come. 

On Tap at the Local Microbrewery: Economic Opportunity

Posted on by robbie

Throwing one back may be the key to job growth in America.
Yes, really.
Between 2002 and 2013, the percentage of Americans who consumed alcoholic drinks grew by 8 percent to almost three-quarters of the population, according to a 2017 study in the journal JAMA. This increase has coincided with a surge of interest in craft beers and local liquors. To meet the demand, the number of jobs in the alcohol manufacturing sector have more than doubled in the past decade for breweries, alone.
Microbreweries, specifically, are something of a Cinderella story. Thirty years ago, less than 100 independently run breweries were in operation nationwide. By 2016, there were more than 5,000, according to the Brewers Association, a trade group that analyzes and represents independent U.S. breweries.
Likewise, production from independent brewers has increased — growing from 35,000 barrels in 1981 to more than 24 million barrels in 2016, according to the Brewers Association.
“I call the entire craft beer movement the 30-plus-year overnight success story,” says Julia Herz, craft beer program director for the Brewers Association. “But the reason is, first and foremost, we’re still a beer-loving nation.”
Actually, that’s just part of the (t)ale. Another prevailing theory is that Americans have become punch-drunk by fancy food and drink. Just like evolving tastes have fueled a surge of fast-casual eateries and pour over coffee places, our palates have become more refined when it comes to what we drink at our neighborhood watering hole as well.

In the last decade, U.S. brewery jobs have more than doubled.

Between 2006 and 2016, approximately 61,000 beverage manufacturing jobs (such as bottling, sales, etc) were created. Breweries accounted for almost 33,000 of those new positions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly a quarter of all beverage manufacturing jobs can be traced back to brewers.
In contrast, soft drink manufacturers — which hire a significant portion of beverage manufacturing workers — have reduced their workforce during the same time period by double digits.
Craft brewers use local, high quality ingredients and artisanal techniques to make their brews — meaning that manufacturing jobs must be created nearby and can’t be outsourced to a foreign manufacturer. In comparison, large-scale, commercial beermakers mass produce their lagers and IPAs in various manufacturing facilities using the most cost-effective methods and ingredients.
“Craft brew is very inefficient,” says Herz, explaining that the production of craft beer is more hands-on. “Because they’re so inefficient compared to big beer, they need more jobs to brew the beer.”
And it isn’t just beermakers that are getting fat off the proverbial hops. Small businesses are, too. Herz calls this the trickle-up effect, where, for example, craft-beer-only bars and retailers have opened near an existing microbrewery, creating even more jobs.
“The beer category over time has evolved. You have more beer towers at restaurants, more expanded beer menus at restaurants,” says Herz.
Cities are thirsty to be a part of the booming craft beer industry. In an effort to grow its local economy, one town in Oregon has even offered financial incentives to a craft brewer opening a new business in its community.
Craft distilleries have also experienced a boom — albeit on a much smaller scale.
For the past decade, the number of brick-and-mortar independent distilleries has grown by the double digits every year, according to a study financed by the American Craft Spirits Organization. The report also found that the amount of liquor distributed increased by 18.5 percent annually.
Interest in craft distilled liquors may have helped local business owners, says Celebration Distillation Founder James Michalopoulos. His distillery in New Orleans is the first craft distillery in the U.S. to bottle rum, supplied by the large amount of sugar cane that grows nearby.
“It piqued my interest that there was so much sugar cane, and not one distillery in Louisiana — or the even the U.S.,” Michalopoulos says.
His company has been able to grow its operations from two to 18 employees — an increase of 800 percent — with most of its hiring occurring during the past decade, a time period during which Louisiana experienced a doubling of its unemployment rate after Hurricane Katrina.
But anecdotally, Michalopoulos says, the market is more volatile than many make it seem. The barrier of entry for distilling includes steep prices and stiff competition against larger companies — all unfavorable conditions for small business owners.
“If you want to truly characterize the marketplace, it’s pretty skewed,” he says. “What there is are small businesses with people working very hard on a local level, and rightfully getting a certain interest in the product. And they’ve taken a very tiny sliver of the market and working it, but with limited success.”
Nonetheless, growth continues within the industry, primarily in states such as California, New York, Washington and Colorado, which house more than a quarter of all distilleries in the U.S.
If craft distilleries maintain this upward trend — much like craft breweries have — there’s tremendous potential for more jobs to be created within the sector. Cheers to that.
Homepage photo by Eddie Hernandez Photography/Getty Images.

Putting Their Prison Pasts Behind Them

Posted on by robbie

America’s criminal justice system currently houses more than 2 million people — that’s more per capita than any other nation on earth. Even worse: Many are repeat offenders who haven’t been offered the support or resources to get their lives back on track once released.
This, along with the stigma attached to a criminal record, has a devastating effect on their job prospects, with an estimated 60 percent still out of work one year after release.
A new initiative, backed in part by the singer John Legend, is hoping to reverse those dire statistics. Unlocked Futures is a joint project of the philanthropic fund New Profit, Bank of America and Legend’s own nonprofit, FreeAmerica.
Over the course of 16 months, the accelerator, which recently announced its inaugural class, will provide support, funding and mentoring to eight people chosen for their visionary prison-reform efforts. These social entrepreneurs have more in common than just a dedication to helping former inmates flourish on the outside: All of them have been either incarcerated themselves or impacted by the criminal justice system in some way.
“Too often are formerly incarcerated individuals locked out of job opportunities because of their past,” Legend said last spring, when Unlocked Futures was announced. “I have seen that entrepreneurship is a viable way for formerly incarcerated individuals to build sustainable livelihoods and contribute to their communities and neighborhoods.”

“This normalizes success ― others seeing us as actual human beings who can succeed even though we’ve gone to prison,” says Will Avila of the Unlocked Futures program.

The initiative will support entrepreneurship as a powerful pathway out of the incarceration cycle, which costs America $80 billion a year in hard dollars and untold billions more in its negative impact on vulnerable families and communities. By amplifying organizations built by those whose lives have been rocked by the judicial system, Unlocked Futures also hopes to change public perception about the humanity and potential of people who refuse to be defined by their worst mistake.
The ventures founded by the first cohort of entrepreneurs and nourished by Unlocked Futures range from an app called Flikshop that lets people send photo postcards to loved ones behind bars to the Bronx, N.Y.-based Hope House, which provides transitional housing for formerly incarcerated women.
After spending a chunk of his teens and 20s in prison, Will Avila founded Clean Decisions, a commercial kitchen cleaning company that exclusively employs formerly incarcerated men in Washington, D.C., and its nonprofit offshoot, Changing Perceptions, which provides job training and reentry support to recently released inmates. Avila credits Unlocked Futures with validating his efforts and for giving him the confidence to inspire others.
“We are always waiting for someone to come tell us that we did something wrong, and as we get more success we struggle to know what to do because we don’t feel like we deserve it or that we belong,” says Avila. “This normalizes success ― others seeing us as actual human beings who can succeed even though we’ve gone to prison.”
In the nation’s capital, where Avila grew up, 71 percent of returning citizens were unemployed in 2015.
“There are a lot of reasons that’s the case,” he says, “but we all have felt that pain, as well as the pain of homelessness, substance abuse to numb this pain and anger that leads to violence. For this reason, when we do start our own enterprises, we want to give back. Entrepreneurship is a powerful cycle because almost every returning citizen I know is crafting a business that helps others who have served time.”

Singer John Legend is one of the key backers of Unlocked Futures.

Amanda Alexander, founder of the Detroit Justice Center, which provides community lawyering services and economic opportunities to those in and around the prison system, asserts that there is a boldness to the group’s ideas, as well as a sense of urgency.
“Folks in the cohort are always talking about the brothers and sisters they left behind in prison and wanting to reach a hand back to them,” says Alexander, whose father was locked up during a portion of her childhood. “I was fortunate to have support through my dad’s incarceration, and that’s allowed us to have a lifelong relationship. I want the same for other families. My aim is to ensure that families caught up in the criminal justice system aren’t shut out of the city’s future.”
And, she adds, Unlocked Futures helps good ideas spread faster.
“Ultimately, it’s not about the eight of us and our work. It’s about movement building,” Alexander says. “Mass incarceration has touched every part of our society, so it’s going to take a broad movement to bring it down.”
As for Jason Cleveland, founder of tech platform Obodo, which helps nonprofits serving returning citizens streamline data and training systems, Unlocked Futures affirms what he’s long believed ― that there are real market opportunities within the prison-reform movement and that it is possible to both care and prosper.
“For too long, efforts to serve have been hampered by lack of access to capital and an outdated notion that to do good, a person or an organization needs to be impoverished themselves,” he says. “Entrepreneurship is not just about starting businesses; it is about seeing problems as opportunities. It is about seeing beyond the now to what is possible.”
Whenever Cleveland visits prisons around his home state of Missouri, teaching what he calls “the entrepreneurial mindset,” he encounters a glut of potential business leaders.
“Most people there do not understand that they are already entrepreneurs. They don’t see that they have been finding unique solutions to problems their entire lives,” Cleveland says. “Oftentimes, when these people are provided with a framework for making different decisions and given the tools they need to move forward, they do.”

Correction: A previous version of this article indicated that Amanda Alexander’s father had been incarcerated more than once during her childhood. NationSwell apologizes for the error.

Building the Pipeline From Service Years to Successful Careers

Posted on by robbie

Alisha Beyer was raised with the credo that, “No matter what else you’re doing, a portion of your time should always be dedicated to helping others.” But it wasn’t until she began her year of service as a member of AmeriCorps that she realized the impact she could make.
“I just knew I wanted to help people, and I had to figure out the capacity in which I could do that,” Beyer says.
Today, she does just that through her work as a field claims representative for Farmers Insurance. It’s a career that descends directly from her year of service working to help communities struggling to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy in 2013.
In this episode of NationSwell’s 8-part mini documentary series on service years, learn about Employers of National Service, an initiative that connects AmeriCorps, Peace Corps and other service year alumni with employers from the private, public and nonprofit sectors. More than five hundred employers are now a part of the program, which gives national service alumni additional opportunities to apply their skills in the workplace.
“AmeriCorps gave me a lot of training that’s very transferable,” Beyer says. “This is something I’ll be doing for the rest of my life.”
NationSwell asks you to join our partnership with Service Year Alliance. Watch the video above and learn more about how to support alums of national service. Together, we can lead a national movement to give young Americans the opportunity to help bridge the divides in our country.

A Second Chance at the American Dream

Posted on by robbie

“There are only three ways to create wealth: You either make it, you mine it or you grow it,” says Robert Trouskie, director of field services for the Workforce Development Institute, a New York nonprofit focused on growing and retaining well-paying jobs in the state. “The one that’s really lagged behind in the last two or three decades has been the making of things, but I think the pendulum is starting to [swing].”
Indeed, the U.S. saw about 5 million manufacturing jobs disappear between 2000 and 2014. But despite the loss, 400,000 positions still sit unfilled across the country. Most are for jobs that require special training — a need WDI has been addressing since 2003 by working with other organizations and unions to connect willing workers to available positions.
One such worker is Todd Holmquist, a recent graduate of WDI’s Accelerated Machinist Partnership, which combines classroom education with hands-on training in factories. After the aircraft plant where he worked closed in 2013, Holmquist’s income plummeted from about $80,000 a year to $20,000. He enrolled in the program just a week before his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Watch the video above to see how WDI helped turned Holmquist’s life, and employment prospects, around.

Slab Bacon and Tequila: The Ingredients for a Full Life

Posted on by robbie

Now that I’m 81 years old, more of my friends are moving into nursing homes. Sometimes, it’s due to some kind of frailty. Other instances, it’s a sort of insurance policy. They want to make sure they get in before their health fails and it’s too late. Still, I try to dissuade them.
Nursing homes today infantilize older people. We’re too easily discounted.
If people start living to 100, we need to flip the script on aging. I believe a large part of that will be rethinking where and how older people live. Nursing homes need to be places where elders continue to be pertinent and matter.
Recently, I read about an experiment in which older people received plants. Some were told to nourish and take care of them. Others were assured that an aide would tend to them. The group that took responsibility for their plants lived longer.
That isn’t a surprise to me. People, no matter their age, need to feel and be viewed as capable. Everyone wants a purpose. Writing off older people is stupid. When given the opportunity, they will rise to the challenge.
Tutoring, anti-poverty work, human care – these are all valuable jobs older people could do. Even people fortunate enough to no longer require a paycheck will want to keep looking for ways to make a contribution and learn new things. I know I do.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of jobs that seemed, to me at least, more play than work. I’ve been an English teacher in Honolulu. I served as part of the crew on a small boat from Tahiti to New Zealand. I was on active duty in the military and also spent time in the reserves. I’ve been a newspaper reporter, an assistant dean of admissions at Princeton, and the founder and first president of Expeditionary Learning (EL Education), an organization that makes schools more engaging, effective and joyous. For 20 years, I also ran the Fund for the City of New York, a foundation set up by the Ford Foundation to improve the functioning of government and quality of life in New York City.
Today, I’m retired. I still sit on a number of boards and write the occasional study or report, but I feel a step removed from the engagement and connection that “real” work has.
The irony is that as I’ve gotten older, I feel I’ve developed more strengths. (When you make a lot of mistakes as I have, you learn from them.) I’m wiser. I’ve always been a patient person, but now I’m even more so. I’m pretty calm. I don’t worry much. I’m optimistic.
I don’t think I’m an outlier. Many people my age are also savvy. If we’re going to live to 100 – and are pretty fit and healthy — why not put that to good use?
I’ve got a long list of things I’d still like to learn, too. Drawing. Maybe painting, if I really had 20 years. Yoga. Tennis. I’d also like to travel, returning to places I had adventures in, like Japan, plus locals I never got around to visiting, such as Africa, China, Brazil and Scotland.
For now, though, my purpose is to be the primary caregiver to my wife, Cathy, who has Alzheimer’s. My main job is to be with her and take care of her. It’s tragic that so much of her memory is gone. But taking care of the woman I love, that’s not hard.
If I weren’t around, she’d have to live in a nursing home.
My mother and mother-in-law both passed away in nursing homes. Each time I visited them, I thought, “Boy, this place could use an Outward Bound.” (Although we’d have to use a different name lest people connect it with facilitating an early departure to another world.) Older people need challenges built into their daily routines — things that make them feel fresh. Proud. Competent.
If it were up to me to design a better living situation, I’d get people up earlier in the morning for brisk walks or a dip in cold water. There would be new opportunities to try things, even jumping rope, so they had the chance to improve their skills the more they try.
Instead of depending so much on staff, residents could cook and take care of each other. They could camp out. Spend time in nature. Meditate. They could build a culture. Maybe at one particular nursing home, everyone’s writing. At another, everyone paints.
The context of daily life also needs to be addressed. Modify an activity by doing it out in the woods rather than in a rec room. What happens when you go through another part of your routine with the lights off? Let’s change the rules.
Everyone needs surprises, no matter their age. Imagine saying, “We’re going to put on a circus. This person’s going to learn to juggle. That person’s going to walk a tightrope, even if we never take it off the ground. And you, over there? You’re going to be the elephant.”
We all learn better when there’s more risk, challenge and emotion involved. As Confucius said, “The last part of your life is for understanding.” People living to 100 could aim to understand better — and be better understood.

Greg Farrell retired as President and CEO of Expeditionary Learning (now EL Education), a nonprofit school creation and improvement organization, in 2008.  He currently serves on its board, and on the boards of several other nonprofits.  He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Keene, N.Y., where he and his wife, Cathy, raised their two sons. Cathy, who was a professor and dean at LaGuardia Community College, has Alzheimer’s, and Greg is her chief caregiver.
This post is paid for by AARP.

Turn and Face the Change

Posted on by robbie

I’m fascinated by lifespan: how we’ve spent the time that’s already behind us; how we’re using our present time; what’s going to happen to the time allotted us in the future. That said, I’m all for a life that’s well lived rather than one that’s long. Instead of being mediocre for 150 years, I’d prefer to be brilliant for 70.
I do think time gives us more opportunities to change, and the longer you live, the more you get. I was the typical angry adolescent, but at my recent high school reunion, my old classmates kept saying they’d never seen me smile and laugh so much. And although I grew up in a family where I was taught to never talk about my feelings, becoming a parent in my 20s changed me. I learned to open up and express myself. Now, every day, I tell my 8-year-old son that I love him and how proud I am of him.
So long as we continue to learn and grow, time also gives us the opportunity for reinvention. At just 33 years old, I’m already on my third career as a writer and director. I’m also a personal trainer. (Previously, I worked as a fighter and a forklift driver.)
Twice in my life – once after my marriage fell apart and the second, after a long-term relationship ended – I found myself in a deep depression. I used alcohol and painkillers. I considered suicide. For a while, I was even homeless, carrying around two duffel bags of belongings and sleeping on the F train in New York City, where I live. The only thing more exhausting than an existence like that is hiding it from people. It was like swallowing razorblades.
What pulled me out of those dark times was an intense feeling that my life wasn’t done yet. I vividly remember thinking, This isn’t my time.

Going through difficult periods made me capable of putting other problems in perspective. What I value in friendships and romantic partnerships is much different now. Instead of needing to be validated by someone else, I crave emotional support and good communication. That’s what we all yearn for when things go poorly.
But for me, all those benefits of time still don’t outweigh the realities of growing older.
Men in my family usually don’t live long past 65 — if they even make it to that age at all. We have a history of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. Dementia is part of my family tree as well.
In 2014, my grandmother — who raised me – was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Over the years, my family missed the early signs. But once we recognized them, she seemed to deteriorate overnight. One night, Nana was cooking us dinner. The next, I was carrying her to the bathroom because she couldn’t remember where it was.
My entire family, including my ex-wife, became Nana’s caregivers around the clock. We did her shopping, read to her and kept her company. She became paranoid and angry, unable to do all the things she used to do: cook, take tai chi classes, even watch TV. We couldn’t even suggest going to a doctor without her flying off the handle. As she deteriorated, the circle of people who helped her got a lot smaller.
I spent a lot of nights crying. When my grandmother passed away last year, she was only 82 years old.
When I say I don’t want to live to be 100, that’s an opinion based out of fear – a fear that my quality of life will decline greatly after a certain point. I want to live the best life I can for as long as I can, but the possibility of becoming a burden on my loved ones makes me hesitant to accept the notion of a long life.
A cure for dementia would definitely change my outlook on the prospect of living to 100. But who knows if and when that will happen? Back in the 80s, didn’t we think we’d be living like the Jetsons by now?
My absolute biggest fear about aging is losing every memory I’ve ever had and becoming a shell of the self that I know and that everyone around me loves. I want my son to look at me and always see me.
With the family history of health conditions that I have, it’s hard to imagine myself at 100. I can’t help but worry that living that long would keep my son from living the life he’s dreamed of for himself.

Jared Glenn is a film and music video director based in New York City. He is also an aspiring writer and a personal trainer in lower Manhattan, as well as a devoted father.
This post is paid for by AARP.
 
 

What We’ll Teach in the Future Hasn’t Been Invented Yet

Posted on by robbie

The question isn’t if a “100-year life” is coming, but how soon? It’s inevitable. I’m excited to think about living on this earth longer and having more opportunities to make a positive impact.
As co-founder of a business that offers training for in-demand skills, I think a lot about lifelong learning. The world is transforming so rapidly that jobs continually disappear and new ones appear. It used to be that traditional education was this thing you received in your youth. “College-educated” was an adjective you applied to yourself, and either you were or you weren’t.
But now, the skills you need throughout your life change. Those you need when you’re 25 years old look very different when you’re 35, 45, 55 or older. Your education should evolve throughout your entire life. To stay relevant, you need to adapt — always. The idea of a “100-year life” multiplies that reality even further.
Those who are living to be 100 years old – assuming that they’re productive and healthy – will no longer retire in their 60s. Instead, they’ll have opportunities to witness more economic shifts and discover more opportunities for lifelong learning.
The idea that you have one profession throughout your lifetime will go away. Instead, people will have a kaleidoscope of careers. Think of it: “In my 20s, I was a digital marketer, in my 30s, a programmer, in my 40s, I was flying cars… ”
Your learning and career should go hand in hand, not “first you get educated, then you have a career.”

If you’re living to 100 – or more – it’s hard to predict what you might be doing in your later years. My company, General Assembly, is teaching certain programming language that’s popular now, in 2017. What we’ll be teaching in the future likely hasn’t been invented yet.
Still, as a society, we’ll need to ensure that we’re doing what humans are fundamentally best at. To me, that means focusing on areas of creativity. To be human is to create. For a 100-year life, I hope that means creating as much as possible, be it art, music, community or a new business.
Despite all the technological advances we have to look forward to, I don’t see them competing with raw human creativity anytime soon. Or with the potential for deep relationships. As people get older, they need more care — something that can’t be done with a robot, app or website.
The idea of living to 100 is exciting to me. I’m alive during some of the most quickly evolving times in history, and I’d be able to experience more of that.
But I do have fears about where the world is headed. I worry about climate change, the geopolitical climate and the potential for war, strife and famine. How will humans living longer further tax the planet? How will it impact our economy? How much of this “extra” time will we spend in ill health?
At 100, would I simply be another person taking from the world? That doesn’t feel morally just to me. I feel it’s a privilege to be alive, healthy and conscious, pursuing my passion. With that gratitude comes a big sense of responsibility for leaving the planet a better place than I found it.
If I’m able to live to that age, I’d want to still be doing something positive and meaningful. The idea of retiring in the traditional sense doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t ever want to stop creating and working. I also want to relax and enjoy life as much as possible; that’s the additional piece of the puzzle. But it would be unfortunate if we’re only able to extend our lives, not the years that we’re active and healthy. I want to be able to travel, volunteer and have deep relationships.
Not that we should throw all that stuff to the end of our lives. Cultural consciousness is already moving away from that idea now. In my work, I interact with people in their 50s and 60s who are taking classes, learning new skills and starting their own businesses. They’re not saying, “I’m too old to go back to school.” They’re not stuck in a job because they feel it’s too late to change. They don’t feel like they’re past their prime, which is inspiring to me.
And who knows? Maybe five years from now, they’ll try something else new.
We all have the ability to plug in and become relevant, no matter what stage of life we’re in. We also have the opportunity to be as present as possible. If I get to live longer, I don’t want to value time any less. To me, there’s no point in taking 80 years of existence and simply spreading it out to 100.
The more we can educate, uplift and empower each other, the better chance we have of not just living to be 100 years old, but saving the world.

Matthew Brimer is an creative instigator, social entrepreneur and community builder. He is the co-founder of General Assembly, a 21st century educational institution with campuses and clients around the world, and the co-founder of Daybreaker, a global community and lifestyle brand producing conscious morning dance experiences across the globe. He is also an advisor and angel investor in a handful of early-stage startups.
This post is paid for by AARP.

Is the U.S. Ready for Universal Basic Income?

Posted on by robbie

It used to be considered radical. But the idea that a society could ease poverty and increase productivity by giving every one of its citizens a monthly or annual stipend, no strings attached, is no longer a far-fetched one in other parts of the world. And now some progressive leaders in the U.S. are pointing to the economic model’s alleged success in Europe in the hope that the notion takes root here, too.
The concept, known as a universal basic income (or UBI for short), is simple enough: Give citizens enough money every year, gratis, so that they can pay for necessary living expenses, like housing and food. In return, people will have the bandwidth to flex their creativity, become more productive and enjoy a better quality of life.
Not surprisingly, fiscal hawks and critics of entitlement programs are not on board.
“Unfortunately, a welfare state by any other name is still a welfare state. And a [UBI] is just replacing one pricey system for another,” writes Brittany Hunter, an editor with the Foundation for Economic Education. “Unlike the current welfare state, which has standards for determining who qualifies for certain aid, a UBI would be given to everyone. This would dramatically increase the pool of citizens receiving benefits from the state and inflict massive expenses across the board.”
Hunter’s critique came on the heels of a study conducted by the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute, which found that providing $12,000 each year to Americans would increase jobs by 2 percent and grow the economy by $2.5 trillion by 2025.   
Though the idea of a universal basic income in the U.S. has been tossed around for decades, the rise in automation has put the idea at the forefront of current economic arguments in developed countries, where robots are poised to take over more jobs and provide less opportunities in the future.

THE VIEW ACROSS THE POND

In mid-September, the University of Bath’s Institute for Policy Research found that nearly half of Britons would welcome a basic level of income to cover essential needs, with only 26 percent of those surveyed opposing its introduction. The reactions aren’t necessarily surprising, as the Scottish government recently announced plans to test a UBI system by giving citizens £150, or about $200, per week.
Though the move is revolutionary in the United Kingdom, it’s not unheard of in other parts of Europe. Last year, several European countries introduced the idea of trying out basic income, ranging from giving a modest €560 a month to 2,000 unemployed adults in Finland (the equivalent of about $660) to doling out 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,573) each month in Switzerland.
The Swiss held a vote for the monthly stipend in June 2016 — the first time a country has ever put the proposal on a ballot — but it was overwhelmingly voted against by nearly 3 to 1. Opposition groups claimed that the country’s high living standard, combined with its open borders, would make for complications.
Finland, meanwhile, has boasted anecdotal evidence of success, with residents reporting that the basic income has allowed them to start their own businesses and has reduced stress. But some economists argue that the Finnish program, which was implemented to replace unemployment benefits (though recipients are still awarded the monthly stipend even after they secure work), has only pushed people to lower-paying jobs with lower productivity.
“Universal basic income can only succeed if the effort is sustained and widespread — and not available only to the unemployed,” wrote economists Antti Jauhiainen and Joona-Hermanni Mäkinen in The New York Times. “The program should not be intended to force people into low-paying jobs.”

ONE NATION, UNDER UBI

So can a UBI model work in America?
In a way, it’s already here, to some extent. Alaskan residents have gotten a portion of the state’s $55 billion oil fund each year for the past four decades. Last year, the dividend from the fund was $2,052 each for 643,000 Alaskans, before Gov. Bill Walker axed that amount by half.
Farther south in Silicon Valley, the tech incubator Y Combinator has launched a UBl study that aims to provide roughly 1,000 Oakland families with up to $2,000 a month.
“I think it’s good to start studying this early,” wrote Y Combinator President Sam Altman in a blog post. “I’m fairly confident that at some point in the future, as technology continues to eliminate traditional jobs and massive new wealth gets created, we’re going to see some version of this at a national scale.”
The reality is that automation in America will reduce jobs for low- and even middle-wage workers by close to 50 percent, according to some estimates, and there is a worry that cashiers who are put out of work won’t exactly be in the position to become engineers overnight. The U.S. has already started to feel the squeeze, with about 5 million jobs lost as a result of automation.
American business leaders and progressive politicians have taken notice. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others, have all endorsed the idea of a UBI.
“There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better,” echoed Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, earlier this year. “And if my assessment is correct and [jobs are lost to automation], then we have to think about: What are we going to do about it? I think some kind of universal basic income is going to be necessary.”
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