After graduating from college several months ago, I've been doing an assortment of odd-jobs to make rent. Between brief panic attacks (the next check...where's the next check coming from!) I've had a considerable amount of thinking time to ponder...well, just about anything. One of the subjects I find myself returning to is the future of American labor. What will the average job look like in a decade or two? At the risk of setting my ego afire and parading it before the two people that (when they're bored) read this site, I would like to invite you along for a ride in my silver DeLorean of the future.
Most of my insights will not come as any revelation to you. For example, in my humble opinion (and that of every byline printed in Wired) the Internet will be instrumental in cutting overhead costs to provide a hyper-flexible workplace. The field of tutoring/editing is one place where this is already happening. I have long been employed by an English PhD who makes his living as an editor. Aside from being a delightfully cantankerous gentleman who issues me a 1099 form for mowing his lawn, he has been remarkably successful in marketing his services to people in remote locations like Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, and anywhere else with a high-speed connection (sorry Iowa Hill).
The moral of this story? The Internet is already providing a workplace free from time/place constraints. In the past, these limitations have required us to build expansive highway systems, lose innumerable hours in transit, and confined us within the nine-to-five cage. Putting aside the potential environmental benefits, the possibilities for social change are immense.
A summary of this post: That AT&T ride at Epcot was actually correct. Aside from the part about AT&T logos being on everything...
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