Technological Future

"In 2010, Qatar had the world's highest GDP per capita, while the economy grew by 19.40%, the fastest in the world. The main drivers for this rapid growth are attributed to ongoing increases in production and exports of liquefied natural gas, oil, petrochemicals and related industries. Qatar has the second-highest human development in the Arab World after the United Arab Emirates. In 2009, Qatar was the United States’ fifth-largest export market in the Middle East, trailing behind the U.A.E., Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt." (“Qatar: history,” par.3)
As the quotation above shows, my country, Qatar, is improving and becoming globally known. In addition, there are some changes in the way of work. Efficiency is dominant as a priority of work places. Automation, instead of human hands, becomes more reliable and desirable. Progress in society demands a respectful job. Also, societies that use new technologies have more educated workers, so there are no places for little, unprofessional jobs. The machines that replace the simple and easy kind of work that humans do save time and money, and this is happening more often because of economic interests. ATM machines and vending machines are the easiest and fastest for me to buy from, but sometimes I feel sorry for people who lose their work because of this. Now banks are hiring fewer numbers of people than they used to because of the spread of ATM machines that make it easier and faster rather going to stand in a long line and waiting for your turn. I also noticed that there are some coffee shops in Qatar that demand you to serve yourself.

There are two sides of replacing human workers with technology, which are the negative and positive sides of this phenomenon. The negative side is that workers lose their jobs. And the positive side is that they will go back to schools and get better jobs, and human trafficking will stop. On the other hand, society will begin to start a self-service mentality that is part of McDonaldization, and we will become unpaid employees. Consumer workers will service themselves and benefit the economy by freeing up more money for highly skilled jobs. Thus, both consumers and the economy benefit.

Source: “Qatar: history.” Wikipedia. 15 Nov. 2011 (latest update). Web. 14 Nov 2011.