Norvig, a former computer scientist as NASA, sympathized with anyone frightened by the prospect. “It is scary,” he said.
But just as the internal combustion engine ultimately led to the demise of the stagecoach, and also to millions of new jobs, so will these destructive technologies lead to new opportunities that are now unimagined.
“It’s easy to see jobs disappearing … [but] it’s hard to see the new jobs that will be invented because they don’t exist yet.
“There will always be stuff to do,” he said.
Young people starting on their career path shouldn’t necessarily be discouraged by machine learning, or abandon career aspirations because of it, Norvig said.
Instead, “find something [you’re] interested in that provides something that people want, and think deeply about it.”
“Be aware of the various technologies and be able to use them, and apply them to whatever field you’re interested in,” he added.
Norvig also believes the rest of society has an obligation to support—either through universal basic income, a WPA-like program, or some other means—people whose livelihoods are eliminated so quickly that they are unable to adapt.
“There has to be some social program for people who say ‘I had a job, and now I don’t—I’ve got no family to fall back on, what do I do?'” he said.
