>>>>>Certainly the office of 10-20 years from now will look a lot different - but of course the idea
>>>of "office" will change as well
>>>
>>>It's changing around us.
>>>Have you spent any time in the tool dept of Home Depot lately?
>>>I did and came away dazzled. Almost everything there, except a sledgehammer, is "smart."
>>>
>>>I spent some time talking with a bulldozer operator today.
>>>A 30 year vet of the building trades union.
>>>He told me the dozer he uses now has built in GPS and has digital controls.
>>>The digital site plan is loaded into an onboard computer which guides him thru the grading. The computers reading the GPS data tell him when the grade is at the proper pitch, at the right height, etc,
>>>He can get precision within one centimeter in any direction.
>>
>>Sounds like he's almost out of a job.....
>
>That is one part of our business I have never liked. Not so much lately, but I have had jobs where the software essentially reduced the need for labor. Throughout my 20s I worked for a company whose software controlled grocery warehouses. (Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda, and Woolworth in the UK). The software optimized placement and retrieval in the warehouse, saving millions of dollars a year compared to guys driving around on forklifts looking for open slots. Typically the clients were able to eliminate about 20 forklift drivers and some order pickers. I never liked that. But I took the money.

I hear you. OTOH, I wonder if technology has actually put more people out of work entirely - other jobs always seem to appear.....