Category: Technology

Curated Dissonance: The Job Market

Probably the biggest concern we hear on the public stage regarding the emerging technologies of AI research is the threat it poses to American jobs. While many of our lawmakers seem willfully unconcerned or unaware of the purported fallout of this phenomenon – or perhaps just unconvinced that it’s an issue that they will need to deal with during the current election cycle – the Interwebs are teeming with opinion pieces on the development of artificial intelligence and robotics as a tool in the workforce. And while I’m sure you can find the edge case that claims the alarm bells are wholly unjustified, most of the social ecology seems to agree that the issue is real – just not to what depth it requires our attention.

I always find it particularly interesting because I was automated out of a job in 2010, effectively ending my career in radio after 15 years. Then it happened again in 2013 when the technology at USPS advanced to the point where they could close down that big-ass remote encoding center in south Wichita (though we were fortunate enough with the union contracts that they took extra steps to help find us alternative positions). This isn’t a new problem; it’s just never been as omnipresent as it’s about to be.

While robotics have steadily advanced to help large-scale industrial manufacturers slim down their workforce over the past couple decades, replacement of white collar jobs has been less visible. With the tools currently in development, that’s about to change. As of right now, AI can theoretically cover most tasks in business and finance, management, computer science, math, legal, and office administration roles. In most sectors, actual adoption has not reflected this theoretical capability. Reliable prediction models now suggest, however, that most professional positions will be effectively eliminated in the next year to 18 months.

18 months. You read that right.

Over the past year or so, I’ve been on the lookout for job opportunities commensurate with my background and skills. I have a strong resume, and I interview well, but the competition for management jobs in every sector in steep. In recent months, my wife has also joined the search. With a strong accounting background, she’s had more opportunities roll her way, but the results are similar (thus far; she has a couple of really good prospects in play as I write this, so here’s hoping it’ll turn around). As challenging as it is for experienced talent to find decent jobs in the current market, entry level applicants are facing a veritable desert contrasted with just a decade ago.

A report out of Anthropic throws this into fantastic perspective, measuring their observations of current AI job coverage in different sectors of the market based on what they know their LLM project Claude is capable of handling (Angelo, 2026).

While layoffs are inevitable, the lack of new opportunities is a critical concern. At 50 years of age, my career is significantly in the rearview mirror. I have skills that will likely get me something lucrative in the days ahead, as I nudge out other equally-qualified applicants who don’t fit some hiring managers image of an ideal candidate, but I can’t expect to get comfortable. I’ve been involved in some pretty hefty change management situations in the past, and I have a sense that the disruption represented by AI innovation will shake up the market in ways that will keep me on my toes for years to come – and ultimately drum me right back onto the street.

While the implications are potentially ludicrous in scope, like most Americans I can really only concentrate on my own domain. This fall I decided to tackle yet another graduate degree with an eye toward advancing my career in the field of project management, but now I’m starting to wonder whether it’s a realistic pursuit. I’m not abandoning the prospect just yet; at the very least, I’m learning a lot about a discipline that is applicable to the business world in a very broad sense. But I have some decisions to make.

And that’s my takeaway. Jonikka and I have a 5-year plan, which starts as soon as we’re back in a cash-saving motif with our collective employment situation, that is geared toward crafting the life we want in the years now and retirement. It’s a good plan, and it’s adaptable if the situation changes – so long as we can avoid plunging back into a sitch that eats up our savings before we have a chance to seriously invest in our future. Ultimately, I’ve had to make wrestle with some important realizations and figure out how to embrace the future with all of its uncertainty, lest we be left spinning out without a Colonel Sanders to reach for the brake.

Damn, That’s a pull.

This is only one way that AI development affects both our current paradigm and our future opportunities, and some of the assumptions laced into this approach kind of ignore some big-picture eventualities. I think I’ll back up and take a running jump at the rabbit hole the other side of those eventualities in my next article, before we move away from strictly focusing on the job market and start running headlong into the craziness beyond.

Angelo, J. (2026, March 6). Anthropic just mapped out which jobs AI could potentially replace. A “Great Recession for white-collar workers” is absolutely possible | Fortune. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2026/03/06/ai-job-losses-report-anthropic-research-great-recession-for-white-collar-workers/

Curated Dissonance: A Brief Introduction

Like most of us who are plugged in to one form of information sharing or another on the world wide web, I generally see posts catering specifically to my point of view. Whether it’s about art, humanity, politics (oh, yes… politics), religion, business, philosophy, entertainment, or my hobbies and interests, I can rely on the invisible hand of the social media algorithm and the mass media data crunching that tries to sell me the kitchen knives I was just randomly discussing with my neighbor to quietly curate the content of my everyday perusal of online mundanities. But weirdly – and you may have noticed this in your own perusals – there are rather significant differences in presentation of ideas and opinions based on how arcane the content happens to be.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Like much of the modern world, you probably live within an information silo. Nearly everything we encounter online is presented with a focus on engagement. Social media tracks what kind of articles you read or memes you share and categorically designs your online experience to feed you more of the same. Amazon consistently pushes you toward collections of consumer goods related to items you’ve purchased or examined, while the news app on your phone monitors your topics of interest and produces endless articles and videos of similar merit. You’ll note, however, that in the case of, say, political discourse, your feed will inevitably shape up to provide almost no dissenting viewpoints (except in the context of outrage, because rage-baiting is a huge source of engagement, of course). More to the point, if I am randomly tossed an opinion piece that discusses a political issue vehemently at odds with my own, I tend to move past it and try to tell the platform not to do that again.

But if you apply the same examination to other highly divisive trends, you will often discover that the information is considerably less deterministic. Strangely, if you ask me, given that I know people for whom hating the Star Wars sequels is every bit as monumental as hating on a political idea. And yet, I am just as likely to see articles agreeing with my rather unpopular admiration of Episode VIII as I am those who feel like the entire franchise effectively ceased to exist after Disney took the helm (often with a few choice epithets to round out their opinion). All the algorithm seems to care about is “the dude digs Star Wars.”

Consider, for example, that I hold some very divisive opinions regarding my favorite hobby, and I frequently get to read articles or watch videos that dismiss my perspective entirely as if only an idiot or inexperienced noob could possibly feel that way. It’s discouraging at times, to say the least.

But one divisive, very high profile field of study continues to provide me with a host of interesting opinions in my daily discourse: A.I., or Artificial Intelligence. So much so, in fact, that I would find it unrealistic to try and address the topic in any meaningful way in just one post. It’s particularly notable that AI invasively touches on most (if not all) of my other hobbies and interests in ways that strike me very differently in context. And as usual, my own opinions, while dare-I-say thoughtfully considered, educated opinions, tend to be varied and kind of jarring.

And since this is my little corner of the Internet, where almost no one ever ruminates, I’d like to discuss it. Over the next several days, I’m going to explore several facets of the massive topic of AI and how it affects my life, how it is likely to affect my life in the future, and why I feel that’s important enough to explore.