The Non-Job Job

We are already in the post-Industrial Era. Traditional manufacturing jobs have declined greatly. Witness the downfall of once great cities like Detroit. Manufacturing is now done in Third World Countries or by robots or largely automated processes. What will the jobs of the future look like?

I predict that we will have non-job jobs. Many of the jobs will not have to be done in a place where all of the employees congregate -- ie the office. With a wired world, people will have many different opportunities to make money without being employed in one specific place.

A person's income could be an aggregate from his Google Adsense advertising on his blog, mixed with his revenues from collaborative development sites like Napkin Labs, and a little bit of ad hoc consulting on an "as required" basis in a virtual job farm. With micropayments and a world marketplace online, a graphic sold for a few cents a thousand times would pay some the bills every month.

Many jobs now, did not exist 5 years ago. The idea of a job will change. As long as people can make money in diverse ways, and they can live with dignity, the concept of a traditional job goes out the window.