This need for new knowledge and
skills applies very well to our field of
computing and its applications. Programs
are the equivalent of the cards
in the Jacquard loom and the production
of programs requires specific
skills. If we have learned anything over
the course of the computer’s development,
it is that the designers of hardware
and software must keep learning
new knowledge and skills to be
relevant and to be able to continue to
undertake new work. While there was
an intense increase in the need for
COBOL programmers leading to Y2K
in 2000, this skill is much less in demand
now than, say, C++, JavaScript,
Python, and Ruby on Rails (I know, I
did not name your favorite language—
feel free to send in your suggestions!).
inventions. The development of production
lines actually increased the
availability of jobs and while also increasing
productivity per capita.
What should be fairly obvious, on
reflection, is that new jobs created by
innovation often require new skills
and some displaced workers may not
be able to learn them. Even when there
is a net increase in jobs resulting from
innovation (think of the invention
of the integrated circuit, the World
Wide Web, YouTube), not everyone
displaced will find new work unless or
until they are able to learn new skills
or apply new knowledge.