BY GENE MARKS
As long as there’s been new technology, there’s been opposition to it. What do these protests have in common? Environmental concerns? Resistance to billionaires? Fears that the world will end? No: people are simply scared that technology will replace their jobs.
Today, it’s AI and data centers. But in early 19th century Britain, skilled textile workers feared that machinery would allow employers to replace them with cheaper labor and reduce wages. They petitioned officials, organized protests and destroyed knitting frames and other textile machinery. A few decades later, Britain’s Locomotives Act of 1865 imposed extraordinary restrictions on mechanically powered road vehicles: a three-person crew, including someone walking ahead with a red flag, and speed limits of 2 miles per hour in towns and 4 miles per hour in the countryside.
In the mid-20th century, a union representing musicians in the U.S., fearing that the musical recordings on the radio and jukeboxes would compete with their own live performances, forbade their members from making commercial recordings. A few decades later, both Universal and Disney sued Sony Corporation over its Betamax recorder, arguing that Sony was responsible for copyright infringement when viewers recorded television programs. Industry lobbyist Jack Valenti notoriously compared the VCR’s threat to the “Boston strangler.”
In the 1980s, newspaper workers went on strike in England to protest Rupert Murdoch’s new printing plant with modernized computers and production machinery. And then there were math teachers that same decade who were protesting the use of calculators in schools.
These are just a few examples of people pushing back on technology. There are many news reports documenting the public’s fears of planes and cars, cell phones and beepers, computers and even electricity.
It’s not hard to understand. People want security. Comfort. Certainty. A job provides some of that. Technology threatens jobs.
Workers are terrified that new machines will put them out of work. Math teachers get scared because they see how calculators would potentially eliminate the need for their instruction. Musicians believed that recordings would eliminate the popularity of live shows. Hollywood hated home recorders because why go to the movies when you can just watch at home?
And they were right. All of this did happen. But they were also wrong.
There’s a shortage of teachers, plant workers and machine operators. There are more creators now than ever, and more video, TV and movie content. People adapted.
Decades later, unemployment is near historical lows. Millions of jobs remain unfilled. Every business owner I know is looking for help. New roles for humans that didn’t exist just 20 years ago have employed countless people. Imagine going back in time and telling someone in 2006 that in 2026 you’re a “cannabis compliance manager” or a “wellness coach” or a “prompt engineer” — they would’ve thought you insane.
AI, autonomous vehicles, drones, mobile phones, all of these things improve our lives. Technology enables businesses to run more efficiently. It cures diseases, restores hearing, replaces limbs and manages resources. It powers all the things in our world that make this world so much better than any world that existed in history. All because of technology.
Of course there are risks. When business people ask me about the privacy and security risks of putting their data into AI platforms and trusting Big Tech, I always warn them that their data is not secure, not private and that you shouldn’t trust Big Tech. But investing in technology is all about return on investment. If the rewards — growth, productivity, profits, success — of using AI are greater than the risks assumed, a business owner would be irresponsible not to assume these risks. We take risks flying in planes, eating Big Macs and crossing the street all the time. Do we not assume those risks to take advantage of their rewards?
Technology will replace jobs. Millions of jobs. But it’s an insult to humanity to assume that people will just play dead. They won’t. They’ll find other ways to define their purpose.
We all know that AI, if used the wrong way, could create all sorts of problems. We’re aware that data centers impact the environment and disrupt communities. We’re concerned that driverless vehicles will run over our puppies, and a single drone could bring down a commercial aircraft. Technology can be dangerous. Forks can be dangerous. Do we ban forks?
Gene Marks is founder of the Marks Group, a small-business consulting firm.
