People often negatively evaluate new phenomena, a psychological condition known as “neophobia.”
In fact, what we now consider to be some of the so-called “workplace chaos,” such as the 35-year-old crisis, ride-hailing drivers, food delivery, and even difficulty in finding employment for college graduates, may hide a new trend in the workplace. Our negative evaluations of these phenomena may also be a manifestation of “neophobia.”
To avoid this psychological bias, we should first put aside our emotions and look at the problem from a factual perspective. Today, many repetitive tasks in the workplace are gradually being replaced by new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). One obvious trend is that more and more work is becoming fragmented. Ride-hailing drivers don’t have to keep driving on the road; they can wait for the system to assign orders. Even programmers don’t have to keep typing code; they can let AI generate code and then maintain it.
If this is indeed a trend, its impact will be profound. Even the entire workplace structure will need to be rebuilt. Imagine a future where more and more people don’t have to work five days a week as they do now, but can freely arrange their own working hours. Instead of wasting a lot of time every day on boring mechanical work, they can use their talents to achieve success. Isn’t this a better world?
Of course, this also means that the entire social organization structure and security system need to change accordingly. But change always harbors opportunities. Whether individuals or enterprises, we should pay attention to this change. As Darwin, the father of evolution theory, once said: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent that survive, but those who can adapt to challenges!” Whoever has the ability to adapt to this new trend and which enterprise can establish an organizational structure that adapts to this new trend will be able to obtain the key to enter the “new world” first.