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What Will Be the Ten Hottest Jobs?
A recent issue of the TIME Magazine presented a list of the
ten hottest jobs of the 21st century. It also predicted which are ten jobs most
likely to disappear in this century. The list is given below. Top of the list
come tissue engineers, representing a field of medical and biological engineering.
Hottest jobs
- Tissue engineers – With man-made skin already on the market and artificial
cartilage not far behind, 25 years from now scientists expect to be pulling
a pancreas out of a Petri dish. Or trying, anyway. Researchers have successfully
grown new intestines and bladders inside animals' abdominal cavities, and
work has begun on building liver, heart and kidney tissue.
- Gene programmers – Digital genome maps will allow lab technicians
to create customized prescriptions, altering individual genes by rewriting
lines of computer code. After scanning your DNA for defects, doctors will
use gene therapy and "smart" molecules to prevent a variety of diseases, including
certain cancers.
- Pharmers – New-age Old MacDonalds will raise crops and livestock
that have been genetically engineered to produce therapeutic proteins. Works
in progress include a vaccine-carrying tomato and drug-laden milk from cows,
sheep and goats.
- Frankenfood monitors – Not sure what's for dinner? With a little
genetic tinkering, fast-growing fish and freeze-resistant fruits will help
feed an overpopulated planet, but such hybrids could unwittingly wipe out
the food chain. Eco-scouts will be on the lookout for so-called Trojan gene
effects, and bounty hunters will help the usda eliminate transgenic species
that get out of hand.
- Data miners – When Ask Jeeves just won't cut it, research gurus will
be on hand to extract useful tidbits from mountains of data, pinpointing behaviour
patterns for marketers and epidemiologists alike.
- Hot-line handymen – Still daunted by the thought of reprogramming
your VCR, let alone your newfangled DVD? Just wait until your 3-D holographic
TV won't power up or your talking toaster starts mouthing off. Remote diagnostics
will take care of most of your home electronics, but a few repairmen will
still make house calls ... via video phone.
- Virtual-reality actors – Pay-per-view will become pay-per-play, allowing
these pros to interact with you in cyberspace dramas. Scriptwriters will also
be in high demand, as mouse potatoes clamour for new story lines to escape
from their droned-out existence.
- Narrowcasters – Today's broadcasting industry will become increasingly
personalized, working with advertisers to create content (read: product placement)
just for you. Ambient commercials will also hijack your attention by using
tastes and smells, with the ultimate goal of beaming buy-me messages directly
into your brain.
- Turing testers – Computer engineers will continue to measure their
efforts to mimic human intelligence, as British mathematician Alan Turing
suggested 50 years ago, by asking you whether you're talking to a person or
a machine. By the time you can't tell the difference, these human simulators
will be used as unflappable customer service reps as well as Internet attachés
who can summarize your e-mails and even write back: "Hi, Mom, sorry I missed
your call ... "
- Knowledge engineers – Artificial-intelligence brokers will translate
your expertise into software, then downsize you.
And What Jobs Will Disappear?
- Stockbrokers, auto dealers, mail carriers, insurance and real estate
agents – The Internet will eradicate middlemen by the millions, with a
hardy few remaining to service the clueless. You'll cut us a deal, right,
HAL?
- Teachers – Distance learning is becoming more popular, and through
the miracle of online classes and electronic grading, today's faculty lounge
could become tomorrow's virtual help desk. Though a complete conversion is
unlikely, outsourcing our education system might cost less than installing
all those metal detectors.
- Printers – President Oprah may use her book club to rescue the printing
press from extinction when newspapers and magazines make the switch to digital
paper. Xerox and other visionaries are racing to produce a material that's
as flexible as regular paper and as versatile as a computer screen, with the
end result keeping news junkies happy, not to mention all those trees.
- Stenographers – Sophisticated voice-recognition software will replace
court reporters and lots of secretaries and executive assistants. Note to
self: don't ditch the assistant just yet—technology may cover the grunt work,
but who'll cover for you when that report isn't ready or get blamed for the
snafu?
- CEOs – Top-down decision making will be too cumbersome, and golden
parachutes too obscene, for the blistering 24-hour business day. A global
team of quick-thinking experts will carry companies through the Internet age
and beyond.
- Orthodontists – No more metal mouth, thanks to 3-D simulation programs
that will crank out a series of disposable, clear-plastic "aligners" to shift
your teeth into position. Already in clinical trials, this technology is geared
for adults, so all you gap-toothed prepubes will have something to look forward
to.
- Prison guards – Microscopic implants will restrain convicts from
engaging in criminal activity. The sensors will require lots of fine tuning,
though—we wouldn't want an aggressive telemarketer getting zapped, would we?
- Truckers – Interstates will have "smart" lanes enabling computer-driven
vehicles to travel bumper to bumper at high speeds. Suburbia will decongest
by using bottleneck sensors in cars to suggest alternate routes, and while
you can kiss those meter maids goodbye, expect tickets to appear on your virtual
dash
- Housekeepers – If fridges today can decide to buy you more milk (online),
then self-motivated vacuums don't sound so far afield. Perhaps self-cleaning
homes will use a central vacuuming system or dust-eating nanobots. Either
way, you can bet your retirement community there are people working on it.
- Fathers – Between in-vitro fertilization and cloning, dads could
become dinosaurs. Moms, too, with the possibility looming of an artificial
womb. Did somebody say George Orwell?
JULIE RAWE TIME EUROPE, May 29, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 21
www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/0529/v21jobs.html
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