Results: This survey is about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its real or imagined threat to our jobs. Any advance in technology is lumped in with the label AI but often no intelligence is required.
Published on 06/08/2025
The media is creating numerous articles about AI with some in favor of it, but the majority presenting AI as something to be feared since negative news is what sells advertising space. 200 years ago, a group called the Luddites smashed water or steam powered machinery because they thought they were a threat to their jobs. 100 years later, cars were considered a threat to those who looked after horses. There have been many more innovations since then that eliminated jobs. When those disappeared some people remained unemployed but the majority got one of the new jobs that popped up in their place. The unemployment rate remained more or less the same overall. I think AI is nothing to be feared from that aspect. Here are some jobs that are now gone, and yet most of the people who did them just did something else.
QUESTIONS
GO to COMMENTS
Comments
1.
1.
In the early 1980s as personal computers were arriving in the workplace, the media was talking about "The Paperless Society" and the demise of Stenographer as a career. There would be no more need for typists, Pitman Shorthand as a job skill, or a typing pool for the women who were proficient at it. Did the many women employed in this profession become unemployed or did they find other careers? Please comment about what new careers became available.
We are still waiting for the paperless society.
25%
516 votes
Pitman shorthand is still a valuable skill (comments?)
10%
209 votes
Typing is an even more important skill these days.
33%
696 votes
Most of these former stenographers went on to other jobs such as....... (details please).
11%
228 votes
These women ended up unemployed - what a pity.
8%
164 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
15 votes
Not Applicable
39%
825 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.55% | 10 | |
| Data entry | 0.05% | 1 |
| easiest way to steal our identity. | 0.05% | 1 |
| Most women went to steady top | 0.05% | 1 |
| I have no idea | 0.05% | 1 |
| Court stenographers are STILL used alongside the device recording hearings and trials. | 0.05% | 1 |
2.
2.
One job that I don't really miss is that of the gas station attendant. Technology has made this possible. This was not exactly a healthy job anyway, especially when gasoline had lead additives in it. Here are some innovations that made self service gassing up the norm. Which of these options would you want to keep?
In the 1950s until the 197ss, attendants provided services such as pumping gas, checking oil levels, cleaning windshields, and inspecting tire pressure. Modern cars don't burn oil, cars have their own washers and tires rarely need to be pumped up. Self service is quicker
27%
575 votes
Technological advancements such as pay at the pump, automatic pump shut off, anti spill features (mainly to suppress gasoline fumes) and shorter filling times dues to smaller gas tanks make an attendant redundant.
24%
494 votes
Gas stations started discounting for self service or charging extra for attendant service and the public made the switch.
20%
414 votes
New Jersey remains the only state that prohibits drivers from pumping their own gas, maintaining a full-service mandate. (Does this mean slower and more expensive service?)
14%
286 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
18 votes
Not Applicable
40%
846 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.39% | 7 | |
| ?? | 0.06% | 1 |
| They need to bring this back | 0.06% | 1 |
| Options for seniors, women who don't know how to pump, people dressed up and don't want to smell like gas, etc. | 0.06% | 1 |
| In my small town we have a gas station that offers full service for the same price as everyone else. | 0.06% | 1 |
| They would offer things like dolls of the world for every time you fill up | 0.06% | 1 |
| My husband and I use a gas station with an attendant, located in our area, because it's run by the third generation of a family whose members I grew up with. | 0.06% | 1 |
| I'd like to see a full-service lane at a gas station in addition to self-service ones, even if there was a small fee for using it. | 0.06% | 1 |
| I think we should have a choice of whether we want to pump her own gas or not specially, in the winter time or if it's pouring rain | 0.06% | 1 |
| People who are physically challenged have to pump their own gas. | 0.06% | 1 |
| I PREFER HAVING AN ATTENDANT pump my gas. | 0.06% | 1 |
| Self service not faster than nj attend pump. These trained professionals pump several cars at a time and they don't need to figure put payment and pumping process | 0.06% | 1 |
3.
3.
I remember going to the movies and hearing the whir of the movie reel during quiet parts of the show. I also remember the intermission where reels had to be swapped. This was the job of the Motion Picture Projectionist. In 1950, more than 26,000 people were employed in this field but by 2023, that number had fallen to just 2,610. Here are some job skills that may no longer be required. Which of them do you miss?
Knowing how to load the reels was a vital skill. If the reel jammed when the light was still on the film melted or started to burn. This was a significant fire risk that digital has eliminated.
13%
282 votes
Longer films required more than one reel and the theater had to either make a seamless switch to the second reel or have an intermission. The intermission was preferred because the audience bought "stuff" during it - so much so that even digital methods include an intermission.
18%
386 votes
Projectionist work was labor-intensive, involving tasks such as film changeovers, managing carbon arc lamps, and handling nitrate film. Now it requires very little computer skills and basically just the push of a mouse button. Or maybe there is an app for that.
13%
267 votes
The cost of equipment and staffing has fallen significantly and this reduction in costs has been passed on to the public in today's lower ticket prices (are today's prices prohibitive? - comment)
13%
280 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
19 votes
Not Applicable
58%
1217 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.65% | 8 | |
| ?? | 0.08% | 1 |
| Where are these lower prices you speak of? | 0.08% | 1 |
| movie ticket prices are NOT low!!! I took my 7 yr old grandson to the movies and I'm 70, and it was over $40!!! No concessions either. | 0.08% | 1 |
| where are lower tix prices-expensive to go to movies | 0.08% | 1 |
| In this area the prices are outrageous. Two adults with popcorn is $50. | 0.08% | 1 |
| Tickets are very expensive | 0.08% | 1 |
| jobs lost---prices have risen-----GREAT | 0.08% | 1 |
| I don't miss any of these job requirements as I neva worked in a movie theatre. | 0.08% | 1 |
| It may have cost them less for staffing and equipment, but the price of tickets have gone up and up and up | 0.08% | 1 |
| Where are these prices lower? I haven't seen any. | 0.08% | 1 |
| don't miss any of these | 0.08% | 1 |
4.
4.
There was a time when phoning the folks back home at Christmas time involved waiting in line to get through to a switchboard operator. In the 1950s, the United States had approximately 342,000 telephone switchboard operators employed by the Bell System and independent telephone companies, plus a million operators working in private settings such as offices, factories, hotels, and apartment buildings. Here are some aspects of that job that I don't miss. Do you?
Making an overseas or long distance call was low qualify and very expensive. These days your call can be high quality video and audio almost anywhere in the world at a fraction of the cost or even "no cost".
18%
385 votes
Between my home in Canada and my parent's home in the UK there were several connections, switches, switchboards and humans involved with some of them. It only took one weak link in that chain to give a bad quality call. Today the call can bounce to a satellite and then to the recipient with little in the way to interfere with it.
15%
306 votes
The job of a switchboard operator was a demanding one that required quick reflexes and strong customer service skills as the operators manually connected calls by plugging and unplugging cords on massive switchboards. Today I can sit at a computer in Canada and my sister can do the same in Scotland. We can talk on video for free for hours with no more difficulty than making a local call - in fact the concept of local and long distance calls only applies to money gouging telephone companies.
23%
492 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
17 votes
Not Applicable
58%
1209 votes
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.92% | 11 | |
| ?? | 0.08% | 1 |
| We could put these people to work answering phones at companies instead of repeatedly pushing buttons for customer service or doctors appointments. | 0.08% | 1 |
| ANOTHER GREAT IDEA THAT CAUSED A LOSS OF JOBS | 0.08% | 1 |
| I still rather speak to a person and not the answering machine, with 20 questions. | 0.08% | 1 |
| The other one is you don't have to carry long-distance on your cell phone. You can buy a long distance card, which is cheaper than paying all year for long distance. | 0.08% | 1 |
| don't miss any of these | 0.08% | 1 |
COMMENTS