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Are jobs obsolete?

Are jobs obsolete?
Douglas Rushkoff: U.S. Postal Service new example of human work replaced by technologyHe says technology affecting jobs market; not enough workers needed to run the technologyHe says we have to alter our ideas: It's not about jobs, it's about productivityRushkoff: Technology lets us bypass corporations, make our own work -- a new model Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff is a media theorist and the author of "Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age" and "Life Inc: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take it Back." (CNN) -- The U.S. We can blame a right wing attempting to undermine labor, or a left wing trying to preserve unions in the face of government and corporate cutbacks. New technologies are wreaking havoc on employment figures -- from EZpasses ousting toll collectors to Google-controlled self-driving automobiles rendering taxicab drivers obsolete. We like to believe that the appropriate response is to train humans for higher level work.

Dr. Judith Rich: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do Next Recently, I was asked to contribute a chapter for a book called "What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do", compiled by Tendai Jordan. Her topic is very timely and important, especially now, when we humans are facing change at such an extraordinary level and pace. We're often left overwhelmed, not knowing what to do next. When I query people in the personal development seminars I lead about their purpose for attending, a majority of participants respond with some variation on the following: -I feel lost. Sound familiar? High school grads that can't afford to go to college have increasingly looked to the military to provide the next level of education and training to equip them with job skills. Young adults, ages 18-24, are the hardest hit in this prolonged recession. But this phenomenon is not reserved only for the young. Sometimes it happens out of necessity, as in the current jobs crisis. Reaching retirement age is another stage of development where retooling becomes paramount.

The Difference between Aliens, Demons and Fallen Angels The Difference Between Fallen Angels, Demons, Aliens, Jedi, and the Watchers By Sherry Shriner In these last days, the Bible says it will be a time of mass hybridization and the mixture and corruption of human DNA by fallen angels, also known as "Aliens." The government is and has been, conditioning the existence of aliens through Hollywood, science fiction, cartoons, and other sources. These Aliens are not ascended masters, or enlightened ones, or beings from galaxies millions of miles away, nor are they our forefathers or original creators. The Lord has told me that in the coming days, these Aliens will make their presence more visibly and physically known on earth. As the end times approach, the lies of extra terrestrial lineage, heritage, and creation will come out in full force. Two Separate Rebellions in the Early Days Most people are familiar with the rebellion of Satan wanting to be like God and wanting to be worshipped as God. In Enoch Chapter 6:1 it says.. 3 and beget us children.'

Fast bikes, slow food, and the workplace wars In 1974, Robert Pirsig—a Korean War veteran, a philosopher, a former writing instructor, a survivor of shock treatment, and, by all accounts, a talented author of technical manuals—published “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values.” It is a novel, but only barely (Pirsig didn’t bother to change the names of his friends), and it follows the narrator as he rides West with his young son, from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Readers hoping for advice about motorcycles, or about meditation, found something else entirely: picturesque anecdotes and ominous reveries, interrupted by dense seminars on the “self-defeating” nature of technophobia, the malignance of inferior workmanship, the “ugliness” of Immanuel Kant’s aesthetics, and the importance of a quality called Quality. The book, gnomic but good-natured, eventually sold about five million copies, spurred on by some extraordinarily positive reviews. But how do you serve craftsmanship without serving the market?

Lindsey Williams Why Aren’t You Doing What You Love? If you have a truly toxic job that causes you to question your sanity: be thankful. Eventually you’ll leave that job, either because your misery will help you find the courage, or the men in little white suits will come to take you to a pleasant little asylum. Lucky you. There’s nothing so dangerous as the job that’s okay . The job where the irritation and inefficiency are broken here and there by a potentially exciting new project or a conversation with a co-worker that kickstarts your imagination again. But deep down, you’re afraid — maybe this is as good as it gets. So you tune out all that snake oil talk about finding your passion and working your ideal job. And at some point, you realize a person who lives for two days a week has reduced their enjoyable life span by over 70% . The working dead Last year an article in The New York Times reported only 45% of U.S. workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61% in 1987. Not that long ago, I was one of those people. It’s hard.

Simon Peter versus Simon the Sorcerer This is a great expose by the late Dr. E.L. Martin. It documents the true history of the Samaritans, the meaning of the word "peter" in the ancient world and the "church" that was established at Rome by Simon the Sorcerer. "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. Right from the very beginning, Satan had his counterfeit "messiah" operating right in the true Messiah's backyard. Simon believed and was baptized. From Simon Magus we get the word simony which means to buy a religious office with money. After his encounter with St. As in the case of Patrick and Palladius, the arch-fiend Satan took advantage of the similarities of the names to supplant one with the other. "To hell with you and your money . . . for trying to buy the gift of God......." And why not?

10 Books Every Entrepreneur Must Read From 2010 | Under30CEO Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? – Seth Godin There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there’s a third team, the linchpins. Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose – Tony Hsieh * Pay brand-new employees $2,000 to quit * Make customer service the responsibility of the entire company-not just a department * Focus on company culture as the #1 priority * Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business * Help employees grow-both personally and professionally * Seek to change the world *Oh, and make money too . . . Sound crazy? In DELIVERING HAPPINESS, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business, through LinkExchange, Zappos, and more. Rework – Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business.

Helping Intrapreneurs Break Free Of The Sustainability "Ghetto" We love stories of entrepreneurs who have defied convention to build new businesses. But change doesn’t just come from the outside. Some of the best ideas are developed by “intrapreneurs” at big, established companies. Nancy McGaw, deputy director of the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, says it’s vital that we get behind these insiders if we’re going to “integrate profitability and social and environmental value.” So, three years ago, she helped set up Aspen’s First Movers program to train, recognize, and support individuals doing interesting things. Co.Exist spoke to three participants--one current, and two from last year’s program--about their experiences. Rahul Raj, Walmart.com Raj has developed an electronics trade-in program at Walmart.com. The idea is to create a secondary market for electronics, put money in people’s pockets, and divert waste from the landfill. Before he joined Walmart, Raj says the scheme was an “orphan” that “wasn’t reaching its potential."

9 Steps To Quitting Your “Have To Have" Job And Pursuing Your Dream Fast Company wants you to have your best year yet in 2012; click for more advice and tips on how to work smarter, manage your career, and lead a more meaningful life. How many of us have dreamed of leaving our current jobs to do what we really want to do? And yet, not many of us have actually left the safety of what we do daily unless forced out by layoffs and downsizing. Why is that? We haven’t taken the time to identify a vocation that would serve our passion.We lack a plan to make a successful exit.We are paralyzed by a combination of our workload, fear of leaving the world we know, and concern about how we will do financially. I’d like to share the concrete steps you need to take before you make your move. 1) Make time for your passion. I have always enjoyed learning and its flip side, sharing what I know with others. If you don’t know your passion, a book such as Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurence G. 2) Expand your network outside your company. 6) Plan ahead.

Five Lessons To Do What You Love...And Succeed Richard Tait.JPG" alt="" width="300" height="400" />Entrepreneurs come from all over the world, but most share an innate passion for questioning the constraints of ideology and discipline, and identifying practical solutions to problems by combining ingenuity, resourcefulness, and dogged determination. You Never Know Where a Good Idea Is Going to Come From. I'm fascinated by the different types of people I meet in the world and the way their personalities show in what they do. People with passion, energy, ideas, and an unquenchable thirst for life inspire me the most. I’m fueled by their energy, fascinated by their ideas, and inspired by the way they live life to its fullest. While working with Starbucks, I had the lifelong pleasure of meeting a man with more energy and verve for life than an army of optimists. Start Young and Dream Big. Richard has been a self-described entrepreneur since he was 4, selling fish door-to-door in his native Scotland. Boredom Can Be a Great Motivator.

The 6 Near-Fatal Mistakes We Made In Year One, And How We Built A Company Anyway Launching a startup is like firing off a rocket ship, then trying to hold it together with duct tape. Simply surviving feels like success. The goal, in fact, of most new enterprises is to hang in until a scalable, repeatable, or comfortable path is found. Celebrated entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen calls this “product/market” fit. In our quest for escape velocity, my startup, Contently, nearly exploded on a dozen occasions. Looking back on that first year with a mix of pride and regret, I realize our blunders helped us mature as entrepreneurs. 1. “Great idea! 2 weeks later: "It’s not quite ready for scale. 3 weeks later: "Well... no one’s using it... maybe if we built this feature to go with it..." Sound familiar? We spent valuable cycles building elaborate certification systems and style guide generators for our publishing clients, when in reality all we needed was to ask users what they wanted. 2. The problem was twofold. 3. 4. This was killing our progress. 5. 6. Related:

Lola Olley: Work Experience Revisited There's something to be said of those who go a bit unconventional and jump off that traditional corporate employee path. What makes a person leave something familiar to go to something uncertain? How many people are actually employed doing something they feel like they were born to do? These are all questions without easy answers. Amy Hilliard, former Fortune 500 vice president of marketing, current founder and CEO of the Comfort Cake Company and author, can say that she is one of those people following her dream. After decades in corporate America, Hilliard, a Harvard MBA, says she knew when it was time for her to start her own company. "It was an internal decision. Much like many entrepreneurs today, it was hard for Hilliard to find financing for her business through more traditional channels. "I wanted my kids to learn that you can evolve. So far, the risk has paid off. Hilliard is currently in the first phase of an agreement to distribute her cakes to Wal-Mart stores.

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