I'm just saddened by the prospect that, for me, "adapting to change" would mean "no longer being able to make a living doing what I actually enjoy". that's why if this is the future, it's a career-killing one for me. Whether or not I stay in the industry, there is no future in my chosen career path, and the alternative paths that people keep bringing up all sound pretty terrible to me.
My only hope is that AI will not achieve the heights that its proponents are trying to reach (I suspect this is the case). I see no other good outcome for me.
Many people suffer through bullshit jobs[1] so we are privileged to have - at least for a time - done what we really enjoy and got paid for it.
[1] David Graeber father of the term "bullshit jobs"
Ok and? You don’t think any of the others put out of their work by other forms of computing like you might’ve enjoyed their jobs? You don’t think it might have been career ending for them?
That was 1968. Plus ca change...
Like the allied bomber pilots in WWII looking down below at the firestorm knowing that there is a good chance (~45%) that they too will join their fate only later.
For most developers this will not be true. Most apps, websites, compilers, desktop software etc. will not have put anyone out of a job. I certainly never ever put someone out of a job. I made some peoples live easier, but their total working hours didn't shorten and they certainly did not change profession or were replaced. In fact the majority of tasks that my software was applied to would simply have been deemed impossible to do and not have been done and that would have been all there was to it.
I'm sure they all found new jobs but it did make me think about the consequence of my work.
Other projects involved making freemium games more addictive to suck people into paying. Of course everyone has a choice but playing on people's addictions to make money is an questionable morality.
Unfortunately technology benefits only the 1% in our current society, and job loss is a bad thing (it should not be!)
Being a human, I realise that I as a developer have put a lot of people out of a job. Those folks have had to adapt to that change.
I guess now it's our time to adapt to change. At least it keeps me on my feet!