Extreme longevity:

Increasing global lifespans change the nature of careers

and learning

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rise of smart machines

And systems:

Workplace automation nudges human workers out of rote, repetitive tasks

It is estimated that by 2025, the number of Americans over 60 will increase by 70%. Over the next decade we will see the challenge of an aging population come to the fore. New perceptions of what it means to age, as well as the emerg- ing possibilities for realistic, healthy life-extension, will begin take hold.

Individuals will need to rearrange their approach to their careers, family life, and education to accommodate this de- mographic shift. Increasingly, people will work long past 65 in order to have adequate resources for retirement. Multiple careers will be commonplace and lifelong learning to pre- pare for occupational change will see major growth. To take advantage of this well-experienced and still vital workforce, organizations will have to rethink the traditional career paths in organizations, creating more diversity and flexibility.

Aging individuals will increasingly demand opportunities, products, and medical services to accommodate more healthy and active senior years. As we move toward to a world of healthier lifestyles and holistic approaches to what we eat, how we work, and where we live, much of daily life—and the global economy as a whole—will be viewed through the lens of health.

We are on the cusp of a major transformation in our relationships with our tools. Over the next decade, new smart machines will enter offices, factories, and homes

in numbers we have never seen before. They will become integral to production, teaching, combat, medicine, security, and virtually every domain of our lives. As these machines replace humans in some tasks, and augment them in others, their largest impact may be less obvious: their very presence among us will force us to confront important questions.

What are humans uniquely good at? What is our compara- tive advantage? And what is our place alongside these machines? We will have to rethink the content of our work and our work processes in response.

In some areas, a new generation of automated systems will replace humans, freeing us up to do the things we are good at and actually enjoy. In other domains, the machines will become our collaborators, augmenting our own skills and abilities. Smart machines will also establish new expecta- tions and standards of performance. Of course, some rou- tine jobs will be taken over by machines—this has already happened and will continue. But the real power in robotics technologies lies in their ability to augment and extend

our own capabilities. We will be entering into a new kind of partnership with machines that will build on our mutual strengths, resulting in a new level of human-machine col- laboration and codependence.

S I x d R I v e R S o F C h A n G e

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