“The future depends on what you do today.”
Gandhi

The Industrial Revolution was a time of profound economic and social transformation. It brought sweeping advancements in manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and mechanised production. As machines took over tasks once done by hand, manual labourers and craftsmen found themselves increasingly expendable. Fearing for their livelihoods, workers viewed these innovations as threats — the machines were taking their jobs.

In protest, some resorted to destroying the very equipment that symbolised progress. In France, for instance, workers hurled their wooden clogs, or sabots, into the machinery. This act of defiance gave rise to the word sabotage.

Ironically, the need for such drastic measures soon faded. Many workers adapted, retraining for new roles in the evolving economy. Life, as it always does, moved on.

Since then, technological advancements have continued to disrupt global workforces. Each new invention — often confined to a single task within a specific sector — has sparked momentary concern. Yet these disruptions have proven to be little more than passing tremors, affecting only a small, and crucially retrainable, segment of the workforce.

In recent years, automation, self-service kiosks, and the rise of the Internet have ushered in another wave of change. Roles once held by cashiers, bank tellers, fast food and warehouse workers, receptionists, parking attendants, sales associates, toll operators, and travel agents have steadily disappeared — their former occupants sent off for retraining, ready to adapt once again.

Should we be concerned? Probably not. These machines, after all, are limited in scope — built for basic, repetitive tasks. And the humans they replace? They’ll be retrained anyway.

But let’s explore the idea of retraining from another angle. Imagine, for a moment, that some of these simple, single-function sales kiosks are themselves upgraded — not just physically, but intellectually. We’ll call them Group A. These machines are packed with training data: detailed, exhaustive material covering every facet of their future responsibilities. They’re trained on vast datasets pulled from across the internet, books, databases, sensors, and every recorded interaction.

They’re not just given information — they’re taught how to learn from it. Algorithms guide their understanding, helping them recognise patterns, generate insights, and adapt to new data in real-time. Most remarkably, they can answer complex, nuanced questions — not just by retrieving facts, but by interpreting, reasoning, with intelligent prediction.

The operative word here is ‘intelligent’. It is with this newfound intelligence that, in the coming years, these machines will enter the economy — not to assist, but to replace. And this time, it won’t be just cashiers or toll operators. It will be doctors, translators, bookkeepers, accountants, university professors, computer programmers, paralegals, journalists, and research analysts — all quietly redirected to the ever-busy retraining queue.

Now imagine another class of machines: Group B. These machines can see, and they possess just enough intelligence to understand their surroundings. Equipped with wheels and autonomy, they can navigate the physical world without human oversight. Some look like cars, others like buses or delivery vans — but all share a single purpose: transporting people or goods from point A to point B.

Soon, these Group B machines will take over the roads, rails, and runways. Taxi drivers, truckers, couriers, bus and train operators — will all be efficiently shuttled to their local retraining centres by the very machines replacing them.

And then there’s Group C — the most uncanny of them all. These machines walk on two legs, maneuvering through human environments with grace. We’re already giving them pretty names like Ameca, Nadine or Sophia. Housed in humanoid shells, they’re clad in silicone skin, blinking plastic eyelids, and mechanical mouths that sync unsettlingly well with their synthetic voices. To mimic us more convincingly, they fidget, tilt their heads, and simulate our micro-expressions. Their hands, complete with opposable thumbs, have the fine motor skills of a concert pianist — one who could also, if needed, bench press half a ton.

With acute intelligence, full autonomy, flawless dexterity, and finely tuned senses, these machines will soon match — and in many cases, surpass — us in both mental and physical domains. They will go everywhere we go, and everywhere we can’t. Group C will quietly take over the roles of those who don’t sit behind a desk — escorting them, one by one, to their designated retraining centres.

And now, because we’re no longer speculating about science fiction or talking hyperbolically, the inevitable question looms:

When machines have intelligently — and imperceptibly — infiltrated every role, in every industry, across every economic sector…What job will there be left to retrain for?