“(My mother) always believed that a career in the arts was a noble profession. And that was a very rare view.” These are the words of the Pixar legend (Monsters Inc.., The Incredibles, Everything is upside downetc.) John Lasseter in Fast Company in 2013.
For a young person in 2024, Lasseter’s observation about his mother might be a bit confusing. What kind of parent would break a child’s spirit with negative comments about his professional passion?
That’s a fair question, but the answer to it reveals a lot about the age of the person answering it. For obvious reasons.
For a long time, a career in the arts (whether film, music or acting) was something for dreamers. And unrealistic ones at that. Then it was the parents’ job to bring reason to unreasonable thoughts. And it wasn’t just the parents.
Does anyone remember the movie Gosford Parkand the question to the successful actor, what would he do if he stopped acting? The implicit point of the question was that acting is not a career, but rather a phase that would be followed by serious work.
What’s remarkable about this view is that it’s still relevant today. Consider President Biden’s unconstitutional decision to forgive student debt and the response from his critics. Rather than simply pointing out the obvious, namely that Biden’s actions are unconstitutional and just plain wrong (someone will have to pay the debt), some critics have pointed out that Biden is subsidizing the bad decisions of “art history” and similar programs that have no practical application in the “real world.” Such views seem hard to shake.
Especially for older people, the idea of majoring in art history or art in general is the stuff of dubious people who lack ambition, direction or both. Don’t you know, art is a hobby as opposed to a living. Go to college and study business, law, or medicine to mentally prepare yourself for a time when hobbies are put aside in favor of real work required to support the family. That’s an outdated perception, and it’s getting more outdated by the day.
The reason for this is the automation not only of production but of thought itself. The ongoing advances in both areas will destroy all kinds of jobs (high and low level jobs) that were formerly done by humans. And of the jobs that are not destroyed by the advances, the same advances will destroy all kinds of work that formerly had to be done by humans.
The mass elimination of the work of the past will logically set the stage for booming growth that will make the present seem very primitive by comparison. Why this confidence? It’s simple. Just as the division of labor among humans leads to enormous bursts of productivity due to specialization, so too will the division of labor with increasingly sophisticated machines increase our productivity and capabilities in ways previously barely imagined.
Exceptional wealth will be one of the many benefits of more automated production and thinking, and from this will emerge all sorts of jobs that were never work before. We’re already seeing this with people being paid very well to upload their nightly bedtime routines to YouTube or their skills at video games, not to mention the growth of “sorority counselor” as a well-paying profession. Tomorrow’s work will be an expression of passion, period.
This means that no field of study or ambition will be without practical market application. And as for the mother of the great John Lasseter, she will rightly be considered way ahead of her time for embracing what we will all soon embrace, including older people who mistakenly believe that “these children of today” are headed for menial jobs.
