Sands of time

An oval-shaped beam of light illuminated a spot on Boracay’s white sand, moving out of sight after a few beats, to be quickly replaced by another.

“Happy Hour P99,” one said. “The Wave,” came another. Brilliant promotion, I thought, as passersby paused in their steps, looked down and about — drawn not just by the club music blaring from a live DJ’s booth, but to the play of lights and words they carried.

A toddler in blue appeared, his eyes wide, looking up at the dark sky whenever the oval light disappeared. Tiny limbs moving awkwardly to the pulsing beat, he would stop when the spotlight left, look at the heavens with eyes like saucers then move with the music when the ground beneath his feet lit up anew.

The wonder in his eyes was enough to get me thinking of the planet he will inherit. What will the island be like when he grows up? In the early ‘90s when Boracay could still be called pristine, no such klieg lights marred the shore. Sarongs, puka shells and handmade bead bracelets made up the fashion statements. Food choices were more likely native, the only popular foreign one being an English bakery that served crepes, if I recall correctly.

These days, every few steps lead to a food place, a bar, a goods store, or a commercial cluster selling everything from snacks and souvenirs to beachwear and plastic toys. Hotels compete with each other with beach-facing facades, the only desirable way to face when you’re on the island.

Pretty soon, the only time you’ll feel you’re at the beach is when you’re walking by the water, where no hawkers will interrupt your every step.

Then again, changes in tourist destinations like Boracay have been far slower than the transformations brought on by artificial intelligence (AI), which one day will take over human jobs.

As Jack Kelly, senior contributor at Forbes, writes, “The specter of disruption from AI adds urgency for workers to protect themselves.”

“Estimates suggest that up to 60 percent of current jobs will require significant adaptation due to AI. Automation and intelligent systems will become an integral part of the workplace,” he adds.

Kelly suggests that “to remain competitive, invest in skills like critical thinking and digital fluency.”

Learn more and, he adds, “reinvent your career.”

There are some things AI will not be able to replicate, although with the way things are moving, one can never tell.

“As macro investor and founder of the Bridgewater hedge fund Ray Dalio warns, the economy’s future hinges on balancing AI’s power with human potential. He says those who prepare now will shape the world of tomorrow,” Kelly writes. We have, he adds, “a transformative window of 10 to 30 years for AI to reshape most jobs.”

White collar jobs will be among the first to go, experts agree, with AI taking over “repetitive tasks” like “data entry, scheduling and customer service; bookkeeping, financial modeling and basic data analysis; paralegal work, contract drafting and legal research,” and even “graphic design, copywriting and basic journalism” although “human creativity in storytelling and high art will endure longer, delaying full automation.”

By the time the boy at the beach starts worrying about jobs, AI would have already transformed the global workforce, by which time his concerns may be quite different from those of workers from everywhere this coming Labor Day, who may likely put some thought into issues of job security other than those perennial wage hike demands.