For years after college, I would occasionally dream I had forgotten to fill out some stupid form, and wasn’t going to graduate on time, if at all. It was always the same, and always awful.

Fortunately, I don’t have that particular dream any longer. Unfortunately, my current recurring nightmare is technology has made me, and everyone else for that matter, redundant, if not completely obsolete.

You only need to occasionally read the news to find articles about robots taking jobs in the future, or something along those lines. It seems like so much science fiction, until you realize this has been going on for years, in some form or fashion.

It all depends on what you consider a robot.

If your definition only includes things like Rosie from “The Jetsons,” C-3PO from “Star Wars,” or sentient cyborgs from “The Terminator” “or Blade Runner,” you probably sleep pretty soundly.

If it includes software, algorithms, smartphone applications, and even things like driverless cars and Netflix, well, I think you get the picture.

As I type, I can’t think of another time when the average American worker was as fungible as they are today. I will probably write the same thing 5 years from now, and then again in another 10.

However, I can’t imagine my column still being around much longer than that. The world is changing, and rapidly.

After all, what is really stopping Disney from releasing movie premieres directly into your home? Shoot, I can now download titles I thought were still in the theaters.

Or how about pizza delivery companies shifting to driverless cars in big, densely populated cities like New York, where they can pull straight up to the building?

That sure would cut down on liability insurance, and the potential of drivers getting lost. I mean, cold pizza is the worst, and threatens repeat business.

Do self-service kiosks at fast food restaurants, or any number of other places, seem farfetched? They shouldn’t, and will likely become reality, in a big way, if the next Administration gets a large increase in the minimum wage through the Congress.

Finally, does the country really need all these bank branches, what with employers using direct deposit for payroll, and mobile apps allowing people to do their banking when they want?

Obviously, you don’t have to strain your brain to think of a lot of examples like these, and they all have one thing in common: workers are currently providing the service, and fewer will likely be needed in the future.

So, robots? Naw, not like the ones in the movies, but robots all the same.

Don’t get me wrong.

It will be quite a while before the last human operated delivery vehicle goes to the junkyard and the last cashier at McDonald’s hangs up their apron. Further, folks aren’t going to completely stop going to the bank branch or the movie theater any time soon.

But, they eventually will, even if it is years from now.

Basically, the Doomsday forecasts of some of the articles I have read on the topic simply won’t come true, at least not immediately. However, that doesn’t mean the average American worker can be complacent. After all, they aren’t just competing with other people for their jobs, they are also competing with technology that has made any number of them redundant, including me.

I guess that is why I worry. I don’t want my nightmare to become reality without my knowing it.


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