Letters

With reference to last week’s Youth Talk column by Saamia Zia. I couldn’t help but sympathise with her anxiety over the prospects for the next generation of workers facing a robotic challenge for jobs.

Time magazine recently highlighted how Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking all had something in common: all three have gone on the record sharing their concerns and fears about artificial intelligence.

While these technologies hold a great deal of promise, and will have a real impact on our future, it’s important to understand the ramifications they could have for all of us, particularly in terms of labour.

However, fears of a coming robot apocalypse are being wildly overblown, according to Constance Hunter, chief economist at KPMG and last week’s guest on Masters in Business, reported Bloomberg.

Hunter pointed out a tendency to ignore the many new jobs that are being created in technology, a pattern that is likely to last for decades. She also highlighted the backlog of unfilled high-paying technical jobs. Not only were new jobs being created, but they were better-paying and more fulfilling than the repetitive, low-skill, low-wage jobs that were being destroyed, she claimed.

Whoever is right, I’m just glad I’m not a teenager. The best of luck to Saamia and her classmates … and roll on retirement!

J. Paine, Saar.

It was such a marvellous experience to see young Bahrainis pool their talent and energy to make the recent StrEAT festival such a success.

I happened to visit this great event on February 3 at Al-Marassi Beach in Diyar Al Muharraq and truly appreciated the energy and excitement at every nook and corner.

The young people involved used every ounce of energy to make the festival memorable. Well done young ones and keep your spirits high. We will be back again next year!

Aloma Jayasundera

Editor’s note: The StrEAT Food Festival featured more than 30 unique food vendors, live stage performances and family activities, with the aim of raising money to help vulnerable communities.