When all those drones flock to healthcare jobs it will drive up the costs of healthcare. Then Obama II will reform it, squeeze out costs and so on. In case it hasn't dawned on you tools yet the jobs of tomorrow haven't been created yet. And when they are, salon will proclaim them evil hence a new cycle of liberal persecution complex.

You won't need people to take blood samples or tuck you in when machines are capable of doing it. You think they're not capable? They will be. Computer power continues to increase as computer costs go down. It won't be a problem to have a machine that can find a vein and take a measured sample. Probably more sanitary, too. It didn't take forever to create an automated machine to read EKG and deliver a heart-starting jolt.

I realize that there is a desperate need for Rushpublicans to blame that dark-skinned monster in the White House, but there are other forces at work - forces you can't impeach or bribe with election money.

Just as factory workers have no jobs, and just as writers will no longer be paid anything for writing, the future Doctor McDreamy will have to become Dr. McHotDog and stand on streetcorners for the rest of his life. And he, you and I will all be living in cardboard boxes if we're lucky.

Of course you might be right. I do think that a more thorough look at what are going to be the best or most secure opportunities in the next few years is in order. And once we figure out what the next good jobs are going to be, we need to find a way to keep a few of them for Americans.

Every few years a new wave of predictions about the future of labor comes along, usually by someone with a book to sell.

I was expecting to be sitting in a George Jetson chair, pushing one button and loafing all day long. But that prediction didn't pan out.

The real jobs of the future will be garbage collectors and space painters.

Ahh, such a presumption of omniscience. And precognition. Actually, the future hasn't happened yet, so predictions of states of employment years from now are about as reliable as predicting the weather.

For one thing, we may not have a future. If global warming, aka climate change, kicks into high gear, economic activity as we know it will cease. Woops. I just made a prediction. Suffice it to say that economic activity as we know it will likely cease.

I listened to "Fresh Air" on public radio today, and a scientist who researches on the oceans talked about how large international fishing entities are depleting the seas of more and more species, moving down the food chain, and changing the ecology of the oceans worldwide. Nice work, industrial revolution.

A better way of looking towards the future is of a confluence of trends. World population, now close to 7 billion people, is expected to continue to grow exponentially forever. I say forever because no one in a position of major influence ever mentions the unsustainability of infinite population growth.

In truth, unless we find a way to voluntarily reduce or population, there will likely be a massive dieoff.

As far as future jobs being focused on high-tech and person-to-person occupations, that also is hard to predict. Given other trends, it is likely that vast numbers of people will be involved as first responders of one kind or another: fire, police, sandbagging, erosion control, grave digging (emergency gravediggers), EMTs, manual electrical generation (running in big hamster-like wheels), and, of course, the military.

Also, given the confluence of trends, our reliance on gadgets and trivial electronic products is likely to transform towards more life-affirming and practical products like shovels, hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers.

Another thing the author ignores is the likelihood of social sustainability of a system that intrinsically has vast numbers of extra people. If we develop an increasing class of permanently unemployed people, the coherence of the social structure will collapse.

And one final trend surpasses all the others. That is the trend to deal with problems by creating other problems to deal with instead. The "Iraq" war is a perfect example, but the health care debate is equally proxified. Rather than actually creating a new and needed health care system, or political elites are doing what serves them: a fake reform that preserves the flow of campaign donations and corporate profits. Because of this inertia, the system will (likely) collapse of its own weight long before any of the author's predictions have a chance to take effect.

A "massive die off" is great. As long as it's not your kids, or friends, or lovers. Right?

Everything that is wrong in our collective psyche - and I mean, the anger, denial, greed - are all manifestations of nature correcting the over population. So is homosexuality, infertility, etc, etc.

And yes I agree we will see larger more serous infections down the line. Again, nature has to correct things. The one good thing that will come from all of this, (after a few hundred years) is that I think we, as a collective will realize that we are OF THE PLANET. Part of this world. Not above nature, like the judo-christain faiths teach us now.

Until we realize that balance and moderation is key to life, shit will just keep getting worse. Either way, we will be forced to deal with it all.

Now about jobs and tech. The better the technology the smaller the work force we will need. So that means our society structure has to change. Such as; if machines are producing all our food, why pay for it all? In fact, why have money at all? It won't be needed, since anything can be had easily. Maybe Star Trek will end up being right after all. ;)

One thing the a machine doesn't have is ambition. Start your own business. The idea that you can all work for government and health care is crazy. Where will the money come from? Taxing the rich? The rich can move. Also the main reason that there are so many rich in the US is because it used to be an attractive destination for business people.

Also please ignore any idiot who talks about high taxes in 1950's. Where else could you go back then other than US. The rest of the world was just getting out of colonialism and WW2. There are more options now. People with drive will leave if the grass is greener elsewhere.