Companies constantly seek ways to 'dumb down' the workplace. Why? They want a job simple to train employees for, thus making it easy to replace said employee. There are reasons for this - companies don't want to be at the mercy of highly-trained, key employees and their unions; lower skill requirement means lower pay; once the job is simple enough it can taken overseas, or even automated.
But there's always a tradeoff. Manufacturing companies can lose and sales, service companies lose customers, and everyone wants to buy American. What is a greedy, soulless corporation to do? Turn workers into robots. Literally.
Science and medicine are making stunning progress in 'curing' paralyzation. Soon, perhaps within 5 or 10 years, paraplegics with implants will walk, muscles moving normally at the command of their brain via a computer interface. Not long after that computers, sensors, and muscle activators will be able to control any part of the human body with a thought.
And not too long after that, we might see healthy people allowing themselves to be fitted with this technology just to have a job. Imagine; no skill or training required, just plug in, get put to sleep so as not to interfere with the program, and let the company computer take control.
The employee would get a steady paycheck and a multi-year contract, no education needed. The company gets a cheap worker that can't waste time, can't cause trouble, can't talk back, and can't walk out until the shift is over. The employee doesn't have to bear the drudgery of boring, repetative tasks and the company gets 8 hours of consistent, error-free work.
It will be the age of paycheck zombies.
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