A Harris poll a few years back
reported American kids most wanted to be YouTube Stars
and Chinese kids most wanted to be Astronauts.
“Automation: Learning a Living”
is the name of
the last chapter
of McLuhan’s Understanding media.
When I think of both professions,
the youtuber and the astronaut,
I think they are the ones who most understand
Automation
and are the ones who are truly
learning a living.
The youtuber – niche and audience-focused
is producing what they are doing as they are experiencing it,
they are learning in the world.
And as they build their channel and put on their audience,
they learn what the content can become.
The astronaut – furthest out and supported by hundreds of teams,
is experiencing space in a new way for everyone,
they are learning beyond the world.
As they explore and act on behalf of a greater mission,
they learn where our knowledge can go.
Human jobs won’t be eliminated by automation,
rather time and space aren’t as 1:1 as they were in the machine age.
The youth, all over the world, get this.
As McLuhan says, they live Mythically.
They see the complex interplay as a whole and get it.
Let’s be astronauts and youtubers –
or at least something we’re learning and having the time of our lives.