Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC
Learning English. I'm Neil.
And I'm Beth.
Smell-o-vision, a television, which allows you
to smell things as well as see them; and a miracle pill
which cures all diseases. These predictions for the future
were made in the 1930s, but so far they haven't come true.
Making predictions for the future isn't easy. Just ask tech billionaire
Elon Musk, who recently predicted that artificial intelligence
will eventually mean that no one will have to
work. In fact, there have been many predictions
about the future of work. For example, that robots will take over most jobs,
and that everyone will work from home. During Covid, one of these predictions came true. Millions were forced to work
from home. So, what will work be
like in the future? That's what we'll be discussing
in this programme and, as usual, we'll be learning
some useful new vocabulary too. But first I have a question
for you, Beth. Another idea for the future is the
'four-day working week' where employees work four days for the
same money as five. After Covid, many British companies gave
the idea a go, but out of the 60 companies taking
part in a four-day working week trial in 2023, how many said they plan to continue
with a shorter work week? Was it: a) 52%?,
b) 72%? or c) 92%?
Hmm, I guess 52% of the company's
plan to continue with a four day week. OK, Beth. I'll
reveal the answer later in the programme. Now, whatever Elon Musk thinks,
as we've seen, it's difficult to make
your predictions accurate. Here Shaun Ley, presenter of BBC World Service programme,
The Real Story, asking University of Cambridge
professor, Brendan Burchell, what he thinks about predictions
for the future of work: Brendan Burchell, when you look at all the predictions
that have been made, certainly in your working lifetime,
do you take some of the things that are being predicted
now with a large pinch of salt? I do. I think we have to be sceptical.
I think the track record for economists and other social scientists
isn't good when we look… you know, for hundreds
of years, a hundred years now, people have been predicting that they'll be really quite
dramatic reductions in working time, like Elon Musk has just made,
and previously those predictions - although we're heading very gradually
in that direction - those predictions of very,
very large changes in working time just haven't come to pass. Shaun asks if we should
take predictions with a pinch of salt. To
take something with a pinch of salt is an idiom meaning to doubt that
what you've been told is accurate or likely to come true. For example,
if your friend always lies, you take what they say
with a pinch of salt. Professor Burchell
thinks predictions for the future of work have a bad track record. A track
record means all the achievements or failures that someone has had
in the past. When it comes to predicting the future of work, most predictions simply haven't come
to pass, an old-fashioned way of saying saying ‘happened’
or ‘come true’. So, are predictions for a future
of leisure, relaxing by the pool while robots do all the work just a dream? Let's hear from Andrew Palmer, business editor for The Economist
magazine, talking to BBC World Service programme, The Real Story: I'm not a tech dystopian, I don't think that machines or AI
are going to get rid of all jobs, but I do worry about
a sequencing risk. So, there will be
some disruption from AI. Some jobs, some professions are at risk. And, although economists like to
say new jobs will crop up, they won't necessarily be aligned
at the same time – there won't be
coordination. Andrew is not a dystopian, someone
who imagines a nightmarish future of suffering and injustice.
He doesn't think AI will get rid of all jobs. To get
rid of something means to remove it because you no longer want it. Andrew predicts that AI
Will replace some jobs, and those workers
will need support, but he also thinks
new jobs will crop up, they will appear unexpectedly. And
that's exactly the problem – the future is hard to predict
because it's so unexpected! Anyway, I reckon
a shorter working week is something we can all agree on,
right Neil? Absolutely. I think it's time to reveal
the answer to my question about the 60 companies trying out a shorter
working week in 2023. I asked how many of them planned
to continue a four-day week at the end of the trials.
And I guessed 52%. So, was I right?
That was...the wrong answer, I'm afraid, Beth! Actually,
a whopping 92% of the companies plan on keeping a four-day week because it was so popular,
with bosses as well as workers! Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme,
starting with the idiom take it with a pinch of salt, meaning don't completely believe
what you're told is true. A track record means
the achievements or failures of
someone's past performance. Come to pass is an old-fashioned way
of saying take place or happen. A dystopian is someone who foresees
a nightmarish future where there's great suffering
and injustice in society. If you get rid of something,
you remove something that you no longer want.
And finally if something crops up, it appears or happens unexpectedly. Once again
our six minutes are up. Join us again soon for more trending
topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now! Goodbye!