I take your point about the myopia in this article, but as humans, we spend all day extrapolating on the limited information we see. We cross the street on the

I take your point about the myopia in this article, but as humans, we spend all day extrapolating on the limited information we see. We cross the street on the assumption that no rock will fall out of the sky and hit us. Do we know there isn't a rock flying in at that moment? No, but we weren't hit in the entire lifetime preceding that moment. So we cross the street. Or another example: It's 2007 and my home's value is double what it was last year. And it's been that way for the past few years. Of course it will continue this way forever. And so on. We can only consider the variables we are able to account for. You can't go into a state of inaction because you haven't considered all of the variables. You'll never do anything if that were the case. Articles of this nature help to illustrate that the problem exists. Before we can focus on the "transition" support, we have to acknowledge and agree that there is, in fact, a problem. You might know there is an impending shift because we witness it (and create it) within the tech bubble, but the world at large is just coming to learn that change is coming. Kiosks at the movie theater are a natural extension of existing technology. It doesn't change the world. It's part of the process, but it's so minute that we don't consider there used to be 3 ticket sellers where there is only one now. It's the slow burn of progress before the inevitable shift that will come quickly and won't be entirely understood until after the fact. And as you said, we don't know what is coming, exactly, so how can we describe the solutions now? Truthfully, from your example, I take it to mean that you are facing the same problem every employer has: finding skilled labor. It's the case now and it will be the case in the future. These are the inefficiencies of a market-based economy. They present opportunities for those who can capitalize on them. Those plumbers should be charging more.