The writer is Nokia’s chief technology officer and president of Nokia Bell Labs
To understand the future of work we must look to our past. In 1807, London’s Pall Mall became the first street in the world to be illuminated by gas light. Soon there were tens of thousands of gas-powered streetlamps across the city, creating thousands of new jobs for lamplighters.
But by the end of the 19th century, cities across the world were embracing the electric streetlamp. This safer, cheaper and more energy-efficient technology removed the need for lamplighters but it created jobs requiring new skills: installing, repairing, maintaining and managing streetlamps and the networks to power them.