I May Be Obsolete

At one time in this country, in the age of James J. Hill and the Great Northern & Northern Pacific westward expansion, railroads were a dominant industry, but their prominence faltered over time, I believe, because they defined themselves as "railroads" rather than "transportation companies", or even "land development companies". Railroads did not decline because the a need for passenger and freight transportation disappeared. Given a willingness to adapt and diversify, today you could be flying "Northern Pacific Airlines".  

When I was in college, preparing for that physics 101 class, a big decision was "Post" or "Pickett".  If you know what that's about, you are an old nerd. But if these companies had defined themselves to be in the "calculation" business, you might know who they are today.  

 

Sears & Roebuck had everything in place to become what Amazon is today. Warehouses, merchandise catalogs and distribution systems ready to migrate online. Why didn’t it happen? Complacency and unwillingness to change the business model, under the foolish assumption that continued success was assured and no competitor could possibly supplant the mighty mail-order behemoth. Well, we know how that turned out.

Change is hard. It’s far easier to keep doing things the way we always have. But the risk is to be left behind. Nothing is as constant as change.

In my lifetime I have said goodbye to: the red hymnal; collect calls; typewriters; coke bottle lenses; cameras; checks & cash (mostly); The Jolly Troll; vinyl & CDs (mostly); printed newspapers & magazines (mostly); Pong; telephone operators; hand-written letters (I mourn this); gas station attendants; human helplines; the Limbo; shyness; encyclopedias; my gallbladder; paper tickets, bills, receipts (most anything paper); airplane meals; outhouses; suits, wingtips & bow ties; hitchhiking; my baseball cards; Super Bowl hopes; my pitching arm; loved ones; TV dinners; cursive; plumbing repair attempts; my left cochlear nerve; 15 cars, a couple trucks and two houses; walking outside in Minnesota winter; riding in the back of pickups; downhill skiing; ladders; …. and (I hope) passwords and chargers will soon join that list. 

So, what’s ahead? Companies now disappear regularly. In particular, retail and restaurant chains are dropping like flies. Soon, I suspect the Mall of America will be the only surviving mall in MN and perhaps its future is an Amazon warehouse. 

What are the next casualties: Postal service? Programmers? Fiji? Miami? Stockbrokers? Radiologists? Empathy? Car steering wheels? Land lines? Printed books? Keys? Movie theaters? Credit cards? Cancer? Hard drives? The Middle Class? Cable companies? Social Security? Bowling alleys? Umpires? Privacy? Rule of Law? Most anything you can imagine AI or a robot doing? Dental drills? (I pray); 

And finally, on honest reflection, I think that me myself might be a prime candidate for the dustbin. I struggle to identify what value my declining skillset offers. Software - my Fortran/Cobol/Pascal/C++/Smalltalk/java programming abilities cannot compete with AI. Software Manager - is the SCRUM fad still in vogue? Software Architecture - anyone still on board with the GangOfFour? Math tutor anyone? Lowry niche historian? A tour guide of Twin City bike trails - in slow-mo? Cousin whisperer? Book reviewer? On-demand listener - no therapy included? A one-man medical experience advice panel? Genealogy enlightener & guide dog? Pundit wannabe? German math whiz? Household tech support analyst? Baseball nerd? Baked goods quality control engineer? Being quiet in the library?

Nothing there that isn’t yawn material, unfortunately. But I can still do a good day’s work as long as it doesn’t require too much strength or stamina .. and on condition I'm allowed a full week to do it. For the record, the list of 'able to do’s' grows shorter daily and the 'able to do well' list is now quite a short.

Ah, but there is this.

I still maintain a well developed sarcasm sense but it’s under-appreciated. 

Copyright ©  2025  Dave Hoplin