In just 10 years they lost their jobs...? No. The first flying drone was created in 1916 as a radio controlled weapon for for fighting balloons. I’ll spare you a history of drones- but various militaries continued to use drones for everything from weapons to recon and spy work to targets for fighter practice to even B-17 flying fortresses being converted to drones and used to monitor nuclear tests. The civilian drone market has been widely known and available since the early 2000’s when the fuzzy distinction between “drone” and “unmanned flying vehicle” began to emerge- and the spread of modern computer controlled flight aids made flying such aircraft easy for just about anyone. Helicopter camera crews also obviously are far older than 10 years old.
So it isn’t that these jobs were lost in 10 years- it’s that if we measure the time it took for many of these jobs to disappear- it took 10 years from when we started to see the technology adopted. We have the technology to replace almost any job a human does- cost, ethic or philosophical concerns- etc. are what keeps humans working those jobs. So there are some jobs which are obviously more likely to be replaced by machines in the shorter term- you never know where technology will be. Whatever you do you’re probably one breakthrough away from being less desirable than a machine- it’s just a question of wether that thing will happen now, later, or at all.
But jobs like aerial photo crew take decades to master or more. So then what do you do? Never master any skill because a machine might take it? Learn, grow, improve yourself. This is important even if you aren’t concerned about machines. As populations grow, competition for any job becomes harder, as newer generations have the advantage of spending their whole lives with technology that you didn’t get exposed to until you were older- the bar grows higher. The world moves and if you stand still- it passes you. That said- we like to think technology comes out of nowhere or strikes in “10 years” but technology is a slow march. Once not long ago- people didn’t see how amazon or Facebook could last- not all technology becomes “big” so even jumping on the bleeding edge isn’t a guarantee because being a drone expert 50 years ago wasn’t as lucrative as it would be today, and in another 50 years the world will probably be saturated by drone experts and they won’t be worth as much.
There's still a need for both cameramen and helicopter pilots.
If they lost their jobs, then simply because they stopped educating themselves. Why didn't one (caution: wild concept) learn how to operate a drone?
If they lost their jobs, then simply because they stopped educating themselves. Why didn't one (caution: wild concept) learn how to operate a drone?