Dead professions
I hold every man a debtor to his profession. | Francis Bacon
.
Empires fall. Civilizations sink. Professions die. But let’s leave Atlántidas to the politicians, historicists and other prostituted types of activities. Let’s keep it professional…
Practically any profession is doomed. It doesn’t matter how practical, how important or how vital for the society that profession is. Basically any profession sooner or later will be dead. The only question is when.
In the past there were many professions that everyday life was unimaginable without… I am not talking about some exotic occupations. Those were jobs characterizing a fundamental nature of the social order.
.
A blacksmith, a tinker, a toy-maker, a dairymaid, a weaver, a broom-maker…
All these amazingly useful craftsmen & women are gone. Nowadays we don’t ride horses and we’re buying “Made in China” t-shirts a bit more often than hand-weaved opera-cloaks… Today you read about these profession in Wikipedia only… Or you can go to some really cool Museums (such as Toronto Black Creek Pioneer Village where I took all these funky pictures), there you can watch a live imitation of that wonderful world of arts and crafts which is lost forever.
Whether we like it or not blacksmith can’t fix an iPad, and we clean our houses with the sophisticated machinery rather than with the broom… Times have changed.
.
Why I’m telling you all these sentimental banalities (besides of my obvious desire to show-off the shots from the trip)?
Please re-read my first sentence. “Practically any profession is doomed”. I said “practically” because out of all professions there are 3 that will never die. Of course, as time goes by, their visual appearance will be different along with the technical means and methods… But the core essence will remain the same: people always will need to be healed, taught and protected. That’s why doctors, teachers and architects are always going to be around.
Teachers, doctors and architects don’t do business. They provide humanity with the services that allow people to live regardless of the dying civilizations or falling empires. Teachers, doctors and architects guarantee continuity of the mankind, therefore a funny expression that architects are “playing Gods” isn’t so funny, actually.
You can live without an iPad or a vacuum-cleaner. You can even live without Wall Street financial system and without the oil supply from the Middle East. (I know they tell us differently. They lie! Yes, you can.) But you can’t live without a roof above your head, without being able to transfer your knowledge to your child, without good health… You can’t!
I am an architect. So I’ll speak to the architects. (Although I suspect this is somehow might be relevant for teachers and doctors as well).
Colleagues, don’t worry about the low salary, disrespect from the clients and poor business numbers. We don’t do it for fame and money. Some people are chosen to make a lot of money, another are chosen to sell crap…oops, sorry gadgets… to the masses… We are different. We have a mission. We are chosen to be Gods. It’s not easy and apparently not that profitable. Yet in return we are going to live forever. ‘Cause trust me in another 100 or so years people will read about investment-bankers, IT-programmers and i-Pad makers in Wikipedia only… If there will be a Wikipedia.
.
Archi Alternative 
This guys is full of himself. I am a technology engineer, and a spiritual believer in Jesus Christ. Yes, you can live without techo gadgets, but this world has transformed. It will never go back. We as people are the chosen generation, to be kings under our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, whom which was brought to us by his father, the almight GOD.
See… here’s “da thing”. You are a believer – I’m a radical agnostic full of heresy. You are “DaTruth” – I am a liar. You are a Saint, I am a Devil.
And yet it’s so much cooler to be me – a philosophical sinner.
I am not going to turn this into a religious debate. Religion has killed more people than any disease or war on this planet. If you are happy with your deity or invisible man, an animal, or some alien in the sky with a bunch of folk stories derived from a mad libs book so be it. I honestly don’t care what cult you may prefer and I don’t down people for it. I simply respect people’s right to believe in what they want as long as they do not infringe upon someone else’s right to do the same. It would be nice if more people were logical and scientific about what they believe in but that’s yet another topic of discussion.
Topic related:
I would like to add architects the list of professions that may no longer be needed or possibly dying. When all accountability is handed away to someone else, all knowledge based information pertaining to the construction of a building is required to be known by someone else, and work developing the building is applied by someone else this leaves the architect as an unnecessary person to hire in the process of developing a building design. This is what happens when people can’t readily identify why they should hire an architect. This is unlike hiring an electrical engineer or a civil engineer or a structural engineer. People know why they need these engineers, what they are accountable for, what they are liable for, what to expect and what services they are paying for. I would also like to add these seals and signatures are required for every building project unlike an architect’s seal and signature.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of sad truth in your words, Chris…
On the other hand, that pure technical knowledge (structural loads, mechanical equipment, etc.) does not provide us with the ultimate definition of the building project. “Built environment” is much more than a calculated engineering solution, which delivers scientific answer to the functional or commercial requirements.
Deluded!
i love your ideology. still, we’re not exactly building parthenons anymore are we … aren’t most of the things designed these days taken down just as fast in order to make room for bigger and better buildings? with the exception of buildings like the Louvre and the Sydney Opera House, the vast majority of architects will not acheive immortality… and if it were any easier to produce buildings like these, what would be the point in preserving them? its a narrow path to architectural immortality, and widening it would undermine the destination. ironic.
This is just what I needed to read right now. My parents are constantly worrying about my future as an architect, well, my future in general. As sweet as they are delivered, their concerned words terrify me. I’m still undergrad so this is basically the phase of options. Logic says choose something guaranteed but my fibers say F the rules. I figure I’ll work hard to get where I want. And if that isn’t enough, I guess I’ll just work harder. Aw, that’s corny.. but yeah. Thanks for writing this! 🙂
Work hard, move smart, be persistent, reasonable, flexible… and you will definitely achieve all your personal goals. Even if you need to fuck few rules along the way.
But you don’t have to be an architect to make a roof (if we are speaking about the life without I-phones). Just 2 hands and some materials. I should say that if you need an architect to build a roof you will definitely need an accountant. So, pls add this job to the list “immortal professions”.
I think engineers fill the role of building and making things that protect people. Most buildings that get built today are being done without an architect. Which is unfortunate….The segregation of the technical with the artistic within the profession of architecture have greatly marginalized the architect’s role. And much of it is the Architectural profession’s own doing. Contractors build without architects all the time, which again I think is to society’s detriment. but many view having an architect design to be a luxury cost, few are willing to pay for.