It's kind of strange and sad to find out you can be replaced by technology.
Before becoming a journalist and writer, I paid my way through university by working shifts at a large record store.
When I started at the store (and to date myself), there were actual records - as in vinyl that round black stuff - being sold at the record store. The compact disc (CD) was just being released by certain companies and mostly just for classical recordings and I had long, hippy hair down to my shoulders.
I really enjoyed working with the public, and loved helping people discover new artists and music of every genre.
I think that's also where I started to take a general dislike for the public too, because there's only so many times in a day you can be asked, "Do you know that song where they say 'love' in it? It's by that popular singer " before you strangle somebody with your name-tag lanyard.
As much as I enjoyed being appreciated for my musical knowledge, some customers didn't really give you much to go on.
"It's that new one by the black singer."
"Can you get me the record of that girl who sings?"
And my personal favourite: "I don't know the name of the song, the artist, or whether it's a boy or a girl singing but I just heard it on the radio. Can you find it for me?"
There was also the one woman who asked me if we kept The Beatles records classified under "P" or "W." But I just backed away without saying a word and went on an unscheduled break.
But, recently, I was back in Montreal on a holiday, and caught up with a few friends and cohorts from the old record store days to reminisce and quaff a pint or two at the old watering hole.
As we sat there enjoying the reunion, I heard a song playing in the bar that I'd not heard before - some upbeat alt-country tune - and asked if anyone knew the artist or song.
Nobody knew the band, so I whipped out my trusty and beloved iPhone, tapped on the Shazam application I had installed and, in about five seconds, I had the name of the band, song, album and even a link to buy and download it right away.
It's a pretty amazing app, actually.
No matter where you are - a shopping mall, bar, or at home listening to the television - Shazam picks up the song playing and tells you everything you need to know in a flash.
Someone else at the table then searched the band through Google on their phone and read us the Wikipedia entry.
We talked about how we all bought our music online through iTunes or similar services now.
There was a long moment where everyone kind of half-smiled and looked around at each other. Then somebody said, "Well, they don't need people like us anymore."
Luckily, we all found careers elsewhere, but still it could happen again.
This week, IBM announced it had created a chip designed to imitate the human brain's ability to understand its surroundings, act on things that happen around it and make sense of complex data.
This new generation of so-called cognitive computers actually learns from experiences and forms its own theories about what those experiences mean.
That seems like we're now just a short jump away from a computer that could possibly, say, write a 600-word sometimes-pithy column on technology.
Crap.
I better start looking for a new career again.
