Pretty soon, some lament, we won’t even need humans to do jobs. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Yes, many white- and blue-collar jobs are being taken over by increasingly sophisticated information technology. In fact, by 2100, it’s possible “that fewer than 2 percent of the U.S. non-farm work force will be needed to handle today’s know-how functions in factories, offices, stores, professional suites, hospitals, research labs and universities,” says Richard W. Samson, director of the EraNova Institute in an article published by the World Future Society.

But there is — and will be — plenty work for people who have developed skills that can’t be performed by machines. And it’s not, as you might think, just in health care.

The work is made up of a new class of jobs that involves hard-to-automate “hyper-human” skills that go beyond know-how, says Samson. And while the number of “know-how” workers is likely to plummet in the work force by the end of the century because of the increase of do-it-yourself services (ranging from pumping your own gas to filing your own will) “hyper-human” service workers may zoom to over 90 percent, he says.

To understand this, first look at what computers do so well. Computers and electronically powered systems are inherently better than we are at things like number crunching, routine logic, mass data storage and retrieval, remote sensing and control, explains Samson. But we are inherently superior in one way: We’re alive.

And “aliveness makes a big, vital difference — one that may be overlooked by decision makers under competitive pressures,” he says. Aliveness, he explains, involves conscious perception and motor control, wanting, valuing, intending, pursuing ethical objectives, love, friendliness, creativity, imagination, subjective decision making, hypothesizing and social skills. Computers can’t do these things.

Specialized Skills

These “hyper-human” skills take shape in many roles — specialized engineering, local production, artistic creation and many varieties of nurturing,” says Samson. But in the hyper-human economy we’re moving toward, they play a big role in all types of work.

For instance, someone who has the title of secretary would be an “administrative response specialist,” in the hyper-human economy, he says. So while he or she may plan and organize, highly valued skills are also “intuition about the needs of clients, anticipation of problems, creative problem solving and situation management.”

In the hyper-human economy, someone who has been a computer operator becomes a “cyber-concierge.” Skills needed and valued include technical troubleshooting, data base optimization and intuition of customers’ unarticulated problems.

Telemarketers will take on the job of “business and customer liaisons” and “marketing information coordinators” in the hyper-human economy, being skilled in psychology and having cultural understanding of customers and the ability to be persuasive.

Travel agents become “experience designers” and “travel facilitators” who can make personality and lifestyle assessments of clients and possess global geopolitical and cultural awareness.

I hear people say all the time: “I just want a job where I can stay for another 10 to 15 years.” Translation: Give me a secure place where I can apply what I know and don’t have to keep adapting.”

These workers will be left behind. As Samson points out, “know-how” will keep getting easier to store and apply through networks and automatic systems. Infiltration “of electronic methodology is widespread and relentless” and it is harder and harder to find safe havens — jobs that won’t be touched by technology.

If you want to be highly prized in your field or another, you need to not only stay on top of your specialization, but ahead of your cybercompetition. That means having a general knowledge of the world and developing these “hyper-human” skills: clear, sensible thinking, creative problem-solving, imagination, intuition and caring.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.”