More than 70% of 10,000 people surveyed would accept mental or physical augmentation if it made them better at their job, according to PwC's Jon Williams. 

The Managing Partner of PwC's People Business opened IPWEA's International Public Works Conference in Perth with a thought provoking discussion on the future of work, addressing how computer technology will change the very idea of what constitutes work. 

Williams took delegates through the five stages of human work: domestication, industrialisation, robotisation, digitisation – and now augmentation. 

In a survey of 10,000 people across India, China, the US, the UK and Germany, Williams said the vast majority would be willing to undergo augmentation to be better workers. 

"We think most people would accept it once that reality becomes possible," Williams said, pointing out that low-levels versions of this were already being used, such as RFID chips being inserted into people's hands. 

The next stage of human work will either be integration, where humans start to fully integrate with computers, or substitution, where computers completely replace humans. 

Williams did however make the caveat that: "I don’t know what the future of work is going to look like, and I could contend no one knows what the future of work is going to look like." 

However, he did make a number of predictions, such as the loss of many white collar jobs that require repetition, and the rise of 'empathetic' roles that robots aren't able to replicate. 

"Over the next 10 years a large proportion of white collar jobs will go that are repetitive, because machines will do them better and faster," Williams said. 

"We need to value those skills that robots haven’t yet mastered: intuition, empathy, innovation, creativity.

"You don’t need the cognitive skills of a doctor, you need the empathy skills of a nurse." 

He also predicted that the apprenticeship model would eventually disappear, as robots replaced lower-level positions involving tasks such as research and background analysis. 

"You won’t need a bunch of juniors to run the numbers, do the basics, because machines will do that. So that whole career path my disappear," he said. 

He also stressed that life-long training and study will become the new norm, as people adapt to the new futures ahead. 

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom: history has shown that humans are superb at adapting to different environments. 

"Every previous time this sort of thing has happened, humans have found a way to keep themselves busy and contribute," Williams said. 

The IPWEA International Public Works Conference is running August 20-23 in Perth. To see photos from the conference, visit IPWEA's Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/ipwea/