Pinsetters.
There is more and more talk about the possibility of artificial intelligence (AI) coming to eliminate entire professions, but history shows that this would not be the first time that the economy has “erased” entire occupations.
The rapid and disruptive evolution of Artificial Intelligence in recent years has raised strong concerns about the future of the job market, following warnings that millions of jobs will be lost, and some professions will even be lost.
Mass industrialization and technological modernization had already transformed or rendered unrecognizable many jobs that, for decades or centuries, were indispensable to everyday life.
Eis 20 professions that have been lost to timeaccording to .
1. Human alarm clock
It gained popularity in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the early 19th century, but has since disappeared. Like ZAP before, the knocker-up was paid to knock on the window at the agreed time of whoever hired him. He was going to work with a bamboo pole long enough to reach the upper floors, or, in some accounts, with projectiles as small as peas.
The question remains: who set the human alarm clock?
2. Ice Cutter
In the 19th century, before cold was “made” at home, ice was harvested from lakes and rivers, cut into blocks and transported in large quantities. Large teams were able to remove thousands of tons in a single day.
To preserve it and delay the thaw, they used, for example, sawdust and loose snow. The ice was sent by train to other regions.
In the United States, the industry employed tens of thousands of people. The generalization of the refrigerator and freezer, already in the middle of the 20th century, made this honest work obsolete.
3. Pinsetter
At bowling alleys, the task of replacing pins after each bowl was, for decades, done by young people hired for this purpose: pinsetters. It was only after 1936 that the game gained the fluidity known today, thanks to the invention of mechanical replacement systems.
Even so, for some time, assistants were still needed to clean and repair jams.
4. Badger
The badger—a term used mainly in Britain and which, in certain areas, survived in America until the Civil War—was the middleman who bought produce from the farmer, took it to market, and then sold it to the public.
The origin of the English expression “to badger” (to insist, to pester) is associated by linguists with the commercial aggressiveness of these sellers, although an etymological connection to “bagger”, someone who carries bags, is also admitted.
5. Leech Collector
Leech collectors collected these animals for bloodletting treatments, at the time seen as a way to expel “humors” responsible for diseases.
The practice was common in Europe and America, and reached industrial scales: there are records of consumption of tens of millions of leeches in a single year in countries like France.
To attract them, collectors took old horses to swampy areas and then removed the animals that stuck to their legs; when there was no horse, they used their own legs.
6. Of Resureicion
“Corpse thieves” dug up bodies from cemeteries and sold them to medical schools, at the height of dissection in anatomical teaching.
The phenomenon sparked public outrage and led to legal changes that eventually allowed doctors access to the dead from institutions for the poor.
7. “Men of the Night”
Responsible for cleaning septic tanks and latrines, collecting human excrement in unthinkable conditions, gong farmers were very important in cities that did not yet have the capacity to deal with the volume of organic waste.
Interestingly, and despite the stigma, it was a relatively well-paid job, precisely because no one wanted it.
8. Powder monkeys
Powder monkeys were boys, often between the ages of 12 and 14, tasked (and the few able) with transporting and loading gunpowder into cannons aboard warships.
They were low and could move more easily in the limited space between decks and were also hidden behind the ship’s bulwarks to avoid being shot by snipers from enemy ships.
9. Computer
A computer was for a long time a professional title, not a machine.
They were often women and performed calculations and numerical conversions by hand for areas such as engineering and science, before being replaced by electronic computers, particularly from the 1970s onwards.
10. Phrenologists
Phrenologists, popular in the 19th century, “read” psychological abilities and traits through the shape of the skull.
Phrenology would later be rejected as pseudoscience, but, in its time, it influenced debates about mind and behavior and was even used to support racist ideas, with claims of white superiority.
11. Japanizer
O Japanese he was the person who applied “japanning”, that is, a hard and shiny varnish/lacquer (often black) to finish and decorate objects — widely used on furniture, boxes, metalwork and other pieces, in a European technique that imitated Asian lacquers.
12. Reader
The lector, a professional reader who read news and literature aloud to entertain workers.
In cigar factories, workers even contributed part of their salary to pay for this service, and the removal of the reader by the companies was, in some cases, a reason for strikes.
13. Milkman
Whoever says reader, says milkman. Many people remember: they delivered milk daily to people’s doors, at a time when keeping the product fresh without refrigeration was difficult.
Another profession “murdered” by the slaughterhouse.
14. Chimney sweep
Chimney sweeping is another profession associated in the popular imagination, often romanticized by films such as Mary Poppins, but with a much harsher reality: constant inhalation of smoke and soot, burns, risk of becoming trapped in narrow chimneys and serious illnesses, including cancer associated with prolonged exposure to soot.
15. Alvaiade producer
The manufacture of alvaiade, a pigment used in paints very common in the 19th and 20th centuries, exposed workers to toxic dust in environments with few or no safety standards, resulting in illnesses and deaths.
16. Daguerreotipista
The daguerreotypist, specialist in producing daguerreotypes — one of the first photographic processes accessible to the public, with images on polished silver plates.
The phenomenon had an impressive peak, with millions of images produced annually, but lost relevance at the end of the 1860s.
17. Ratcatcher
The rat catcher was a crucial figure in European cities for centuries, particularly in periods associated with the bubonic plague.
The modern equivalent exists in the form of pest control, and specialized teams and municipal structures dedicated to reducing rodent populations.
18. Goldbeater
The gold beater, which transforms gold into very fine sheets used in decoration, was an important craft in several European and American cities.
Today, it survives as specialized craftsmanship.
19. Lamplighter
Lamplighters were responsible for lighting gas lamps at dusk and turning them off in the morning, as well as cleaning and maintaining them.
Electric lighting came to “erase them from history” but not completely: there are places in Europe where the function continues for heritage reasons.
20. Groom of the stool
An intimate advisor to the King of England, the role of the bank cleaner (free translation) was to accompany the monarch in private moments on the literal “throne”.
Over time, the position gained political and administrative weight, becoming more than a mere bathroom confidant.
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