Back when people still thought the future was flying cars and moon bases, the
word "high tech" was coined to describe cutting edge, advanced
technology, with the implication that technology was progressing upward
with significant steps.
Then "high tech" became a source of anxiety. As automation replaced
factory workers, industry and government told people to learn new skills
that would be needed by future jobs that would be created by new
technology.
See for example this extraordinarily disingenuous and manipulative advertisement by a private college founded by a manufacturing
company. In February of this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued ITT Tech for predatory lending.
