Humans versus machines: Who will be employed in future

With technology constantly evolving at a more rapid pace, informal learning will continue to be key in future, Dawson said. He used the example of TopCoder, where coders compete not only for prizes but to learn from others how and why a project succeeded or failed, and improve their own skills and processes.

"If you want to be a world class expert, the only and the real way to do it is find those who are the experts, follow them on their social media, engage and have conversations in that community."

Community is how you build that social learning out of which world class expertise happens, he added.

Scientists and technologists will be critical in the future to program and manage these machines that we rely so heavily on, he said. And they are also critical for innovation.

A recent example of innovation Dawson gave was the launch of virtual reality software High Fidelity by Philip Rosedale, the creator of Second Life. Working with specialists from Pixar, who worked on the Brave movie, High Fidelity can pick up on people's expressions, which the avatar mimics.