Sort of, says Andrew McAffee, but leaves us wanting more reasons or examples about why it's not as bad as it looks.
Points:
- Wrong question: Is technology replacing workers?
- Projected demand for workers is less than projected growth of available workers.
- Technology will continue to increase in its ability to take over functions traditionally associated with uniquely human skills.
- Even generalists and creatives may be at risk.
- Future economy won’t need that many human workers.
- We can still be optimistic about utopian, not dystopian, futures. Why?
- Religion, empire, and intellect haven’t mattered much. Technology development has been the engine of social change, a repeat of Kurzweil’s singularity idea.
- Technology is benefiting the bottom of the economic pyramid. Technology therefore has the potential to reduce poverty, misery, and drudgery even more significantly in the future.
- Technology will also lead to a much smaller ecological footprint.
- Because technology is taking our jobs today, we will be free to do new things tomorrow.
