“Will automation and the internet of things lead to mass unemployment?” (Guardian June 2018, internet version)

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“Mark Carney warns robots taking jobs could lead to rise of Marxism” (Colin Drury, 14 April 2018, Independent, online version)

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“Most US manufacturing jobs lost to technology, not trade”, “Increasing protectionism is unlikely to override forces of automation” (FT Data Global trade, June 2018, internet version)

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Everybody knows that the media loves sensationalism.

 

When it bleeds, it leads.

 

Tell people everything is fine, and you sell zip, tell people the catastrophe is right around the corner, and they’ll buy your paper – or, nowadays, buy the internet version.

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So how serious is this really?

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Well, it is serious enough that leaders around the world are quite worried and are discussing giving away money to people to guarantee a minimum income. Some anticipate that as much as 40-50% of the population will lose their jobs within the next 3-5 years[i], with the possibility of social unrest, wide-spread depression, and loss of purpose and social connections. The phrase of the “new industrial revolution” was coined by World Leaders in their annual summit in Davos in 2017.

 

Others see the development as the coming dawn of a new age, an age where people are not stuck in boring 9-5 jobs anymore, which they cannot wait to escape on a Friday night, but where people find a new purpose for themselves...

 

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