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from the how-many-robots-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-lightbulb dept.
Digital technology has been a fantastic creator of economic wealth, particularly in the twenty years since the Internet and World Wide Web were unveiled to the masses. And with non-trivial applications of artificial intelligence (such as Apple's Siri) finally reaching the mainstream consumer market, one is tempted to agree with pundits asserting that the Second Machine Age is just getting underway.
But Yale ethicist Wendell Wallach argues that growth in wealth has been accompanied by an equally dramatic rise in income inequality; for example, stock ownership is now concentrated in the hands of a relative few (though greater than 1 percent). The increase in GDP has not led to an increase in wages, nor in median inflation-adjusted income. Furthermore, Wallach says technology is a leading cause of this shift, as it displaces workers in occupation after occupation more quickly than new career opportunities arise.
This piece led to the latest iteration of the 'will robots take all of our jobs' debate, this time on Business Insider, with Jim Edwards arguing that the jobs lost tended to be of the mindless and repetitive variety, while the increase in productive capacity has led to the creation of many new positions. This repeated earlier cycles of the industrial revolution and will be accelerated in the decades ahead. Edwards illustrated his point with a chart of UK unemployment with a trend line (note: drawn by Edwards) in a pronounced downward direction over the past 30 years. John Tamny made a similar point in Forbes last month.
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 08 2015, @08:10PM
but the ability of few to control many will be greatly weakened
Dream on.
The only thing that will increase is the ability of few to control many. When you can reach people's ears, eyes, stomachs and thoughts you have good control over them and can make them do anything. Just like what television/cinema and internet do today (and newspapers did in earlier times).
Want to occupy another country in a war? shift people's opinion of that nation and call them the biggest threat since something. Drooling public will back you. In the real world Good does not always win; Evil wins all the time.
If people don't need to educate themselves to be able to house, feed and clothe themselves, they will stop getting any education whatsoever and will not be able to think at all (think sheep or another animal). People have already been turned into sheep where they look at television to tell them what is right and wrong.
One thing that will happen is that cultural difference will increase. Some will sit on the curb smoking a joint, while others will make something worthwhile. All depending on culture.