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posted by cmn32480 on Monday June 08 2015, @10:57AM   Printer-friendly
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.


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  • (Score: 1) by Absolutely.Geek on Monday June 08 2015, @08:43PM

    by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Monday June 08 2015, @08:43PM (#193807)

    Not really; his dad brought in for $1000. While this is somewhat a lot of money it really isn't in the scheme of things.

    --
    Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday June 08 2015, @10:54PM

    by mhajicek (51) on Monday June 08 2015, @10:54PM (#193853)

    But he did buy the right $1000 lottery ticket. How many other utopian commune startups failed alongside this one that succeeded? Also, I would have trouble with my spine having an off-switch.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 1) by Absolutely.Geek on Tuesday June 09 2015, @10:54PM

      by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Tuesday June 09 2015, @10:54PM (#194289)

      My major problem with the whole concept is the idea that privacy leads to badness.....it seems weird.

      --
      Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.