This recent New York Times article challenged some things I’ve been assuming:
Blaming robots, though, while not as dangerous as protectionism and xenophobia, is also a distraction from real problems and real solutions.
The rise of modern robots is the latest chapter in a centuries-old story of technology replacing people. Automation is the hero of the story in good times and the villain in bad. Since today’s middle class is in the midst of a prolonged period of wage stagnation, it is especially vulnerable to blame-the-robot rhetoric….
While breakthroughs could come at any time, the problem with automation isn’t robots; it’s politicians, who have failed for decades to support policies that let workers share the wealth from technology-led growth. [Read more]
As a historian I agree that the history in the rest of the article, which lays out responses to technological advances in previous eras, is spot-on. And I also agree with a lot of the suggested solutions. (As with so many articles directed at policy-makers, though, I am left wondering what I am supposed to do about it, besides calling the policy-makers who represent me. Or hope that some of them read the New York Times. One of the reasons it’s so much easier to work up “Facebook outrage” than the real thing.)
I’m going to go read my friend Marcus Goodyear’s “Father, Forgive Me, for My Robot Has Sinned” and think about this some more….
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