Automation and Jobs: Past, Present and Future

This seminar with Dr. Frey takes a look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members.

From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence (AI), this seminar takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members. The Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends broadly mirror those in our current age of automation, which began with the Computer Revolution. And they are likely to continue as AI technologies are gradually implemented. We conclude by exploring the impact of COVID-19 on automation, offshoring, and remote work.

[Hanz_theengine]

Problem is that we don't consider the negative impact of urbanisation. Such as developing workforce in rural areas to take holistic agroculture, develop sustainable microfactories that could be adapted to produce according to specific shortages, which would in turn revive and equalize communities at a more local level and ease the strain on urban government.