To the list of things you can't avoid -- death and taxes -- we now add losing your job to a machine. A worry typically reserved for those in manufacturing, automation in the workplace is now a reality of nearly all occupations, and it's only getting worse... or is it?
The fear of technological unemployment is one that dates back for centuries. Since the Luddites of 19th century England smashed the newly made machines which threatened their textile jobs, many have eyed the rise of automation with a sense of impending self-obsolescence .
But in all those years a strange balance has been maintained: New technology has created at least as many jobs as automation has destroyed. This hour we talk with experts about the past, present and future (including how long this balance will last) of technological unemployment.
GUESTS:
- Mark Burzynski - President of the Arthur G. Russell company, an automated systems manufacturer in Bristol
- James Hughes - Bio-ethicist and sociologist at Trinity College in Hartford. He’s the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future
- Dean Baker - Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and co-author of Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
