, Columnist
Robots Are Poised to Make Life Grim for the Working Class
Cheap technology will sweep away lots of jobs. That’s an argument for a better safety net.
Better to tell him what to do than the other way around.
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Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and one of the pioneers of the world wide web, once declared:
Andreessen has since repudiated this declaration, and taken a more optimistic stance. But economists, a more pessimistic bunch, are taking the possibility of this sort of bifurcated future more seriously. As machine-learning technology enjoys rapid progress, more top researchers are investigating the question of what work will look like in a world filled with computers that can replicate or surpass many of humanity’s own mental abilities.