Martin Ford (1)

from Michael:

I'll begin by saying Martin Ford's Rise of the Robots suffers from a poor title. The book isn't about an apocalyptic Terminator-type future as the title might imply. The issue at the heart of this book is the rise of the machine as a replacement for human labor. As Ford explains, throughout history new technology has generally created enough new jobs as it simultaneously replaces old ones, but we've reached a critical point where machines/software/technology are advancing so show more quickly that they're replacing human workers much faster than new jobs are being created. The results, according to Ford: higher unemployment and a greater concentration of wealth. Robots have arrived to crash our economy.

As I read this book, it became clearer and clearer that, yes, technology will continue to replace much of the workforce and will eventually render human labor worthless. As we continue to build smarter and smarter technology, and eventually create a fully automated, thinking robot that can act on its own (which will happen, because really, what's going to stop us?), Ford wonders what effect this will have on humanity. Business owners have every financial incentive to replace human employees with machines that don't demand a salary, benefits, sick leave, etc. Think the self-checkout at the grocery store as a small example, among countless others. And this eventually leads to a small wealthy elite, destruction of the middle class, and high unemployment.

In between, Ford touches on the implications for military robots (scary), software algorithms that control Wall Street's financial transactions (already the norm), and even climate change works its way into the discussion (in case you didn't already feel overwhelmed).
Ford's answer to the problem seems simple and makes total sense, but we shouldn't expect legislators to do anything in the near future. Though the book is relatively dry and slightly repetitive at times, it discusses an important and growing issue that probably isn't on the average person's radar. Before we can go about rectifying the situation, we first have to see it as a problem (as if our collective political plate wasn't already full of other important issues). If nothing else, Rise of the Robots might at least plant some seeds and make people realize that, contrary to popular belief, technological advancement isn't always and necessarily a good thing.

Related reading: Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano and Nicholas Carr's The Shallows. show less

I read Orwell's 1984 a few months back and, at the time, it was the most horrific thing I'd read all year. And then I read this book, Rise of the Robots. Author Martin Ford paints one heck of a scary picture for the near future. And by scary, I also mean realistically plausible AND already happening. Maybe I'm sensitive to this issue because I currently live and work in an industry that's ripe for technology disruption, but there's no way this isn't felt globally. Seriously, Terminator feels show more like a bedtime story by comparison.

That said... I can't think of a better alternative than to forge ahead. Technology improves lives on the whole—an honest person would have a hard time disputing this. What we can't know is if this trend will continue to hold true indefinitely. To artificially limit technological advancement for moral reasons is foolishly shortsighted. Best to prepare ourselves.

Towards the end, Ford provides a reasonable defense of what's being called a "guaranteed basic income" which is one of many ideas being tossed about which would absorb some of the coming change, and it's the best argument I've seen so far. I still don't agree with it, but more insight like this is what the conversation needs. show less

The Star Trek replicator has long been a dream of humanity - completely automated provision of the means of subsistence, with the potential to eliminate unprecedented amounts of drudgery. Far from everyone being freed to pursue their dreams of becoming starship captains, though, it's entirely possible that the current dramatic increase in automation will simply put humans out of work, whether those humans are low-wage burger-flippers, manufacturing workers at home or offshore, or white-shoe show more corporate lawyers. Ford looks at how the immense transformation of the global economy is both helping and hurting workers, detouring into some of the more outlandish science fiction possibilities of automation, before settling on what increasingly appears like the only viable solution to a sufficiently mechanized economy: a guaranteed income that ensures everyone shares in the coming bounty. show less

Robots are almost certainly coming for your job, if any part of it involves tasks that can be repeated again and again. This includes fast food work, many kinds of health care, many kinds of legal work, and arguably (though I am unconvinced) some teaching. Ford convincingly makes the case that automation will continue to improve and replace previous human workers, then spends a bit of time on total speculation about artificial intelligence (Skynet!), and finally asks what we ought to do show more about it. Ford argues that automation has already contributed substantially to longterm disemployment in the US, and that education and retraining will not solve the problem. But if very few people have jobs, who will buy all the stuff robots make? His proposal, which he recognizes is unviable in the US because we are all terrified and atomized, is for a basic income for everyone. show less