Reddit reviews Race Against The Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy

There's a great book called "race against the machine" on amazon for a few bucks:


http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-Machine-Accelerating-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381504041&sr=1-1&keywords=race+against+the+machine


Well worth the $ and time for anybody interested in the topic.

As mentioned in the OP the primary dataset is from Race Against the Machine by Andrew McAfee. For a more succinct version of data to look at you can read the Assocaited Press Article from January or Andrew McAfees TED talk. As for causality, that is detailed best in the book, i suggest you read it.

EDIT: I also just came across this infographic which also should help you understand what is happening.

Race Against The Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy

Some of the comments here are similar to some of the hypotheses in Andrew McAfee's book Race Against the Machine.

From the Amazon summary:

In Race Against the Machine Brynjolfsson and McAfee bring together a range of statistics, examples, and arguments to show that technological progress is accelerating, and that this trend has deep consequences for skills, wages, and jobs. The book makes the case that employment prospects are grim for many today not because there's been technology has stagnated, but instead because we humans and our organizations aren't keeping up.


http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI

It's well-described in a book "Race Against the Machine", which I would recommend if you are interested in this topic.

It's not at all silly, it's a long-term trend in economics that has been happening for centuries. It will continue to happen. It's part of capital-biased technological change.

See, also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_unemployment

And



http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-Accelerating-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI
or the ted talk here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mcafee_are_droids_taking_our_jobs?language=en

See, also:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2692352/the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-will-computers-take-your-job.html

A relevant book: Race Against the Machine.

At $4, the Kindle version is a bargain.

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI

here's why workers are, and will continue to be left behind:
http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1334160311&sr=1-1

Check this book out - it was pretty interesting although their solution of educating everyone doesn't work out if you really think about it

Race Against the Machine

Check out this book buy to Economists from MIT. They effectively outline this exactly problem in all it's details.

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-Machine-Accelerating-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323155992&sr=1-1

MIT's McAfee and Brynjolfsson argue here that it will be a race between destruction of jobs through accelerating technology and creation of new jobs through a better educated population. At this point it's just speculation as to which will win out over any given time-frame.

Have you read this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005WTR4ZI/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

It's a pretty good read, but shows some interesting data. I'm far from an economist, and I don't think that it prescribes a total loss of work in the near future, but I do think it makes a pretty good argument for things being a touch different this time around. It also show's that jobs have been steadily decreasing for some time now (more than even most people who peg it around '08).

While I don't know that the Dystopian outlook is the correct one, I'm not sure that I think things are going to be rosy unless we start having conversations (thankfully, much like this one).

Honestly it's a good quick read, and the one that got me to see things in a different light.

wrong

A couple of professors at MIT certainly see the difference.

It's very simple though to see why this will be different. When machinese became more powerful than human labor, people retreated to jobs that required dexterity and intelligence and creativity. Well, now, AI and advanced machining have made machines dexterous enough to automate most fine repetitive tasks. So humans retreat to intelligence and creativity and jobs that require human interaction. What happens when a computer can match the power of a human mind? What's left for the humans to do but entertain each other - and probably not as well as an AI can.

Have you read this book called "Race Against The Machine". It was written by these smart guys at MIT. They have determined the same thing. It is a good read: http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI
I have researched this topic for my master's thesis and all the data points to the rate at which this is happening as the issue and the problem. The pace is not comparable to what happened in the past. So you can't compare what is happening now to what has happened in the past. It is an interesting topic. Thanks for posting it.

here are some of Andrew Mcafee's talks: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=andrew+mcafee

They both have written this book together: http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-Accelerating-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI

Not directly related to programming, but about the implications of ubiquitous automation: Race Against the Machine.

You need to readthis book

Any job can be automated with sufficent computer power

He wrote a book on the subject as well: http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-Accelerating-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI

It was a good and quick read, I encourage anyone to get the Kindle version and read it on your kindle/iPhone on the way to work.