Industrial Revolution comparisons aren’t comforting as job cuts loom large

Industrial Revolution comparisons aren’t comforting as job cuts loom large

People at work in a factory, making vices in 1771. Photo: Getty Images/Hulton Archive “Why should it be different this time?” That’s the most common response I hear when I raise concerns about automation and the future of jobs, and it’s a pretty simple rejoinder. The Western world managed the shift out of agricultural jobs into industry, and continued to see economic growth. So will not the jobs being displaced now by automation and artificial intelligence lead to new jobs elsewhere in a broadly similar and beneficial manner? Will not the former truck drivers, displaced by self-driving vehicles, find […]

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