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The self-driving, Thiel-tastic, botnet crazy tech year of 2016

The self-driving, Thiel-tastic, botnet crazy tech year of 2016

Jefferson Graham counts down the 7 top tech innovations of 2016, starting with Pokemon Go, on #TalkingTech SAN FRANCISCO — The image was startling, but a look into what could be tech’s immediate future.

After being ostracized by the tech industry for most of the election year, there sat venture capitalist Peter Thiel, beaming, to the left of President-elect Donald Trump at the Trump Tower Tech summit in mid-December.

Looking on, a ring of glum-faced and pensive tech titans, including Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.Silicon Valley’s billionaire leaders had disavowed Trump […]

RA Mashelkar: “Automation to replace 69% jobs a serious concern”

RA Mashelkar: “Automation to replace 69% jobs a serious concern”

© Leading scientist and former CSIR chief, Dr RA Mashelkar explains the emerging technological scenario, the subsequent job losses and how to deal with it, in this interview with National Herald

India has seen a jobless growth in the last few years. According to Labour ministry data, around 1.2 crore people enter the workforce every year; however, in 2015, only 1.35 lakh jobs were created. In this backdrop, spontaneous disruption in technologies is set to soon debilitate jobs massively, which our policymakers don’t seem to be factoring in. In an interview with Sebastian PT , leading scientist and former […]

AI poses a threat to half of all jobs within two decades

(Photo: Getty) The Whitehouse has warned that up to half of all jobs are at risk of being replaced by AI Artificial intelligence (AI) could threaten almost half of all jobs in the next 10 to 20 years, as automation is poised to revolutionise future employment, according to a report.

While AI should be “welcomed for its potential economic benefits”, those benefits are unlikely to be evenly distributed across society, the Whitehouse report written by President Obama’s advisors found.

AI has been hailed as the lynchpin of the fourth industrial revolution, according to the World Economic Forum, and has been […]

Will universal basic income ever become an American reality?

Will universal basic income ever become an American reality?

Finland is on the verge of launching a two-year experiment in which a randomly selected group of 2,000 unemployed people—from white-collar computer programmers to blue-collar construction workers—will receive a monthly stipend of $580 in lieu of their typical benefits.

Meanwhile, the Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator is preparing to launch a pilot project in Oakland, California, in which 1,000 families will receive unconditional cash grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 per month.

Will these basic income projects stimulate job growth and boost the economy? Will they improve people’s happiness and well-being? Will universal basic income ever become a reality for […]

Future of manufacturing production, jobs

One benefit of the political debate about trade is that it led to an overdue discussion of manufacturing.

But after more than a year of politicking, I’m afraid there’s still a great deal of confusion about the industry and its future. To help clear things up I’ll begin with a parlor trick.

Pick the year you think manufacturing production peaked in the U.S. or Indiana. Some of you will say 1928, 1945, 1975 and sometimes even 1999.The correct answer, of course, is 2015. Yes, inflation-adjusted manufacturing production peaked both in the U.S. and Indiana in 2015, replacing 2014 as the record […]

Unconditional Basic Income – Guaranteed Livable Income – Citizens’ Income –

Unconditional Basic Income - Guaranteed Livable Income - Citizens' Income -

Basic Income

72 Pins 56 Followers Few debates highlight the many complex issues around how governments should share a nation’s wealth and resources as much as the current discourse on basic income. Also referred to as a citizen’s income, the policy generally refers to the unconditional and universal payment of a regular sum of money to a country’s residents, usually as a replacement for a range of existing state benefits such as pensions, child allowances, tax credits and unemployment payments. Poverty Economystories Economy Poverty Income Basicincome Basic Income Basicincome Economics Unconditional Basic Unconditional Basic Income #basicincome #economics #economy […]

Why a Struggling Town Voted Against a Basic Income

Why a Struggling Town Voted Against a Basic Income

Smiths Falls is a small town in Ontario that has been absolutely devastated by the realities of the modern economy over the last decade or so.

First , in 2004, a group home for the mentally disabled that employed 800 people announced its closing. Then in 2007 came what many thought might be the death blow for the economically depressed community: the Hershey’s chocolate plant, which had been a fixture of the local economy for decades, shipped out to Mexico . But that wasn’t all—one year later, Stanley Tools, a manufacturing company, also said it would shutter for good. […]

Growing Georgia factory holds lessons, cautions for Trump job promise

Growing Georgia factory holds lessons, cautions for Trump job promise

December 1, 2016 Fort Valley – Daniel Stripling looks at a job order screen on the assembly line at the company’s plant and headquarters in Fort Valley. The screens show what needs to be done on each bus, as each bus on the assembly line is typically different from others on the line. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM FORT VALLEY, Ga. — As a welder’s sparks flew, a cage of silver ribs grew around the worker, as if Jonah’s whale had surfaced in Blue Bird Corp.’s factory and swallowed him up.

Down the 89-year-old company’s assembly line, dozens of metal skeletons […]

White House: To Prevent AI From Killing Jobs, Educate the Workforce

White House: To Prevent AI From Killing Jobs, Educate the Workforce

Image Credit: jeffedoe/Flickr Earlier this week, a team lead by the Executive Office of the President released a report examining automation’s potential impact on the economy. The findings were far from reassuring, especially for low-skilled workers.

The paper notes that artificial intelligence technologies could lead to economic benefits, but “[t]hose economic benefits, however, will not necessarily be evenly distributed across society.”

The White House said that other researchers have projected potential job losses in the next 20 years at anywhere from 9 percent to 47 percent, and that lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs are likely to be most at risk : Research […]

How Minnesota’s community and technical colleges are responding to the rise of robots

How Minnesota's community and technical colleges are responding to the rise of robots

William Hiniker is among a number of Minnesota workers who have returned to school to upgrade their skills in an increasingly competitive employment market. William Hiniker is pursuing an associate degree at Dunwoody College of Technology, and he’s pretty confident about his future.

“I know that once I finish this program, I can get a job pretty much anywhere I want,” said Hiniker, who’s worked as a mechanic at a Shakopee landscape company and served in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer. “There’s no doubt about it.”

In today’s slow-growth economy, that isn’t something many first-year college students can say […]