Pause. Breathe. This is Calm Before the Storm.
All of the rosy things said here are valid except that autonomous systems is an accelerating, unstoppable trend. When articles like this come out they don’t do anything to calm concerns. Rather the opposite.
The idea that someone is laboring to tell people generally “don’t worry, be happy” it really comes across as there is something big coming. And they are right.
Combine accelerating job loss to autonomous systems with existing economic inequality, wage and income stagnation, growing global population and migration and rise of authoritarian and nationalist demagogues and your pap rings hollow.
The fact is the job and income opportunities are going to continue declining at an accelerating rate faster than new opportunities emerge, and lead to pain that leads to social unrest. This transition is not analogous to transition to industrial society.
The right thing to do is get out in front and acknowledge what is coming and offer post-capitalist visions. Visions that are more hopeful and appealing than trying to dress up stultifying careers and jobs, cubicle life and the treadmill existence everyone despises. If elites and elite organizations like WEF don’t do this, then the demagogues will fill the void. So snap out of it.
That said, doubt WEF has any interest in alternative viewpoints because every time I comment about an article that appears under their aegis it falls on deaf ears.
If you have any interest in position stated, my Medium publication, A Passion to Evolve, has numerous articles that address economic, political, and social dimensions. For example:
Capitalism and Post-Capitalism — The Whole Truth & Nothing But
Reducing Education & Knowledge Gaps
Doc Says — Our Emotions, Institutions and Technological Capabilities Are Mismatched
My Data Is My Property — Pay Me If You Use It
Funny Thing about Money and Machines
Doc Huston
