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Automation nation: the future of work

The prospect of machines taking humans’ jobs has been discussed for decades. Now—and with a robot’s clunky gait—the future is marching closer. According to a survey published yesterday by Pew Research Centre, two-thirds of Americans believe that within 50 years robots and algorithms will do a great deal of the work people now perform. That technology will transform everything from manufacturing to medicine seems inevitable, although it is more likely to replace parts of jobs rather than whole ones. Advances in software algorithms through “machine learning”—computers teaching themselves—are already yielding improvements in such fields as self-driving cars and customer service (not to mention playing Go). Yet many Americans reckon it’s someone else’s problem: most of those surveyed believe that automation will change the workplace, but four-fifths don’t think their own jobs will be affected. Denial is a powerful force, but technology is stronger.

Mar 11th 2016
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