future of work

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Work in the Future The Automation Revolution-Palgrave MacMillan (2019) by Robert Skidelsky Nan Craig

3D printing, Airbnb, algorithmic trading, AlphaGo, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Web Services, anti-work, antiwork, artificial general intelligence, asset light, autonomous vehicles, basic income, behavioural economics, business cycle, cloud computing, collective bargaining, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, correlation does not imply causation, creative destruction, data is the new oil, data science, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, Demis Hassabis, deskilling, disintermediation, do what you love, Donald Trump, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, feminist movement, Ford Model T, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, Future Shock, general purpose technology, gig economy, global supply chain, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, Internet of things, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, job automation, job polarisation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, knowledge economy, Loebner Prize, low skilled workers, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, moral panic, Network effects, new economy, Nick Bostrom, off grid, pattern recognition, post-work, Ronald Coase, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, SoftBank, Steve Jobs, strong AI, tacit knowledge, technological determinism, technoutopianism, TED Talk, The Chicago School, The Future of Employment, the market place, The Nature of the Firm, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, Turing test, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, wealth creators, working poor

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents 1 Introduction  1 Robert Skidelsky and Nan Craig 2 The Future of Work  9 Robert Skidelsky Part I Work in the Past  23 3 Patterns and Types of Work in the Past: Part 1  25 Richard Donkin 4 Patterns and Types of Work in the Past: Part 2  33 Richard Sennett 5 Patterns and Types of Work in the Past: Wageworker and Housewife from a Global Perspective: Birth, Variations and Limits of the Modern Couple 37 Andrea Komlosy v vi Contents Part II Attitudes to Work  51 6 Attitudes to Work and the Future of Work: The View from Economics 53 David A. Spencer 7 Attitudes to Work 65 Pierre-Michel Menger 8 Work as an Obligation 73 Nan Craig Part III Attitudes to Technology  81 9 Attitudes to Technology: Part 1  83 James Bessen 10 Attitudes to Technology: Part 2  89 Carl Benedikt Frey Part IV Possibilities and Limitations for AI: What Can’t Machines Do?  

Nan Craig is Programme Director at the Centre for Global Studies and researches technology and the future of work. She holds an MSc in Global Politics from the LSE and previously worked for the social enterprise Participle, and as a freelance researcher. She also writes fiction which has been published by the New Scientist, Vice and Magma. Richard Donkin is an author and commentator on work and management. A former columnist and writer at the Financial Times, he is the author of two books, The History of Work and The Future of Work, both published by Palgrave Macmillan. He is a visiting fellow at Cass Business School.

In his free time, Tozer enjoys cycling, drinking tea and practising Kadampa Buddhism. 1 Introduction Robert Skidelsky and Nan Craig When we planned a symposium in February 2018 on the future of work, we divided the subject into eight areas. We hoped to cover more ground than is usual, and to look at how work has changed in the past as well as how it is changing now and in the future. Most of the contributions to this book came out of that symposium, and reflect their original beginnings as oral presentations. Other pieces were commissioned later in order to extend the thematic reach of the book even further. When we talk about the future of work, too often the discussion is narrowly focused on automation, and the social or economic problems that are assumed to arise from it.


pages: 246 words: 68,392

Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work by Sarah Kessler

"Susan Fowler" uber, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, basic income, bitcoin, blockchain, business cycle, call centre, cognitive dissonance, collective bargaining, crowdsourcing, data science, David Attenborough, do what you love, Donald Trump, East Village, Elon Musk, financial independence, future of work, game design, gig economy, Hacker News, income inequality, independent contractor, information asymmetry, Jeff Bezos, job automation, law of one price, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, market clearing, minimum wage unemployment, new economy, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, payday loans, post-work, profit maximization, QR code, race to the bottom, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, TaskRabbit, TechCrunch disrupt, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, working-age population, Works Progress Administration, Y Combinator

A small $100,000 grant program for experiments with portable retirement benefits savings plans introduced by the Department of Labor38 had given awards to three projects, but only one was even in the prototype stage of its exploration (the other two used the grants to conduct research on the barriers that low-wage workers faced in saving for retirement). On panels about the future of work, nearly everyone could agree that the current social safety net and worker classification systems were no longer adequate. But actually implementing changes—which would require parties with different political agendas to compromise on specifics, experiments that proved feasibility, and passage through a slow law-making process—was more likely to take decades than years. PART V THE FUTURE OF WORK CHAPTER 12 PIVOT In the spring of 2016, Managed by Q leased a new office in a New York City skyscraper.

October 1, 2015. https://www.upwork.com/press/2015/10/01/freelancers-union-and-upwork-release-new-study-revealing-insights-into-the-almost-54-million-people-freelancing-in-america/. 5   Hanrahan, Disin. We Must Protect the On-Demand Economy to Protect the Future of Work. Wired. November 9, 2015. http://www.wired.com/2015/11/we-must-protect-the-on-demand-economy-to-protect-the-future-of-work/. 6   Wheeler, Brian. Gig Economy Workers “Like the Flexibility.” BBC. October 5, 2017. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41490172. 7   Working Mothers Issue Brief. Women’s Bureau US Department of Labor. June 2016. https://www.dol.gov/wb/resources/WB_WorkingMothers_508_FinalJune13.pdf. 8   Hochschild, Arlie, and Anne Machung.

July 15, 2015. https://www.wsj.com/articles/labor-department-releases-guidance-on-classification-of-workers-1436954401. 26   Kreider, Benjamin. Risk Shift and the Gig Economy. Economic Policy Institute’s Working Economic Blog. August 4, 2015. http://www.epi.org/blog/risk-shift-and-the-gig-economy/. 27   Mishel, Lawrence. Uber Is Not the Future of Work. The Atlantic. November 16, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/uber-is-not-the-future-of-work/415905/. 28   The American Presidency Project. 706—Remarks at a White House Summit on Worker Voice Question-and-Answer Session. October 7, 2015. 29   Perez, Tom. Innovation and the Contingent Workforce. Department of Labor Blog.


pages: 172 words: 50,777

The Nowhere Office: Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future by Julia Hobsbawm

8-hour work day, Airbnb, augmented reality, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, Cal Newport, call centre, Cass Sunstein, collective bargaining, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, David Graeber, death from overwork, Diane Coyle, digital capitalism, digital nomad, driverless car, emotional labour, future of work, George Floyd, gig economy, glass ceiling, global pandemic, Google Hangouts, Greensill Capital, job satisfaction, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, lockdown, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, means of production, megacity, Neal Stephenson, Ocado, pensions crisis, remote working, San Francisco homelessness, Second Machine Age, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Skype, Snow Crash, social distancing, solopreneur, Steve Jobs, systems thinking, TED Talk, The Great Resignation, the long tail, the strength of weak ties, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, Upton Sinclair, WeWork, work culture

search=workplace Leesman Index, https://www.leesmanindex.com/ McEwan, Ian, Machines Like Me (Vintage, 2020) McKinsey, Future of Work portal, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work Mayhew, Henry, London Labour and the London Poor: A Selected Edition (Oxford University Press, 2010) Melville, Herman, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street (SMK, 2012 [1853]) Microsoft Work Insights portal, https://workplaceinsights.microsoft.com/ Murdoch, Iris, A Word Child (Vintage Classics, 2008 [1975]) OECD Future of Work portal, https://www.oecd.org/future-of-work/reports-and-data/ Office for National Statistics, Coronavirus (Covid-19) latest insights, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19/latestinsights Roberts, Simon, The Power of Not Thinking: How Our Bodies Learn and Why We Should Trust Them (Blink Publishing, 2020) Robson, David, The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things and How to Make Wiser Decisions (Hodder & Stoughton, 2019) Rushkoff, Douglas, Team Human (Norton, 2019) Sandburg, Carl, Chicago Poems (Dover, 1994 [1916]) Spark, Muriel, A Far Cry from Kensington (Polygon, 2017 [1988]) Susskind, Daniel, A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond (Allen Lane, 2020) Terkel, Studs, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (New Press, 1974) Tett, Gillian, Anthro-Vision: How Anthropology Can Explain Business and Life (Penguin, 2021) Tomasello, Michael, The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition (Harvard University Press, 1999) Uviebinené, Elizabeth, The Reset: Ideas to Change How We Work and Live (Hodder Studio, 2021) West, Geoffrey, Scale: The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017) Wolf, Martin, The Shifts and the Shocks: What We’ve Learned – and Have Still to Learn – from the Financial Crisis (Allen Lane, 2014) World Bank, World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work, https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) Preparing for the Future of Work portal, https://www.weforum.org/projects/future-of-work World Experience Organization, https://www.worldxo.org/ Also by Julia Hobsbawm Where the Truth Lies The See-Saw Fully Connected The Simplicity Principle PublicAffairs is a publishing house founded in 1997.

sh=388df2006442; see also Matthew DiLallo, ‘Commercial Real Estate Investing Statistics 2021’, Millionacres, 16 November 2020, https://www.millionacres.com/research/commercial-real-estate-investing-statistics/; and for specific prediction of 80 per cent occupancy see Erik Sherman, ‘Delta Disrupts Office Return Plans: What Now?’, GlobeSt.com, 13 September 2021, https://www.globest.com/2021/09/13/delta-disrupts-office-return-plans-what-now/?slreturn=20210901045552 7. McKinsey Global Institute, ‘The Future of Work After Covid-19’, 18 February 2021, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19 8. ‘Management, professional and related occupations’ according to the US bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2020, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm Introduction 1. International Labour Organization, World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2020, International Labour Office, Geneva, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_734455.pdf 2.

‘The Professional and Technical Workforce: By the Numbers’, 2021 Fact Sheet, Department for Professional Employees, 27 September 2021, https://www.dpeaflcio.org/factsheets/the-professional-and-technical-workforce-by-the-numbers 4. ‘The Future of Jobs Report 2020’, World Economic Forum, 20 October 2020, https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020; see also McKinsey Global Institute, ‘The Future of Work After Covid-19’, 18 February 2021, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19; ‘More Than Half of Employees Globally Would Quit Their jobs if Not Provided Post-Pandemic Flexibility’, 21 May 2021, https://www.ey.com/en_ro/news/2021/05/ey-study--more-than-half-of-employees-globally-would-quit-their-; Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, ‘The Professional and Technical Workforce: By the Numbers’, 2021 Fact Sheet, 27 September 2021, https://www.dpeaflcio.org/factsheets/the-professional-and-technical-workforce-by-the-numbers 5.


pages: 419 words: 109,241

A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond by Daniel Susskind

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, agricultural Revolution, AI winter, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, algorithmic trading, AlphaGo, artificial general intelligence, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Big Tech, blue-collar work, Boston Dynamics, British Empire, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, cloud computing, computer age, computer vision, computerized trading, creative destruction, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, demographic transition, deskilling, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, Douglas Hofstadter, driverless car, drone strike, Edward Glaeser, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, financial innovation, flying shuttle, Ford Model T, fulfillment center, future of work, gig economy, Gini coefficient, Google Glasses, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Hans Moravec, income inequality, income per capita, industrial robot, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Jacques de Vaucanson, James Hargreaves, job automation, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John von Neumann, Joi Ito, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, Kevin Roose, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, Larry Ellison, low skilled workers, lump of labour, machine translation, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, Metcalfe’s law, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, Network effects, Nick Bostrom, Occupy movement, offshore financial centre, Paul Samuelson, Peter Thiel, pink-collar, precariat, purchasing power parity, Ray Kurzweil, ride hailing / ride sharing, road to serfdom, Robert Gordon, Sam Altman, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, social intelligence, software is eating the world, sovereign wealth fund, spinning jenny, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, strong AI, tacit knowledge, technological solutionism, TED Talk, telemarketer, The Future of Employment, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, the scientific method, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, Travis Kalanick, Turing test, Two Sigma, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, upwardly mobile, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, We are the 99%, wealth creators, working poor, working-age population, Y Combinator

But I will also seek to go well beyond the narrow intellectual terrain inhabited by most economists working in this field. The future of work raises exciting and troubling questions that often have little to do with economics: questions about the nature of intelligence, about inequality and why it matters, about the political power of large technology companies, about what it means to live a meaningful life, about how we might live together in a world that looks very different from the one in which we have grown up. In my view, any story about the future of work that fails to engage with these questions as well is incomplete. NOT A BIG BANG, BUT A GRADUAL WITHERING An important starting point for thinking about the future of work is the fact that, in the past, many others have worried in similar ways about what lies ahead—and been very wrong.

AN OPTIMISTIC WAY OF THINKING The ALM hypothesis is important not only because of its success in explaining the economic peculiarities of the recent past—the hollowing out of the labor market and the harm caused to workers caught in the middle—but also because it explains the optimism that many forecasters feel about technology and the future. The old “canonical model” of technological change also suggested an optimistic view of the future of work, but for a wildly unrealistic reason: in that model, as we saw, technology always complements workers (albeit some more than others). Today, few people would make an argument like that. Instead, those who are optimistic about the future of work build a case that looks more like the task-biased story of the ALM hypothesis. They argue that new technologies do substitute for workers, but not at everything, and that machines tend to increase the demand for human beings to perform tasks that cannot be automated.

NOT A BIG BANG, BUT A GRADUAL WITHERING An important starting point for thinking about the future of work is the fact that, in the past, many others have worried in similar ways about what lies ahead—and been very wrong. Today is not the first time that automation anxiety has spread, nor did it first appear in the 1930s with Keynes. In fact, ever since modern economic growth began, centuries ago, people have periodically suffered from bouts of intense panic about being replaced by machines. Yet those fears, time and again, have turned out to be misplaced. Despite a relentless flow of technological advances over the years, there has always been enough demand for the work of human beings to avoid the emergence of large pools of permanently displaced people.


pages: 236 words: 67,953

Brave New World of Work by Ulrich Beck

affirmative action, anti-globalists, Asian financial crisis, basic income, Berlin Wall, collective bargaining, conceptual framework, Fall of the Berlin Wall, feminist movement, full employment, future of work, Gunnar Myrdal, hiring and firing, illegal immigration, income inequality, informal economy, job automation, knowledge worker, labour market flexibility, labour mobility, low skilled workers, McJob, means of production, mini-job, post-Fordism, post-work, postnationalism / post nation state, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, rising living standards, scientific management, Silicon Valley, technological determinism, working poor, working-age population, zero-sum game

(eds), Der unscharfe Ort der Politik, Opladen 1999. 17 Mary Kaldor, ‘Reconceptualizing Organized Violence’, in Daniele Archibugi, David Held and Martin Köhler (eds), Reimagining Political Community, Cambridge 1998, pp. 91–110. 18 James N. Rosenau, ‘Governance and Democracy in a Globalizing World’, in Archibugi et al. (eds), Reimagining Political Community, p. 28. 4 The Future of Work and Its Scenarios An Interim Balance-Sheet The debate on the future of work resembles a labyrinth. Adapting an idea of Bertolt Brecht's, we might say: there are as many scenarios and questions as there are authors. So how can the future of work in the second modernity be analysed in a systematic manner? To bring a certain clarity into this bustling international debate, it makes sense to draw a fundamental distinction between the framework of scenario-building and the challenges of the second modernity.

Table of Contents Title page Copyright page 1: The Brazilianization of the West: Two Scenarios, One Introduction The political economy of insecurity The right to breaks in lifetime economic activity A method with risks Notes 2: The Antithesis to the Work Society The Greek polis, or unfreedom through work Modern work-democracy, or freedom through work The future of work and political action Notes 3: The Transition from the First to the Second Modernity: Five Challenges What is meant by ‘reflexive modernization’? Globalization, or the ‘despatialization of the social’ When the frontiers blur: beyond war and peace? Notes 4: The Future of Work and Its Scenarios: An Interim Balance-Sheet Scenario 1: from the work society to the knowledge society Scenario 2: capitalism without work Scenario 3: the world market – the neoliberal jobs miracle Scenario 4: the fixed location of work – a globalization risk Scenario 5: sustainable work – the ecological economic miracle Scenario 6: global apartheid Scenario 7: the self-employed – the freedom of insecurity Scenario 8: individualization of work – disintegration of society Scenario 9: the multi-activity society Scenario 10: the free-time society A summary A critique of the future work scenarios Notes 5: The Risk Regime: How the Work Society is Becoming Risk Society The Fordist regime The risk regime Dimensions of the risk regime: globalization, ecologization, digitalization, individualization and politicization of work Multi-employment and the open organization of work Flexibilization of working time: less money, but more control Eyes-closed politics and criminalization Justice deficits of the caring society Summary Notes 6: A Thousand Worlds of Insecure Work: Europe's Future Glimpsed in Brazil Farewell to the Western universalism of the work society The future of informality ‘Being your own boss’ in a global world of opaque dependence Beyond the certainties of the work society On the cynicism of statistics: more hopeless, less jobless The ascription of unemployment and exclusion Time poverty, have-nots and the civil society revolution Notes 7: The Great Example?

It rests upon the insight that only people with a home and a secure job, and thus a material stake in the future, are or will become citizens who make democracy their own and breathe real life into it. The simple truth is that without material security there can be no political freedom – hence no democracy, but rather a threat to everyone from new and old totalitarian regimes and ideologies. The future of work and political action Quite clearly the work society is reaching its technological and ecological limits. This reintroduces a paradox that was once decisive for the development of the work society: on the one hand, work is the centre of society around which everything and everyone revolve and take their bearings; on the other hand, everything is done to eliminate as much work as possible.


pages: 343 words: 91,080

Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work by Alex Rosenblat

"Susan Fowler" uber, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, algorithmic management, Amazon Mechanical Turk, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, big-box store, bike sharing, Black Lives Matter, business logic, call centre, cashless society, Cass Sunstein, choice architecture, cognitive load, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, data science, death from overwork, digital divide, disinformation, disruptive innovation, don't be evil, Donald Trump, driverless car, emotional labour, en.wikipedia.org, fake news, future of work, gender pay gap, gig economy, Google Chrome, Greyball, income inequality, independent contractor, information asymmetry, information security, Jaron Lanier, Jessica Bruder, job automation, job satisfaction, Lyft, marginal employment, Mark Zuckerberg, move fast and break things, Network effects, new economy, obamacare, performance metric, Peter Thiel, price discrimination, proprietary trading, Ralph Waldo Emerson, regulatory arbitrage, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, self-driving car, sharing economy, side hustle, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Skype, social software, SoftBank, stealth mode startup, Steve Jobs, strikebreaker, TaskRabbit, technological determinism, Tim Cook: Apple, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, urban planning, Wolfgang Streeck, work culture , workplace surveillance , Yochai Benkler, Zipcar

Speaking with them didn’t change my findings, but it did inform my sense of their logic and frameworks and made me cognizant of gaps or limits in my own thinking or approach. Occasionally, I’ve run into senior Uber and Lyft employees at conferences and at hosted meetings that address the future of work. When we’ve sat down to chat, we’ve sifted through the details and debated the far-reaching implications of the rise of ridehail work. Meetings such as these have made it clear that there are unresolved tensions in how we understand the future of work: some thinkers study macroeconomic trends, others focus on the law, and some, like me, emphasize the social and cultural dynamics at stake. When I was visiting San Francisco in 2016, I arranged a meeting with a senior Uber employee, one of a handful of senior employees I would meet over the years.

Former taxi drivers, chauffeurs, and truck drivers are part of the Uber workforce, but others have no primary occupational identity as drivers, even as they drive for both Uber and Lyft. Their stories are all too often tales of folks on the margins, of workers in transition, of people who are part of a new wave of social progress that we are still trying to comprehend. Uber drivers frequently make the headlines as part of larger societal discussions about the future of work, and as part of a growing nervousness that technological advancement threatens to automate all of us out of jobs. But beyond this simplistic narrative, I’ve found that drivers are barely treated as workers at all. Given that Uber treats its workers as “consumers” of “algorithmic technology,” and promotes them as self-employed entrepreneurs, a thorny, uncharted, and uncomfortable question must be answered: If you use an app to go to work, should society consider you a consumer, an entrepreneur, or a worker?

The Uber platform allows users to seamlessly connect passengers and drivers: it calculates the rates, transmits credit card information, and maintains quality ratings for drivers and riders alike. As a company, Uber has unquestionably changed the way people get around hundreds of cities across the world. It has become a symbol of the New Economy and, for some, the future of work. Uber advertises that its drivers are entrepreneurs who can, with flexible schedules, make middle-class incomes even in an unstable economy. But do these assertions hold up to scrutiny, or is the company playing us with false claims? THE GREAT RECESSION AND THE SHARING ECONOMY Before we can understand how Uber treats its drivers, it’s necessary to take a step back.


pages: 361 words: 76,849

The Year Without Pants: Wordpress.com and the Future of Work by Scott Berkun

barriers to entry, Big Tech, blue-collar work, Broken windows theory, en.wikipedia.org, Firefox, future of work, Google Hangouts, Jane Jacobs, job satisfaction, Kanban, Lean Startup, lolcat, lone genius, Mark Zuckerberg, minimum viable product, post-work, remote working, Results Only Work Environment, Richard Stallman, Seaside, Florida, side project, Silicon Valley, six sigma, Skype, stealth mode startup, Steve Jobs, the Cathedral and the Bazaar, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the map is not the territory, The Soul of a New Machine, Tony Hsieh, trade route, work culture , zero-sum game

Most of what I remember are the notable oohs and aahs as we did our demonstration, sounds I hadn't heard about software I'd worked on with a team of people for far too long. Notes 1 A good overview of the history of fire teams is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireteam. 2 David McCullough, The Great Bridge (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983), 381. Chapter 8 The Future of Work, Part 1 Books about the future of work make the same mistake: they fail to look back at the history of work or, more precisely, the history of books about the future of work and how wrong they were. Few visions of the future come true, as we're very bad at predicting much of anything. Can you guess what sentence will come next? Did you guess this one would have a flaming zombie banana in it, a fruit so horrific it crawls the earth forever, eating banana brains?

Table of Contents Praise for The Year Without Pants Title Page Copyright What You Need to Know Chapter 1: The Hotel Electra Chapter 2: The First Day Notes Chapter 3: Tickets for Caturday Notes Chapter 4: Culture Always Wins Notes Chapter 5: Your Meetings Will Be Typed Notes Chapter 6: The Bazaar at the Cathedral Notes Chapter 7: The Big Talk Notes Chapter 8: The Future of Work, Part 1 Results Trump Traditions Creatives versus Supporters Hire Self-Sufficient, Passionate People Notes Chapter 9: Working the Team Chapter 10: How to Start a Fire Notes Chapter 11: Real Artists Ship Notes Chapter 12: Athens Lost and Found Notes Chapter 13: Double Down Notes Chapter 14: There Can Be Only One Notes Chapter 15: The Future of Work, Part 2 Life Without E-Mail Notes Chapter 16: Innovation and Friction Notes Chapter 17: The Intense Debate Notes Chapter 18: Follow the Sun Chapter 19: The Rise of Jetpack Notes Chapter 20: Show Me the Money Notes Chapter 21: Portland and the Collective Notes Chapter 22: The Bureau of Socialization Chapter 23: Exit Through Hawaii Chapter 24: The Future of Work, Part 3 Notes Epilogue: Where Are They Now?

—Gina Trapani, founding editor, Lifehacker “The future of work is distributed. Automattic wrote the script. Time for rest of us to read it.” —Om Malik, founder, GigaOM “Some say the world of work is changing, but they're wrong. The world has already changed! Read The Year Without Pants to catch up.” —Chris Guillebeau, author, New York Times bestseller The $100 Startup “You'll be surprised, shocked, delighted, thrilled, and inspired by how WordPress.com gets work done. I was!” —Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president, Microsoft “Most talk of the future of work is just speculation, but Berkun has actually worked there.


pages: 491 words: 77,650

Humans as a Service: The Promise and Perils of Work in the Gig Economy by Jeremias Prassl

3D printing, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, algorithmic management, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Andrei Shleifer, asset light, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, call centre, cashless society, Clayton Christensen, collaborative consumption, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, death from overwork, Didi Chuxing, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, full employment, future of work, George Akerlof, gig economy, global supply chain, Greyball, hiring and firing, income inequality, independent contractor, information asymmetry, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, low skilled workers, Lyft, machine readable, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Zuckerberg, market friction, means of production, moral hazard, Network effects, new economy, obamacare, pattern recognition, platform as a service, Productivity paradox, race to the bottom, regulatory arbitrage, remote working, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Ronald Coase, Rosa Parks, scientific management, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley ideology, Simon Singh, software as a service, Steve Jobs, TaskRabbit, TechCrunch disrupt, The Future of Employment, The Market for Lemons, The Nature of the Firm, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, transaction costs, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, two tier labour market, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, union organizing, warehouse automation, work culture , working-age population

Sara Horowith, founder and executive director of Freelancers Union, com- menting on an Upwork press release about 2014 US freelancing figures: Upwork, ‘53 million Americans now freelance, new study finds’, http://www. upwork.com/press/2014/09/03/53-million-americans-now-freelance-new- study-finds-2/, archived at https://perma.cc/P3Q4-WJH4 13. Frank Kalman, ‘Yes, the gig economy is great—but it isn’t the future of work’, Talent Economy (18 November 2016), https://medium.com/talent-economy/ yes-the-gig-economy-is-great-but-it-isnt-the-future-of-work-a5629f2b9e2d, archived at https://perma.cc/Q8MD-4A8C 14. Ibid. 15. For some of the most promising work at the time of writing, see McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), Independent Work: Choice, Necessity, and the Gig Economy (McKinsey & Co. 2016), 36; Brhmie Balaram, Josie Warden, and Fabian Wallace- Stephens, Good Gigs: A Fairer Future for the UK’s Gig Economy (RSA 2017), 18. 16.

Superficial * * * 8 Introduction as this may seem, language matters. This is the central theme of Chapter 2, ‘Doublespeak’. Discussions of the gig economy to date have been characterized by a clash of narratives—‘simple stories [that] distort multifaceted realities’, in the words of Frank Pasquale:16 platforms either promise to revolutionize the future of work to the benefit of all or represent a return to medieval feudalism. Each of these narratives is important in its own right—but, as we quickly discover, much more is at stake. With regulators around the world trying to work out how the gig economy should fit into existing legal structures, nar- ratives play a powerful role in shaping regulation.

There is much that is innovative about the gig economy’s reliance on modern technology—but in so far as work is concerned, the business model is ancient. This is the ‘Innovation Paradox’. Many platforms’ business models are built around large workforces competing over relatively low- skilled tasks, controlled by powerful intermediaries. The future of work, it turns out, is a blast from the past. From eighteenth-century outwork to nineteenth-century dock labour, there is ample historical precedent for this organization of work—and the resulting working conditions. And it is not only in history that we can find similar models: technology apart, gig work fits neatly into a broader trend of fissurization, from temporary agency work to supply-chain outsourcing, which has been growing in our labour markets for several decades.


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The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism by Arun Sundararajan

"World Economic Forum" Davos, additive manufacturing, Airbnb, AltaVista, Amazon Mechanical Turk, asset light, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, benefit corporation, bike sharing, bitcoin, blockchain, book value, Burning Man, call centre, Carl Icahn, collaborative consumption, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, commoditize, commons-based peer production, corporate social responsibility, cryptocurrency, data science, David Graeber, distributed ledger, driverless car, Eben Moglen, employer provided health coverage, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane: The New Division of Labor, future of work, general purpose technology, George Akerlof, gig economy, housing crisis, Howard Rheingold, independent contractor, information asymmetry, Internet of things, inventory management, invisible hand, job automation, job-hopping, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Kula ring, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mary Meeker, megacity, minimum wage unemployment, moral hazard, moral panic, Network effects, new economy, Oculus Rift, off-the-grid, pattern recognition, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer lending, peer-to-peer model, peer-to-peer rental, profit motive, public intellectual, purchasing power parity, race to the bottom, recommendation engine, regulatory arbitrage, rent control, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Ronald Coase, Ross Ulbricht, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, smart contracts, Snapchat, social software, supply-chain management, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, the long tail, The Nature of the Firm, total factor productivity, transaction costs, transportation-network company, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, Vitalik Buterin, WeWork, Yochai Benkler, Zipcar

Table of Contents Title page Copyright page Dedication Author’s Note and Acknowledgments Introduction I Cause1 The Sharing Economy, Market Economies, and Gift Economies 2 Laying the Tracks: Digital and Socioeconomic Foundations 3 Platforms: Under the Hood 4 Blockchain Economies: The Crowd as the Market Maker II Effect5 The Economic Impacts of Crowd-Based Capitalism 6 The Shifting Landscape of Regulation and Consumer Protection 7 The Future of Work: Challenges and Controversies 8 The Future of Work: What Needs to Be Done 9 Concluding Thoughts Index List of Tables Table 3.1 Platforms: hierarchies, markets, or hybrids? Table 8.1 Definitions of “employee” under selected statutes Table 8.2 Estimated percentage of workers who want a different type of employment, 2005 Table 8.3 Factors in assessing a platform’s support of entrepreneurship List of Illustrations Figure 0.1 Paid US workforce, 1900–1960.

Additionally, at an October 2015 labor conference hosted by the White House, President Barack Obama discussed ways of protecting the new workforce in an hour-long town hall discussion he moderated with Michelle Miller, the co-founder of coworker.org, after highlighting the opportunities created by the future of work heralded by platforms like Uber, Lyft, and TaskRabbit in an earlier keynote speech. But what exactly do these opportunities look like? On one side of the argument, there are the Liss-Riordans of the world who may consider the future of work—at least as it is currently unfolding in the sharing economy—as a near-certain race to the bottom. Among the most vocal proponents of this view is the former labor secretary and University of California professor Robert Reich.

Or will it represent the culmination of the end of broad-based and high standards of living that the United States witnessed in the 1950s and 1960s—a disparaging race to the bottom that leaves workers around the world working more hours for less money and with minimal job security and benefits? Put another way, will the future of work be populated by successful microentrepreneurs, like David with his fleet of cars on Turo, ThreeBirdNest’s Alicia Shaffer on Etsy, and Don Dennis running his business from the island of Gigha? Or will the future be populated by disenfranchised workers who scurry between platforms as they hunt for their next wedge of piecework? In this chapter, I highlight the labor issues central to shaping this future of work. First, I examine the current debate on the employment status of sharing economy workers and proposed expansions to the US worker categorization model.


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The Future Is Analog: How to Create a More Human World by David Sax

Alvin Toffler, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, Bernie Sanders, big-box store, bike sharing, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, bread and circuses, Buckminster Fuller, Cal Newport, call centre, clean water, cognitive load, commoditize, contact tracing, contact tracing app, COVID-19, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data science, David Brooks, deep learning, digital capitalism, Donald Trump, driverless car, Elon Musk, fiat currency, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, gentrification, George Floyd, indoor plumbing, informal economy, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, lockdown, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Minecraft, New Urbanism, nuclear winter, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Peter Thiel, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, remote working, retail therapy, RFID, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Saturday Night Live, Shoshana Zuboff, side hustle, Sidewalk Labs, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart cities, social distancing, sovereign wealth fund, Steve Jobs, Superbowl ad, supply-chain management, surveillance capitalism, tech worker, technological singularity, technoutopianism, TED Talk, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, TikTok, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, unemployed young men, urban planning, walkable city, Y2K, zero-sum game

Meanwhile, for those companies that went remote in the pandemic, the debts accrued by their surrender to digital continue to mount: a debt of talent and creativity, of ideas, culture, and the interpersonal ties that make a company much more than the work it does. What is surprising is not that the digital future of work fell flat. What is surprising is how naive we were to think we could just move everyone out of their offices and into their homes and that it wouldn’t make any difference in the end in how they worked. So what is the future of work? If you believe it is digital, you might want to prepare your child for that future with the Fisher-Price My Home Office—with its plastic laptop, phone, headset, and takeout coffee cup and fabric spreadsheets that stick onto the screen—because as the marketing material says, “That report is due this morning, and there’s a call with the dog across the street after naptime!”

The boss who micromanaged you from a corner office now does so from a corner of your laptop screen, commenting on the hours you put in the day before in a Slack thread, as she fires fresh tasks at you with the pace of a machine gun. Debating whether the future of work will take place at the office or at home is actually a distraction from the larger and more significant questions about work that we need to confront. “We want the answers to be binary,” said Joseph White from Herman Miller, “but we know that’s not going to work because people are not binary. They exist along a huge spectrum of experience.” The deeper conversation about the future of work isn’t about tools either—not digital ones, like the next iteration of Zoom or Slack, or analog ones, like the flexible office furniture and hybrid conference rooms Herman Miller was selling to meet this new opportunity.

It was hardly craft. It felt like, well, work. I hope the future of work allows me more flexibility and time. I want work that is meaningful and rewarding but that also allows me to pick up my kids from school or edit this book from a beach house. I don’t want to be shackled to a desk in some tower from nine to five, Monday to Friday. But I also don’t want a life where I sit at this desk in my house, in the same sweatpants, day in and day out, logging in and out of meetings and calls with no end in sight. That future may be technically possible, but the future of work I want to build is one that allows me to feel more human, not less.


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Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley From Building a New Global Underclass by Mary L. Gray, Siddharth Suri

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, AlphaGo, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Apollo 13, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, benefit corporation, Big Tech, big-box store, bitcoin, blue-collar work, business process, business process outsourcing, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, cloud computing, cognitive load, collaborative consumption, collective bargaining, computer vision, corporate social responsibility, cotton gin, crowdsourcing, data is the new oil, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, deskilling, digital divide, do well by doing good, do what you love, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, employer provided health coverage, en.wikipedia.org, equal pay for equal work, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, financial independence, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane: The New Division of Labor, fulfillment center, future of work, gig economy, glass ceiling, global supply chain, hiring and firing, ImageNet competition, independent contractor, industrial robot, informal economy, information asymmetry, Jeff Bezos, job automation, knowledge economy, low skilled workers, low-wage service sector, machine translation, market friction, Mars Rover, natural language processing, new economy, operational security, passive income, pattern recognition, post-materialism, post-work, power law, race to the bottom, Rana Plaza, recommendation engine, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Coase, scientific management, search costs, Second Machine Age, sentiment analysis, sharing economy, Shoshana Zuboff, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, software as a service, speech recognition, spinning jenny, Stephen Hawking, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, The Nature of the Firm, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, two-sided market, union organizing, universal basic income, Vilfredo Pareto, Wayback Machine, women in the workforce, work culture , Works Progress Administration, Y Combinator, Yochai Benkler

There is still time to bring jobs out of the shadow of AI and make them equitable and dignified employment of which all parties involved will feel proud. Drawing on what we have learned from research participants and studying the dynamics of on-demand labor markets, we have a few technical and social fixes to suggest for moving the future of work forward. What We Can Do Next to Update Jobs for the Future of Work Imagine what society could achieve if businesses, consumers, governments, and citizens fully recognized the value of human creativity and the pooled, collective effort of so many humans contributing to on-demand services. What potential benefits could flow from projects channeled, at least in part, through APIs and software if we invested in them as a new category of employment, the most likely mode of employment through at least our grandchildren’s lives?

The Outsourcer: The Story of India’s IT Revolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2015. Shestakofsky, Benjamin. “Working Algorithms: Software Automation and the Future of Work.” Work and Occupations, August 28, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888417726119. Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. Media tie-in edition. New York: William Morrow, 2016. Silberman, M. Six. “Human-Centered Computing and the Future of Work: Lessons from Mechanical Turk and Turkopticon, 2008–2015.” PhD diss., University of California, Irvine, 2015. Silberman, M.

They need an automated method to get help generating and cleaning up that data, and they rely on many people around the world to do it. On-demand labor platforms offer today’s online businesses a combination of human labor and AI, creating a massive, hidden pool of people available for ghost work. Delivering services and jobs on demand could be an integral part of the future of work. It could also have unintended, potentially disastrous consequences if not designed and managed with care and attention to how it is restructuring the experience and meaning that people attach to their day jobs. Ghost Work and the Future of Employment The dismantling of employment is a deep, fundamental transformation of the nature of work.


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Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization? by Aaron Dignan

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", Abraham Maslow, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, adjacent possible, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, autonomous vehicles, basic income, benefit corporation, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, Black Swan, blockchain, Buckminster Fuller, Burning Man, butterfly effect, cashless society, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cognitive bias, cognitive dissonance, content marketing, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, correlation does not imply causation, creative destruction, crony capitalism, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, David Heinemeier Hansson, deliberate practice, DevOps, disruptive innovation, don't be evil, Elon Musk, endowment effect, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, financial engineering, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, future of work, gender pay gap, Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute, gig economy, Goodhart's law, Google X / Alphabet X, hiring and firing, hive mind, holacracy, impact investing, income inequality, information asymmetry, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, job satisfaction, Kanban, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, Lean Startup, loose coupling, loss aversion, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, minimum viable product, mirror neurons, new economy, Paul Graham, Quicken Loans, race to the bottom, reality distortion field, remote working, Richard Thaler, Rochdale Principles, Salesforce, scientific management, shareholder value, side hustle, Silicon Valley, single source of truth, six sigma, smart contracts, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, software is eating the world, source of truth, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Steve Jobs, subprime mortgage crisis, systems thinking, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, The future is already here, the High Line, too big to fail, Toyota Production System, Tragedy of the Commons, uber lyft, universal basic income, WeWork, Y Combinator, zero-sum game

Contents Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraphs Part One THE FUTURE OF WORK Part Two THE OPERATING SYSTEM Part Three THE CHANGE Epilogue WHAT DREAMS MAY COME Acknowledgments Appendix Notes Index About the Author People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like. —Artemus Ward Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again. —André Gide Part One THE FUTURE OF WORK The beginning is the most important part of the work. —Plato We were packed into the back of a black car, on our way to a celebratory dinner.

But when you view the world that way, today’s uncertainty and volatility become triggers for retreating to what has worked in the past. We just need to hire more capable leaders. We just need to squeeze out a little more efficiency and growth. We just need to reorganize. . . . But we know better. The real barrier to progress in the twenty-first century is us. THE FUTURE OF WORK What if your organization could run itself? What if your corporation, your startup, your restaurant, your school, or your church were able to get better every day, without you having to move mountains to make it so? What if you could stop giving orders? Stop checking in to see how things are going?

Finally, we’ll take a moment to imagine a world in which we get this right, and organizations everywhere create fulfillment and abundance. The foundations of a new economy are slowly forming, and I’ll show you where to look to see them taking shape. In the end, you’ll have everything you need to step confidently into the future of work. HOW I GOT HERE In 2007 I was part of the founding team of a company that created digital strategies for some of the biggest brands in the world. A few years later I became the CEO. While I thought of myself as progressive, in truth I managed the company in a somewhat traditional way.


pages: 436 words: 98,538

The Upside of Inequality by Edward Conard

affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, agricultural Revolution, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, assortative mating, bank run, Berlin Wall, book value, business cycle, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, Climatic Research Unit, cloud computing, corporate governance, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, crony capitalism, disruptive innovation, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Fall of the Berlin Wall, full employment, future of work, Gini coefficient, illegal immigration, immigration reform, income inequality, informal economy, information asymmetry, intangible asset, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invention of the telephone, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Jeff Bezos, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, Kodak vs Instagram, labor-force participation, Larry Ellison, liquidity trap, longitudinal study, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, means of production, meta-analysis, new economy, offshore financial centre, paradox of thrift, Paul Samuelson, pushing on a string, quantitative easing, randomized controlled trial, risk-adjusted returns, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, selection bias, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, Snapchat, Steve Jobs, survivorship bias, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, total factor productivity, twin studies, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, University of East Anglia, upwardly mobile, War on Poverty, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population, zero-sum game

.: Perceptions, Facts and Challenges,” National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2134208 28. Ibid. Schloetzer et al., “Departing CEO Age and Tenure.” 29. Lawrence Summers, “The Future of Work in the Age of the Machine: A Hamilton Project Policy Forum,” National Press Club, February 19, 2015, http://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/the_future_of_work_in_the_age_of_the_machine. Joseph E. Stiglitz, “The Origins of Inequality, and Policies to Contain It,” National Tax Journal 68 (2015): 425–48, https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/download/papers/2015%20Origins%20of%20Inequality.pdf.

Chris Gaither and Dawn Chmielewski, “Fears of Dot-Com Crash, Version 2.0,” Los Angeles Times, July 16, 2006, http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/16/business/fi-overheat16. 15. Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009). 16. Lawrence Summers, “The Future of Work in the Age of the Machine: A Hamilton Project Policy Forum,” National Press Club, February 19, 2015, http://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/the_future_of_work_in_the_age_of_the_machine. 17. Robert McIntyre, Richard Phillips, and Phineas Baxandall, “Offshore Shell Games 2015: The Use of Offshore Tax Havens by Fortune 500 Companies,” Citizens for Tax Justice, 2015, http://ctj.org/pdf/offshoreshell2015.pdf. 18.

Christopher Matthews, “How Silicon Valley Is Hollowing Out the Economy (and Stealing from You to Boot),” Time, May 7, 2013, http://business.time.com/2013/05/07/how-silicon-valley-is-hollowing-out-the-economy-and-stealing-from-you-while-theyre-at-it. 3. Erik Brynjolfsson, “The Future of Work in the Age of the Machine: A Hamilton Project Policy Forum,” National Press Club, Washington, DC, February 19, 2015, http://www.hamiltonproject.org/assets/legacy/files/download_and_links/2015_02_24_THP_Future_of_Work_in_Machine_Age_tran script_unedited.pdf. 4. Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013). 5. Bradford Delong, “Over at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth: Piketty Day Here at Berkeley: The Honest Broker for the Week of April 26 2014,” Grasping Reality with the Invisible Hand, April 23, 2014, http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2014/04/piketty-day-here-at-berkeley-the-honest-broker-for-the-week-of-april-26-2014.html. 6.


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Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI by Paul R. Daugherty, H. James Wilson

3D printing, AI winter, algorithmic management, algorithmic trading, AlphaGo, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Robotics, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, business process, call centre, carbon footprint, circular economy, cloud computing, computer vision, correlation does not imply causation, crowdsourcing, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, digital twin, disintermediation, Douglas Hofstadter, driverless car, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, fail fast, friendly AI, fulfillment center, future of work, Geoffrey Hinton, Hans Moravec, industrial robot, Internet of things, inventory management, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job satisfaction, knowledge worker, Lyft, machine translation, Marc Benioff, natural language processing, Neal Stephenson, personalized medicine, precision agriculture, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, robotic process automation, Rodney Brooks, Salesforce, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sensor fusion, sentiment analysis, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Snow Crash, software as a service, speech recognition, tacit knowledge, telepresence, telepresence robot, text mining, the scientific method, uber lyft, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics

” — DAVID KENNY, Senior Vice President, IBM Watson and IBM Cloud “Human + Machine creates the framework for forward-thinking leaders to develop opportunities within their operating system that optimize both human and machine intelligence; a deeply thought-provoking analysis of how to introduce AI to enhance internal operations and develop a technology-enabled, long-term growth strategy.” — AARON LEVIE, CEO, Box “AI offers great promise to benefit people and society but also presents new challenges and risks. In Human + Machine, Daugherty and Wilson have published a crucial perspective on the future of work, illuminating the human-machine relationship in a way that will help us all better understand, discuss, and shape our AI future.” — TERAH LYONS, Founding Executive Director, the Partnership on AI; former advisor, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy “Those of us not trained as technologists must be curious, ongoing learners—then we must apply our learning to job creation in an AI world.

Chapter 7 takes a hard look at managerial challenges introduced by AI that require different, new responses from management and leadership. A huge question here is, what steps must management take to facilitate reimagining processes? Specifically, management must support five crucial activities, including an emphasis on trial-and-error experimentation, building a data supply chain for AI, and others. Finally, we explore the future of work itself in chapter 8. Specifically, as human-machine collaborations become increasingly prevalent, companies will need to hire for and develop eight new “fusion skills”: intelligent interrogation (knowing how best to ask an AI agent questions, across levels of abstraction, to get the insights you need), bot-based empowerment (collaborating with intelligent agents to punch above your weight at work), reciprocal apprenticing (teaching AI agents new skills while also undergoing on-the-job training to work well within AI-enhanced processes), holistic melding (developing mental models of AI agents that improve collaborative outcomes), rehumanizing time (reimagining business processes to amplify the time available for distinctly human tasks and learning), responsible normalizing (shaping the purpose and perception of human-machine collaborations as it relates to individuals, businesses, and society), judgment integration (choosing a course of action amid machine uncertainty), and relentless reimagining (thinking of novel ways to overhaul work, processes, and business models to obtain exponential increases in improvement).

In short, sensor data and AI are now allowing the company to sell “light as a service” instead of just bulbs.2 Heady times, for sure. But as AI enters the front office, new questions about best practices arise. How do AI and new modes of human-machine interaction change the way companies deliver goods and services, and how are these interactions shaping the future of work? How do the new user interfaces like Alexa change the relationships between companies’ brands and their customers? What design choices can make or break a natural-language bot? And what happens when logos and mascots—traditional brand ambassadors—gain intelligence? These questions are at the heart of this chapter.


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The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Web Services, Anthropocene, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, bitcoin, blockchain, Buckminster Fuller, call centre, circular economy, clean water, collaborative consumption, commoditize, conceptual framework, continuous integration, CRISPR, cross-border payments, crowdsourcing, digital divide, digital twin, disintermediation, disruptive innovation, distributed ledger, driverless car, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, epigenetics, Erik Brynjolfsson, future of work, global value chain, Google Glasses, hype cycle, income inequality, Internet Archive, Internet of things, invention of the steam engine, job automation, job satisfaction, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, life extension, Lyft, Marc Benioff, mass immigration, megacity, meta-analysis, more computing power than Apollo, mutually assured destruction, Narrative Science, Network effects, Nicholas Carr, nuclear taboo, OpenAI, personalized medicine, precariat, precision agriculture, Productivity paradox, race to the bottom, randomized controlled trial, reshoring, RFID, rising living standards, Sam Altman, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, smart cities, smart contracts, social contagion, software as a service, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, Stuxnet, supercomputer in your pocket, synthetic biology, TaskRabbit, The Future of Employment, The Spirit Level, total factor productivity, transaction costs, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, Wayback Machine, WikiLeaks, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, working-age population, Y Combinator, Zipcar

We must limit the downside of the human cloud in terms of possible exploitation, while neither curtailing the growth of the labour market nor preventing people from working in the manner they choose. If we are unable to do this, the fourth industrial revolution could lead to the dark side of the future of work, which Lynda Gratton, a professor of management practice at London Business School describes in her book The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here - increasing levels of fragmentation, isolation and exclusion across societies.29 As I state throughout this book, the choice is ours. It entirely depends on the policy and institutional decisions we make. One has to be aware, however, that a regulatory backlash could happen, thereby reasserting the power of policymakers in the process and straining the adaptive forces of a complex system.

This is particularly the case for the younger generation who often feel that corporate jobs constrain their ability to find meaning and purpose in life. In a world where boundaries are disappearing and aspirations are changing, people want not only work-life balance but also harmonious work-life integration. I am concerned that the future of work will only allow a minority of individuals to achieve such fulfilment. 3.2 Business Beyond the changes in growth patterns, labour markets and the future of work that will naturally influence all organisations, there is evidence that the technologies that underpin the fourth industrial revolution are having a major impact on how businesses are led, organized and resourced.

, The New York Times, 7 March 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/opinion/sunday/if-an-algorithm-wrote-this-how-would-you-even-know.html?_r=0 25 Martin Ford, Rise of the Robots, Basic Books, 2015. 26 Daniel Pink, Free Agent Nation – The Future of Working for Yourself, Grand Central Publishing, 2001. 27 Quoted in: Farhad Manjoo, “Uber’s business model could change your work”, The New York Times, 28 January 2015. 28 Quoted in: Sarah O’Connor, “The human cloud: A new world of work”, The Financial Times, 8 October 2015. 29 Lynda Gratton, The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here, Collins, 2011. 30 R. Buckminster Fuller and E.J. Applewhite, Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, Macmillan, 1975. 31 Eric Knight, “The Art of Corporate Endurance”, Harvard Business Review, April 2, 2014 https://hbr.org/2014/04/the-art-of-corporate-endurance 32 VentureBeat, “WhatsApp now has 700M users, sending 30B messages per day”, January 6 2015 http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/06/whatsapp-now-has-700m-users-sending-30b-messages-per-day/ 33 Mitek and Zogby Analytics, Millennial Study 2014 , September 2014 https://www.miteksystems.com/sites/default/files/Documents/zogby_final_embargo_14_9_25.pdf 34 Gillian Wong, “Alibaba Tops Singles’ Day Sales Record Despite Slowing China Economy”, The Wall Street Journal, 11 November 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/alibaba-smashes-singles-day-sales-record-1447234536 35 “The Mobile Economy: Sub-Saharan Africa 2014”, GSM Association, 2014.


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The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction by Jamie Woodcock, Mark Graham

Airbnb, algorithmic management, Amazon Mechanical Turk, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, British Empire, business process, business process outsourcing, Californian Ideology, call centre, collective bargaining, commoditize, corporate social responsibility, crowdsourcing, data science, David Graeber, deindustrialization, Didi Chuxing, digital divide, disintermediation, emotional labour, en.wikipedia.org, full employment, future of work, gamification, gender pay gap, gig economy, global value chain, Greyball, independent contractor, informal economy, information asymmetry, inventory management, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, knowledge economy, low interest rates, Lyft, mass immigration, means of production, Network effects, new economy, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, planetary scale, precariat, rent-seeking, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, TaskRabbit, The Future of Employment, transaction costs, Travis Kalanick, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, union organizing, women in the workforce, working poor, young professional

The gig economy is the battleground in a set of conflicts being waged that will determine the futures of work. You may think that your own job is safe from some of the changes described in this book, but the processes that define the gig economy could come to transform almost every type of work. The balance sheet thus far is deeply worrying, and should be a cause of concern for workers the world over. And it will continue to be a concern unless we find ways of taking what we already know about how the gig economy works and who it works for, to collectively build a more equitable and fairer future of work. Notes 1. For further information, see http://www.followthethings.com 2.

And thanks to Kat: for always being a steady source of wisdom, advice and good humour – no matter how difficult a day of work has become. Finally, we would like to thank all of the workers we have spoken to and whose voices we have tried to feature within the book. Ultimately, this is a book about hope for fairer futures of work. As such, we dedicate it to the workers whose stories are not already written. Introduction Everybody is talking about the gig economy. From newscasters to taxi drivers to pizza deliverers to the unemployed, we are all aware of the changes to our jobs, our professions, our economies and our everyday lives wrought by the gig economy.

The aim of this chapter is not only to shine a spotlight on the new moments of resistance that gig work is creating, but also to understand that work is a phenomenon that always is shaped by both employers and workers – along with other preconditions that we discussed in chapter 1 like the role of the state and regulation. By examining how workers are resisting, organizing and shaping the gig economy, we can draw out different potential futures of work. However, when the gig economy and platform work was first recognized as a growing phenomenon around ten years ago, many commentators noted that traditional forms of worker representation would no longer be appropriate or adequate to protect these workers. The widespread use by platforms of self-employed independent contractor status not only creates the conditions of low pay and precarious work that we have discussed so far, but it also creates significant barriers to traditional forms of trade unionism.


pages: 263 words: 77,786

Tomorrow's Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business by Alan Murray

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Alvin Toffler, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, Boris Johnson, call centre, carbon footprint, commoditize, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate raider, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, decarbonisation, digital divide, disinformation, disruptive innovation, do well by doing good, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Ferguson, Missouri, financial innovation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, gentrification, George Floyd, global pandemic, Greta Thunberg, gun show loophole, impact investing, income inequality, intangible asset, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, job automation, knowledge worker, lockdown, London Whale, low interest rates, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, means of production, minimum wage unemployment, natural language processing, new economy, old-boy network, price mechanism, profit maximization, remote working, risk-adjusted returns, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, scientific management, shareholder value, side hustle, Silicon Valley, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, The Future of Employment, the payments system, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tim Cook: Apple, Washington Consensus, women in the workforce, work culture , working poor, zero-sum game

And it’s not just a US workforce issue but a global issue. In 2019, the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work stated, “Today’s skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow, and newly acquired skills may quickly become obsolete.”15 Obsolete is a chilling word. We know from history that industries once the cornerstone of economies can die and leave large numbers of workers out in the cold. In the last half century this has happened repeatedly, partially because of the introduction of new technologies. The ILO has adopted what it calls the Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, stating that it is the joint obligation of governments and the organizations supporting businesses and workers to establish lifelong learning systems to prepare for the next era of work.

And if you think that way, you want to make sure you grease the skids for women to come into the workforce and perform at their best. You will not just make it a feminist and a female issue.… It’s about the future of the country, the economic promise of the country, the future of work. I think we need to soften the discussion from the future of work to include all this because right now it’s too hard—technology, destruction, hybrid workplaces. But hybrid workplaces to enable what? Flexible working to enable what? I think we need to get more expansive and have a holistic conversation. And I think the time for that has come.”

Deanna Mulligan, who stepped down as CEO of Guardian Life Insurance at the end of 2020, was committed to reskilling and expressed her views in Hire Purpose: How Smart Companies Can Close the Skills Gap, which was published during the last months of her tenure. She writes that the new age is upon us, and “we have the tools to prepare ourselves for the future of work. Indeed, we have an unprecedented opportunity to adapt to a new reality.” But to do that, she warns, “we must not only act; we must act with intelligence.… The worst mistake we can make at this point is to get so caught up in imagining what could happen that we forget our own agency in determining what will happen.”18 When I spoke with Mulligan, she told me about her evolution on the issue.


pages: 237 words: 67,154

Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet by Trebor Scholz, Nathan Schneider

1960s counterculture, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Anthropocene, barriers to entry, basic income, benefit corporation, Big Tech, bitcoin, blockchain, Build a better mousetrap, Burning Man, business logic, capital controls, circular economy, citizen journalism, collaborative economy, collaborative editing, collective bargaining, commoditize, commons-based peer production, conceptual framework, content marketing, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data science, Debian, decentralized internet, deskilling, disintermediation, distributed ledger, driverless car, emotional labour, end-to-end encryption, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, food desert, future of work, gig economy, Google bus, hiring and firing, holacracy, income inequality, independent contractor, information asymmetry, Internet of things, Jacob Appelbaum, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Julian Assange, Kickstarter, lake wobegon effect, low skilled workers, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, minimum viable product, moral hazard, Network effects, new economy, offshore financial centre, openstreetmap, peer-to-peer, planned obsolescence, post-work, profit maximization, race to the bottom, radical decentralization, remunicipalization, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rochdale Principles, SETI@home, shareholder value, sharing economy, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, smart cities, smart contracts, Snapchat, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, technological solutionism, technoutopianism, transaction costs, Travis Kalanick, Tyler Cowen, Uber for X, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, Vitalik Buterin, W. E. B. Du Bois, Whole Earth Catalog, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, workplace surveillance , Yochai Benkler, Zipcar

The problems of labor abuse and surveillance that have arisen with the “sharing economy,” also, are not entirely new; they have much in common with struggles on nineteenth-century factory floors. By considering the emerging platforms in light of well-hewn cooperative principles and practices, we find an optimistic vision for the future of work and life. Already, this strategy is catching on. Workers, organizers, developers, and social entrepreneurs around the world are experimenting with cooperative platforms and forming conversations about platform cooperativism. This book, therefore, is an effort to serve a movement in the making, to add to the momentum we and our fellow contributors already feel.

Just like my Buddhist friends, the pioneers of this economy proposed to split the use of lawn mowers, drills, and cars. But soon, the non-commercial values behind many platforms were rewritten in the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, turning the “sharing economy” into a misnomer. Today, facing various prophecies about sharing and the future of work, we need to remind ourselves that there is no unstoppable evolution leading to the uberization of society; more positive alternatives are possible. In Average Is Over, the economist Tyler Cowen foresees a future in which a tiny “hyper meritocracy” would make millions while the rest of us struggle to survive on anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 a year.

Artists like Burak Arikan, Alex Rivera, Stephanie Rothenberg, and Dmytri Kleiner played pioneering roles in alerting the public to these issues. Later, debates became more concerned with “crowd fleecing,” the exploitation of thousands of invisible workers in crowdsourcing systems like Amazon Mechanical Turk or content moderation farms in the Philippines. Over the past few years, the search for concrete alternatives for a better future of work has become more dynamic. The theory of platform cooperativism has two main tenets: communal ownership and democratic governance. It is bringing together 135 years of worker self-management, the roughly 170 years of the cooperative movement, and commons-based peer production with the compensated digital economy.


pages: 344 words: 104,077

Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together by Thomas W. Malone

Abraham Maslow, agricultural Revolution, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, Asperger Syndrome, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, bitcoin, blockchain, Boeing 747, business process, call centre, carbon tax, clean water, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, data science, deep learning, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, drone strike, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, experimental economics, Exxon Valdez, Ford Model T, future of work, Future Shock, Galaxy Zoo, Garrett Hardin, gig economy, happiness index / gross national happiness, independent contractor, industrial robot, Internet of things, invention of the telegraph, inventory management, invisible hand, Jeff Rulifson, jimmy wales, job automation, John Markoff, Joi Ito, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, knowledge worker, longitudinal study, Lyft, machine translation, Marshall McLuhan, Nick Bostrom, Occupy movement, Pareto efficiency, pattern recognition, prediction markets, price mechanism, radical decentralization, Ray Kurzweil, Rodney Brooks, Ronald Coase, search costs, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, slashdot, social intelligence, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steven Pinker, Stewart Brand, technological singularity, The Nature of the Firm, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Wisdom of Crowds, theory of mind, Tim Cook: Apple, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, Travis Kalanick, Uber for X, uber lyft, Vernor Vinge, Vilfredo Pareto, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!

Goodin, “Epistemic Democracy: Generalizing the Condorcet Jury Theorem,” Journal of Political Philosophy 9 (2001): 277–306, doi:10.1111/1467-9760.00128. 2. Thomas W. Malone, The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2004). 3. Bryan Ford, “Delegative Democracy Revisited,” Bryan Ford’s Blog, November 16, 2014, http://bford.github.io/2014/11/16/deleg.html; Malone, The Future of Work, 65n21. 4. Sven Becker, “Web Platform Makes Professor Most Powerful Pirate,” Spiegel Online, March 2, 2012, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/liquid-democracy-web-platform-makes-professor-most-powerful-pirate-a-818683.html; Wikipedia, s.v.

As far as we know, Obama didn’t issue any new orders while watching the raid, but in principle, such detailed information from anywhere on the planet makes it possible for the US president as well as senior executives of other large organizations to exercise an unprecedented amount of detailed control over decisions far down in their organizations’ hierarchies. In other words, they can now intervene in low-level decision making in ways they never could have before. On the other hand, as I argued in my 2004 book, The Future of Work, it will probably be even more common for cheap communication to help decentralize decision making in many parts of our economy.4 Here’s why: New information technologies allow much cheaper communication. Cheaper communication means it’s economically feasible for many more people to have much more information than in the past.

But in our increasingly knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy, the critical factors in business success are often precisely the same as the advantages of decentralized decision making: motivation, creativity, and flexibility. That’s why I think we’re likely to see more and more decentralization of decision making over the coming decades. In the years since The Future of Work was published, many of the things it predicted have become more common: Highly decentralized online groups like Wikipedia and open-source software are much more prominent. Decentralized markets for things like taxi services (Lyft) and hotel services (Airbnb) have captured our national attention.


pages: 301 words: 89,076

The Globotics Upheaval: Globalisation, Robotics and the Future of Work by Richard Baldwin

agricultural Revolution, Airbnb, AlphaGo, AltaVista, Amazon Web Services, Apollo 11, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Big Tech, bread and circuses, business process, business process outsourcing, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Cass Sunstein, commoditize, computer vision, Corn Laws, correlation does not imply causation, Credit Default Swap, data science, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, declining real wages, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, deskilling, Donald Trump, Douglas Hofstadter, Downton Abbey, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, facts on the ground, Fairchild Semiconductor, future of journalism, future of work, George Gilder, Google Glasses, Google Hangouts, Hans Moravec, hiring and firing, hype cycle, impulse control, income inequality, industrial robot, intangible asset, Internet of things, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Kevin Roose, knowledge worker, laissez-faire capitalism, Les Trente Glorieuses, low skilled workers, machine translation, Machine translation of "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." to Russian and back, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, mass immigration, mass incarceration, Metcalfe’s law, mirror neurons, new economy, optical character recognition, pattern recognition, Ponzi scheme, post-industrial society, post-work, profit motive, remote working, reshoring, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Robert Metcalfe, robotic process automation, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, San Francisco homelessness, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, side project, Silicon Valley, Skype, Snapchat, social intelligence, sovereign wealth fund, standardized shipping container, statistical model, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, supply-chain management, systems thinking, TaskRabbit, telepresence, telepresence robot, telerobotics, Thomas Malthus, trade liberalization, universal basic income, warehouse automation

THE GLOBOTICS UPHEAVAL Globalisation, Robotics, and the Future of Work RICHARD BALDWIN CONTENTS Title Page 1. Introduction PART I Historical Transformation, Upheaval, Backlash, and Resolution 2. We’ve Been Here Before: The Great Transformation 3. The Second Great Transformation: From Things to Thoughts PART II The Globotics Transformation 4. The Digitech Impulse Driving Globotics 5. Telemigration and the Globotics Transformation 6. Automation and the Globotics Transformation 7. The Globotics Upheaval 8. New Backlash, New Shelterism 9. Globotics Resolution: A More Human, More Local Future 10.

The final of the four steps was resolution. Two of the three solutions—communism and New Deal capitalism—are still with us. The third, fascism, was extinguished by the main adherents of the other two. Another lesson from the Great Transformation concerns jobs displacement and job replacement—topics that are at the heart of today’s “future of work” deliberations. Automation and globalization drove a sensational re-orientation of the economy. Taking Britain as an example, the share of workers in industry rose progressively from 19 percent in 1700 to 49 percent in 1870, according to one of the grand masters of economic history, Nicholas Crafts.13 During this period, the nation also shifted from a primarily rural society to one where almost two-thirds of people lived in urban areas.

Increasing reliance on remote workers (especially those who are not traditional, full-time employees) is providing today’s service-sector companies with essential elements of flexibility. “To keep pace with constant change in the digital era,” noted the Accenture Technology Vision 2017 report: “The future of work has already arrived, and digital leaders are fundamentally reinventing their workforces. . . . The resulting on-demand enterprise will be key to the rapid innovation and organizational changes that companies need to transform themselves into truly digital businesses.” There is a lot of business-school jargon packed into those sentences, but you should latch on to the basic point: steady jobs won’t be so steady anymore.


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The Job: The Future of Work in the Modern Era by Ellen Ruppel Shell

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", 3D printing, Abraham Maslow, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, airport security, Albert Einstein, AlphaGo, Amazon Mechanical Turk, basic income, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, big-box store, blue-collar work, Buckminster Fuller, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Clayton Christensen, cloud computing, collective bargaining, company town, computer vision, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, data science, deskilling, digital divide, disruptive innovation, do what you love, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Elon Musk, emotional labour, Erik Brynjolfsson, factory automation, follow your passion, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, game design, gamification, gentrification, glass ceiling, Glass-Steagall Act, hiring and firing, human-factors engineering, immigration reform, income inequality, independent contractor, industrial research laboratory, industrial robot, invisible hand, It's morning again in America, Jeff Bezos, Jessica Bruder, job automation, job satisfaction, John Elkington, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, labor-force participation, low skilled workers, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, move fast and break things, new economy, Norbert Wiener, obamacare, offshore financial centre, Paul Samuelson, precariat, Quicken Loans, Ralph Waldo Emerson, risk tolerance, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Rodney Brooks, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, Steve Jobs, stock buybacks, TED Talk, The Chicago School, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, Thomas L Friedman, Thorstein Veblen, Tim Cook: Apple, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, urban renewal, Wayback Machine, WeWork, white picket fence, working poor, workplace surveillance , Y Combinator, young professional, zero-sum game

to make a contribution, to make them feel worthwhile Many thanks to David Nordfors, PhD, founder of the International Institute of Innovation Journalism and Communication (IIIJ) and organizer of a series of top-level conferences focused on innovation and the future of work. David, who was kind enough to invite me to the meeting in Lund, Sweden, was also kind enough to share his thoughts on the future of work in a private conversation. nobody “can look forward to the age of leisure” John Maynard Keynes, “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” [1930], in Revisiting Keynes: Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren, ed.

What becomes clear is that people everywhere wish for the same thing—an education that will launch them into a life of productive, purposeful, and fairly compensated work. Wishes not being horses, only some will ride—and we’ll see why. And we’ll also get a hint of what we need (beyond wishes) to boost more of us up into the saddle. The fourth and final section is where the future of work comes alive: a philosopher turned sausage maker in Helsinki, Finland; a designer of motorcycles in Brooklyn; a twenty-four-year-old broom maker in Kentucky; a basketball shoe magnate in Philadelphia; the founder of a national convenience store chain in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Though wildly different in many ways, they share one common purpose: to get work right.

This and so much more data—properly collected, codified, and analyzed—can be applied to automate almost any high-order task. Data can also serve as a surrogate for human experience and intuition. Online shopping and social media sites “learn” our preferences and use that information to make values-based assessments to influence our decisions and, ultimately, our behavior. What might this portend for the future of work? The answer to that question is as nervous making as it is uncertain. What we do know is that the allocation of tasks between humans and machines depends on the productivity of each—when humans do a job cheaper or faster than machines, they generally get to keep it. But there is no economic principle to support the idea that humans will frequently come out ahead.


pages: 463 words: 115,103

Head, Hand, Heart: Why Intelligence Is Over-Rewarded, Manual Workers Matter, and Caregivers Deserve More Respect by David Goodhart

active measures, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, assortative mating, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, big-box store, Black Lives Matter, Boris Johnson, Branko Milanovic, Brexit referendum, British Empire, call centre, Cass Sunstein, central bank independence, centre right, computer age, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, data science, David Attenborough, David Brooks, deglobalization, deindustrialization, delayed gratification, desegregation, deskilling, different worldview, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, emotional labour, Etonian, fail fast, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Flynn Effect, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, gender pay gap, George Floyd, gig economy, glass ceiling, Glass-Steagall Act, Great Leap Forward, illegal immigration, income inequality, James Hargreaves, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job satisfaction, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, labour market flexibility, lockdown, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, Mark Zuckerberg, mass immigration, meritocracy, new economy, Nicholas Carr, oil shock, pattern recognition, Peter Thiel, pink-collar, post-industrial society, post-materialism, postindustrial economy, precariat, reshoring, Richard Florida, robotic process automation, scientific management, Scientific racism, Skype, social distancing, social intelligence, spinning jenny, Steven Pinker, superintelligent machines, TED Talk, The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Thorstein Veblen, twin studies, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, upwardly mobile, wages for housework, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, young professional

Millions of us are willing to pay a few cents extra to hear her rather than another singer who is only marginally less able; and this allows Battle to write her own ticket.”29 The focus on the most talented people at the tops of organizations, combined, especially in Britain and America, with intense pressure to reduce costs and maximize shareholder returns, has also been reshaping the way that big corporations operate in what is sometimes called the “Future of Work” transformation. Back in the 1980s what are sometimes called the global multinationals (GMNs) began introducing enterprise-wide IT systems and turned routine administrative work into specialist centralized “shared services centers” that supplied a standard service to all business units. As this work was classified as nonstrategic and non–value creating, it could even be outsourced and offshored to low-wage countries. GMNs reduced their head count and produced much better-looking labor productivity ratios. This opening phase of the Future of Work established a sense of “core” work and work that could be contracted out to the “contingent” labor market.

Chapter Nine: The Fall of the Knowledge Worker 1 Paul Krugman, “White Collar Workers Turn Blue,” New York Times Magazine, September 29, 1996, https://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/BACKWRD2.html. 2 Richard Baldwin, The Globotics Upheaval Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019), 12–13. 3 Phillip Brown and Hugh Lauder, “Auctioning the Future of Work,” World Policy, June 10, 2013. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Richard and Daniel Susskind, The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015), 1. 8 Ibid., 2. 9 Ibid., xi. 10 OECD (2018), “How Does the Earnings Advantage of Tertiary-Educated Workers Evolve Across Generations?

The disruption experienced by relatively well-educated professionals could lead to a new sympathy for people performing Hand and Heart work, partly because many former accountants and lawyers will find themselves doing those jobs. The educated people who voted against populism will be far more open to reallocating status when automation has abolished their jobs, as Richard Baldwin predicts in The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work. At the same time, the pay, conditions, and training of Hand and Heart jobs are likely to improve because of the simple operation of supply and demand. And most of these everyday face-to-face service and care jobs, from car mechanic to mail deliverer and nursery nurse, cannot be exported or done by a robot.


pages: 257 words: 76,785

Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less Here's How by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

8-hour work day, airport security, Albert Einstein, behavioural economics, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Brexit referendum, business process, call centre, carbon footprint, centre right, classic study, cloud computing, colonial rule, death from overwork, disruptive innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson, future of work, game design, gig economy, Henri Poincaré, IKEA effect, iterative process, job automation, job satisfaction, job-hopping, Johannes Kepler, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, longitudinal study, means of production, neurotypical, PalmPilot, performance metric, race to the bottom, remote work: asynchronous communication, remote working, Rutger Bregman, Salesforce, Second Machine Age, side project, Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs, tech worker, TED Talk, telemarketer, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, women in the workforce, work culture , young professional, zero-sum game

You’ll learn why many companies succeed in moving to a shorter workweek, and why a few fail. Finally, you’ll see how by treating work and time as things that we can redesign using the same tools that cutting-edge companies use to create world-class products and services, we can make our work better, our workplaces happier and more prosperous, and the future of work brighter. Reducing business hours runs against every instinct we have about work and success and requires defying professional norms and ignoring social expectations. Yet it can work. Shortening the workweek can help make companies run better, encourage leaders and workers to develop new skills, enhance focus and collaboration, make work more sustainable, and improve work-life balance.

“Prototype” is all about the practical steps companies take when redesigning the workday: how they change daily routines, meetings, and cultural norms; how they exploit technology; and how people learn to manage and collaborate in new ways. “Test” presents the results: how shorter working hours affect recruitment and retention, productivity, and profitability; the impact it has on work-life balance and creativity; and how clients and customers react. Finally, “Share” explains how shorter workweeks could change the future of work, how they could help us deal with rising levels of stress and burnout, how they create new ways of solving problems posed by automation and AI, and how they could even contribute to fighting inequality and climate change. Using design thinking as a framework also keeps us focused on the question of “How can I do this?”

Those efforts point to an important part of the story of companies moving to four-day workweeks. Their solutions turn out to hold the seeds of a business revolution, a paradigm shift in how we think about work, productivity, time, and technology. That paradigm shift, as we’ll see in the final section, holds the promise of a better future of work. It could contribute to solving looming problems with an aging workforce, climate change, and automation and AI. TSURUMAKIKITA, HADANO, JAPAN The Jinya ryokan is a small inn located in Kanagawa prefecture, about an hour outside Tokyo. A ryokan is a traditionally styled guesthouse: think futons on tatami mats, hot-spring baths, multicourse kaiseki meals, and well-tended gardens.


pages: 344 words: 94,332

The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity by Lynda Gratton, Andrew Scott

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, Airbnb, asset light, assortative mating, behavioural economics, carbon footprint, carbon tax, classic study, Clayton Christensen, collapse of Lehman Brothers, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, deep learning, delayed gratification, disruptive innovation, diversification, Downton Abbey, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, falling living standards, financial engineering, financial independence, first square of the chessboard, first square of the chessboard / second half of the chessboard, future of work, gender pay gap, gig economy, Google Glasses, indoor plumbing, information retrieval, intangible asset, Isaac Newton, job satisfaction, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, Lyft, Nelson Mandela, Network effects, New Economic Geography, old age dependency ratio, pattern recognition, pension reform, Peter Thiel, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Florida, Richard Thaler, risk free rate, Second Machine Age, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, side project, Silicon Valley, smart cities, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, tacit knowledge, The Future of Employment, uber lyft, warehouse robotics, women in the workforce, young professional

The fact that this is already happening is given credence in one recent economic study which found that the long-running increase in demand for skilled workers started to go into reverse in 2000.13 In a much-quoted study, Oxford academics Carl Frey and Michael Osborne14 calculate that a total of 47 per cent of jobs in the US are vulnerable to these forces in the next few decades – that’s 60 million jobs. The future of work These are complex issues, yet those looking forward to a long life are faced with making some early bets about what path to go down. What would be the advice to them? What will be the future of work? Unique human skills From a technological perspective, the real question about the future of work concerns the limits of AI and robotic substitution. At the time of writing there is broad agreement that certain skills and capabilities are unique to humans and cannot (yet) be replicated or substituted by AI or robotics.

Right now it is likely that when Jane enters her first job she will experience gender parity. But will this continue over her career? For example, will Jane find it as hard to become a senior executive as women in 2014 are finding it? Forecasts from the International Labour Organization (ILO)22 report ‘Women and the Future of Work’, published in early 2015, suggest it will take at least seventy years to reach gender wage parity given current rates of change. That’s 2085, by which time Jane will be 87. It is a very dispiriting thought. Flexibility Goldin’s detailed analysis sheds much light on the issue of why women earn less than men.

The scarcer your talents, the stronger your negotiation hand and therefore the more choices you have to structure your life and make the most of your 100 years. Not everyone will have this negotiation hand or access to choice. How far along on this agenda are corporations? As part of this 100-year study, we took a sounding of what corporations are currently doing to prepare for these new ways of working. This became a theme of the Future of Work Consortium that Lynda directs and which brings together executives from around the world. In a series of interviews, and then in a workshop in London in October 2014, we discussed their plans to make the most of this 100-year bonanza. We found that, with a few exceptions, most are doing very little.


pages: 229 words: 61,482

The Gig Economy: The Complete Guide to Getting Better Work, Taking More Time Off, and Financing the Life You Want by Diane Mulcahy

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, basic income, Clayton Christensen, cognitive bias, collective bargaining, creative destruction, David Brooks, deliberate practice, digital nomad, diversification, diversified portfolio, fear of failure, financial independence, future of work, gig economy, helicopter parent, Home mortgage interest deduction, housing crisis, independent contractor, job satisfaction, Kickstarter, loss aversion, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Lyft, mass immigration, mental accounting, minimum wage unemployment, mortgage tax deduction, negative equity, passive income, Paul Graham, remote working, risk tolerance, Robert Shiller, seminal paper, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, social contagion, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, the strength of weak ties, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, wage slave, WeWork, Y Combinator, Zipcar

From the time we’re kids, adults ask us what we want to be when we grow up, and the answers reflect what we see around us—employees in full-time jobs. We answer that we want to be teachers or doctors or firefighters. I haven’t yet heard a kid say that she wants to be a consultant, or a freelancer, or a contractor. But if I did, that’s the one I’d bet on, because that kid understands that employees in full-time jobs aren’t the future of work. By the time today’s kids grow up, becoming an employee and getting a full-time job will be the exception, not the rule. The Employee vs. Contractor Debate The Gig Economy is still emerging and gaining traction. Along the way, it’s exposing our obsolete, outdated, and confusing labor market policies.

As we enter a work world that doesn’t offer a long-term reliable income or any sense of job security, we should expect to see workers choosing a far less leveraged, more variable cost lifestyle because they don’t know what the future holds. The highly leveraged, high-overhead middle-class lifestyle simply isn’t sustainable in the Gig Economy The Future of Work: Stop Looking for a Job As we’ve seen throughout this book, we can, through a portfolio of diverse work, and independent of a full-time job, achieve decent pay, access good benefits, including our own healthcare coverage and retirement savings, have autonomy and control, pursue work that we believe is meaningful, and structure a life that is consistent with our vision of success and our priorities.

In the Gig Economy, we can simply remove the rigid framework of a job and instead talk about how to encourage an economy of good work, no matter how it is organized and structured. We can achieve the benefits of a good job without having to get a job. This finding has enormous implications for workers, employers, and our economy. If we can accept that the future of work is based on work, not jobs, then we can start changing policies to give workers benefits, protections, and rights no matter how much or how they work. We can close the enormous loophole that allows (and provides incentives for) companies to avoid paying taxes and benefits for workers who aren’t employees.


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The Lonely Century: How Isolation Imperils Our Future by Noreena Hertz

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", Airbnb, airport security, algorithmic bias, Asian financial crisis, autism spectrum disorder, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, big-box store, Broken windows theory, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, car-free, Cass Sunstein, centre right, conceptual framework, Copley Medal, coronavirus, correlation does not imply causation, COVID-19, dark matter, deindustrialization, Diane Coyle, digital divide, disinformation, Donald Trump, driverless car, emotional labour, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, Fellow of the Royal Society, future of work, gender pay gap, gentrification, gig economy, Gordon Gekko, greed is good, Greta Thunberg, happiness index / gross national happiness, housing crisis, illegal immigration, independent contractor, industrial robot, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, Jessica Bruder, job automation, job satisfaction, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, Kevin Roose, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, lockdown, longitudinal study, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, mass immigration, means of production, megacity, meta-analysis, move fast and break things, Network effects, new economy, Pepto Bismol, QWERTY keyboard, Ray Oldenburg, remote working, rent control, RFID, robo advisor, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, San Francisco homelessness, Second Machine Age, Shoshana Zuboff, side hustle, Silicon Valley, Skype, Snapchat, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, SoftBank, Steve Jobs, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, tech worker, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Future of Employment, The Great Good Place, the long tail, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, urban planning, Wall-E, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, WeWork, work culture , working poor, workplace surveillance

A debate’, MIT Technology Review, 12 June 2019, https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/12/134982/should-we-tax-robots-a-debate/. 103 House of Commons, Business – Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, ‘Oral evidence: Automation and the future of work, HC 1093’, 15 May 2019, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmbeis/1093/1093.pdf; House of Commons – Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, ‘Automation and the future of work – Twenty-Third Report of Session 2017-19’, 9 September 2019, http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/business-energy-and-industrial-strategy-committee/automation-and-the-future-of-work/oral/102291.html Q303. 104 Eduardo Porter, ‘Don’t Fight the Robots. Tax Them.’, New York Times, 23 February 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/sunday-review/tax-artificial-intelligence.html; ‘Robot density rises globally’, International Federation of Robotics, 7 February 2018, https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/robot-density-rises-globally.

Glassberg, ‘More Countries Consider Implementing a “Right to Disconnect”’. The National Law Review, 29 January 2019, https://www.natlawreview.com/article/more-countries-consider-implementing-right-to-disconnect. 89 Raquel Flórez, ‘The future of work – New rights for new times’, Freshfields, 5 December 2018, https://digital.freshfields.com/post/102f6up/the-future-of-work-new-rights-for-new-times; Ornstein and Glassberg, ‘More Countries Consider Implementing a “Right to Disconnect”. 90 ‘Banning out-of-hours email “could harm employee wellbeing”’, BBC News, 18 October 2019, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50073107. 91 Evgeny Morozov, ‘So you want to switch off digitally?

‘Forced out: The cost of getting childcare wrong’, Trades Union Congress, 4 June 2020, https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/forced-out-cost-getting-childcare-wrong. 94 Brian Wheeler, ‘Why Americans don’t take sick days’, BBC News, 14 September 2014, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37353742. 95 Harriet Meyer, ‘Part-time workers ‘trapped’ in jobs with no chance of promotion’, Guardian, 8 July 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jul/08/part-time-workers-trapped-jobs; Richard Partington, ‘Mothers working part-time hit hard by gender pay gap, study shows’, Guardian, 5 February 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/05/mothers-working-part-time-hit-hard-by-gender-pay-gap-study-shows; Paul Johnson, ‘We must not ignore plight of low-paid men as once we ignored that of working women’, Institute for Fiscal Studies, 12 November 2018, https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/13706. 96 See for example Ariane Hegewisch and Valerie Lacarte, ‘Gender Inequality, Work Hours, and the Future of Work’, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 14 November 2019, https://iwpr.org/publications/gender-inequality-work-hours-future-of-work/. 97 Dominic Walsh, ‘Centrica staff get extra paid leave to care for sick relatives’, The Times, 7 May 2019, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/centrica-staff-get-extra-paid-leave-to-care-for-sick-relatives-6397f7vs8. 98 Joe Wiggins, ‘9 Companies That Offer Corporate Volunteering Days’, Glassdoor, 6 May 2019, https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/blog/time-off-volunteer/. 99 Kari Paul, ‘Microsoft Japan tested a four-day work week and productivity jumped by 40%’, Guardian, 4 November 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/04/microsoft-japan-four-day-work-week-productivity.


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The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People - and the Fight for Our Future by Alec Ross

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, air gap, air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, An Inconvenient Truth, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, benefit corporation, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, big-box store, British Empire, call centre, capital controls, clean water, collective bargaining, computer vision, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate raider, COVID-19, deep learning, Deng Xiaoping, Didi Chuxing, disinformation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Donald Trump, Double Irish / Dutch Sandwich, drone strike, dumpster diving, employer provided health coverage, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, general purpose technology, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global supply chain, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, Gordon Gekko, greed is good, high-speed rail, hiring and firing, income inequality, independent contractor, information security, intangible asset, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, knowledge worker, late capitalism, low skilled workers, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Marc Benioff, mass immigration, megacity, military-industrial complex, minimum wage unemployment, mittelstand, mortgage tax deduction, natural language processing, Oculus Rift, off-the-grid, offshore financial centre, open economy, OpenAI, Parag Khanna, Paris climate accords, profit motive, race to the bottom, RAND corporation, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Bork, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, self-driving car, shareholder value, side hustle, side project, Silicon Valley, smart cities, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, sovereign wealth fund, sparse data, special economic zone, Steven Levy, stock buybacks, strikebreaker, TaskRabbit, tech bro, tech worker, transcontinental railway, transfer pricing, Travis Kalanick, trickle-down economics, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, Upton Sinclair, vertical integration, working poor

In the United States: Susan Lund, James Manyika, Liz Hilton Segel, André Dua, Bryan Hancock, Scott Rutherford, and Brent Macon, The Future of Work in America: People and Places, Today and Tomorrow (McKinsey Global Institute, July 11, 2019), https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-america-people-and-places-today-and-tomorrow; Svet Smit, Tilman Tacke, Susan Lund, James Manyika, and Lea Thiel, The Future of Work in Europe (McKinsey Global Institute, June 10, 2020), https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-europe. In 2019, the five hundred largest companies: “Fortune 500,” Fortune, accessed July 3, 2020, https://fortune.com/fortune500/.

pending legislation that would strengthen: Eli Rosenberg, “House Passes Bill to Rewrite Labor Laws and Strengthen Unions,” Washington Post, February 6, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/06/house-passes-bill-rewrite-labor-laws-strengthen-unions/. by 2028, researchers estimate: 2018 Skills Gap and Future of Work Study, Deloitte Insights and the Manufacturing Institute, accessed May 2020, https://operationalsolutions.nam.org/mi-skills-gap-study-18/. Today only 14 percent of British: Carl Roper, “Trade Union Membership Is Growing, but There’s Still Work to Do,” Trades Union Congress, May 31, 2018, https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/trade-union-membership-growing-there%E2%80%99s-still-work-do.

less than 2 percent of the US labor force: “Electronically Mediated Work: New Questions in the Contingent Worker Supplement,” Monthly Labor Review, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2018, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2018/article/electronically-mediated-work-new-questions-in-the-contingent-worker-supplement.htm; “How Many Gig Workers Are There?,” Gig Economy Data Hub, Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative and Cornell University ILR School, https://www.gigeconomydata.org/basics/how-many-gig-workers-are-there. On August 22, 2017, more than one hundred: Marie Targonski-O’Brien, “Uber, Lyft Drivers Crowd LAX, Protest Low Pay,” KCET, August 22, 2017, https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/uber-lyft-drivers-crowd-lax-protest-low-pay.


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Unleashed by Anne Morriss, Frances Frei

"Susan Fowler" uber, Airbnb, An Inconvenient Truth, Black Lives Matter, book value, Donald Trump, future of work, gamification, gig economy, glass ceiling, Grace Hopper, Greyball, Jeff Bezos, Netflix Prize, Network effects, performance metric, race to the bottom, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, Sheryl Sandberg, side hustle, Silicon Valley, SoftBank, Steve Jobs, super pumped, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, Tony Hsieh, Toyota Production System, Travis Kalanick, Uber for X, WeWork, women in the workforce, work culture

The last thing we’ll say is this: if you do nothing else, put down your phone. You’ll be amazed at the immediate uptick in trust—and you may even get to end those meetings sooner. We’ve seen organizations that adopt high-empathy meeting norms cut the time they spend in meetings in half. (See the sidebar “Empathy and the Future of Work.”) Empathy and the Future of Work It has not been a banner decade for trust in the American workplace. We’ve grown increasingly skeptical that our employers will tell us the truth, have our backs in hard times, or compensate us fairly for the work we do. As massive forces such as globalization and technological innovation continue to reshape our experience of work, we’re pretty sure that someone else—or something else—will be doing our jobs in the future.

Although there’s an obvious role for the public sector in driving this change, Escobari knows that the private sector is indispensable and is energized by a renewed corporate focus on retraining employees (rather than laying them off) as technology transforms the workplace. She cites many examples of companies effectively preparing their employees for a future of work that is not so far away, including companies like Costco, JetBlue, and Trader Joe’s. We’ve even seen companies at the scale of Walmart begin to invest in employee education in innovative ways. In 2018, Walmart made headlines with its “dollar-a-day” education benefit that gives associates the chance to earn a college degree through nonprofit partner universities, paying the equivalent of $1 a day as they progress toward a bachelor’s or associate’s degree.10 Our education bias is clear—see our histories and career choices—but we believe a big part of the remedy to America’s trust wobble is to increase fair access to opportunities to develop a competitive skill set.

As one of our heroes, Brazilian thinker and teacher Paulo Freire, said, “What the educator does is make it possible for students to become themselves.”11 There is no higher human need than to realize our full potential, and no greater act of empathy than to enable that evolution in others. We believe the future of work—and of the planet Marcario has vowed to save—depends on our willingness to exchange the gift of each other’s transformation. Logic: Large but not quite in charge Your wobble may be logic if people don’t always have confidence in the rigor of your ideas—or full faith in your ability to deliver on them.


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The Refusal of Work: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work by David Frayne

anti-work, antiwork, basic income, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Californian Ideology, call centre, capitalist realism, classic study, clockwatching, critique of consumerism, David Graeber, deindustrialization, deskilling, emotional labour, Ford Model T, future of work, Herbert Marcuse, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, low skilled workers, McJob, means of production, moral panic, new economy, Paradox of Choice, post-work, profit motive, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Skype, unpaid internship, work culture , working poor, young professional

Why, at the pinnacle of society’s productive development, is there still thought to be a need for everybody to work for most of the time? What is work for, and what else could we be doing in the future, were we no longer cornered into spending most of our time working? As we will see, such questions are part of a well-established history of critical thinking on the meaning, purpose and future of work. If such questions are rarely posed outside of this academic clique, however, it is perhaps because they ask us to scrutinise realities that are usually accepted as natural and inevitable. It may feel like there is little incentive to reflect critically on work from a position where most of us, irrespective of our attitudes towards work, are pretty much obliged to perform it anyway.

What Gorz and other critics of work prompt us to ask is nothing less than the following question: what kind of society do we want to live in? I have here provided a brief sketch of critical approaches to work that go beyond the Left’s traditional concerns with wages and working conditions, to question the future of work itself. Along with those authors who have interrogated the history of attitudes towards work, those writers who have questioned work’s future provide a valuable opportunity for some critical distance from the present, work-centred state of affairs. What they provide, above all, is a provocation: an occasion to question whether work can continue to function as the main lynchpin of income, rights and social belonging.

This task – which Gorz has called the politics of time – aims to offer a practical response to today’s disintegrating labour market. But more than this, it also invites us to talk about the conditions for freedom, and to engage in a dialogue about the kind of society we want to live in. Like the theorists presented here, I would like to see a fresh, progressive debate unfold on the meaning and future of work. I would like us to remember that the nine-to-five, Monday-to- Friday working week is a relatively modern invention, and to talk about other potential ways of distributing work. I would like us to think about alternative modes of experiencing the pleasure and solidarity which, up to now, have been conventionally sought through work.


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WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us by Tim O'Reilly

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", 4chan, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, AlphaGo, Alvin Roth, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, AOL-Time Warner, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, behavioural economics, benefit corporation, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Sanders, Bill Joy: nanobots, bitcoin, Blitzscaling, blockchain, book value, Bretton Woods, Brewster Kahle, British Empire, business process, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Captain Sullenberger Hudson, carbon tax, Carl Icahn, Chuck Templeton: OpenTable:, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cloud computing, cognitive dissonance, collateralized debt obligation, commoditize, computer vision, congestion pricing, corporate governance, corporate raider, creative destruction, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, Danny Hillis, data acquisition, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, Dennis Ritchie, deskilling, DevOps, Didi Chuxing, digital capitalism, disinformation, do well by doing good, Donald Davies, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, Filter Bubble, Firefox, Flash crash, Free Software Foundation, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, George Akerlof, gig economy, glass ceiling, Glass-Steagall Act, Goodhart's law, Google Glasses, Gordon Gekko, gravity well, greed is good, Greyball, Guido van Rossum, High speed trading, hiring and firing, Home mortgage interest deduction, Hyperloop, income inequality, independent contractor, index fund, informal economy, information asymmetry, Internet Archive, Internet of things, invention of movable type, invisible hand, iterative process, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, jitney, job automation, job satisfaction, John Bogle, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), Kaizen: continuous improvement, Ken Thompson, Kevin Kelly, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, Kim Stanley Robinson, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, Lao Tzu, Larry Ellison, Larry Wall, Lean Startup, Leonard Kleinrock, Lyft, machine readable, machine translation, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, McMansion, microbiome, microservices, minimum viable product, mortgage tax deduction, move fast and break things, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, Nick Bostrom, obamacare, Oculus Rift, OpenAI, OSI model, Overton Window, packet switching, PageRank, pattern recognition, Paul Buchheit, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer model, Ponzi scheme, post-truth, race to the bottom, Ralph Nader, randomized controlled trial, RFC: Request For Comment, Richard Feynman, Richard Stallman, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Robert Metcalfe, Ronald Coase, Rutger Bregman, Salesforce, Sam Altman, school choice, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, SETI@home, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, skunkworks, Skype, smart contracts, Snapchat, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, social web, software as a service, software patent, spectrum auction, speech recognition, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, stock buybacks, strong AI, synthetic biology, TaskRabbit, telepresence, the built environment, the Cathedral and the Bazaar, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, the map is not the territory, The Nature of the Firm, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Davenport, Tony Fadell, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, transcontinental railway, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, trickle-down economics, two-pizza team, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, ubercab, universal basic income, US Airways Flight 1549, VA Linux, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, We are the 99%, web application, Whole Earth Catalog, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, Y Combinator, yellow journalism, zero-sum game, Zipcar

,” EconoMonitor, January 13, 2014, revised June 25, 2014, http://www.economonitor.com/dolanecon/2014/01/13/could-we-afford-a-universal-basic-income/. 307 would cost only $175 billion: Matt Bruenig and Elizabeth Stoker, “How to Cut the Poverty Rate in Half (It’s Easy),” The Atlantic, October 29, 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/how-to-cut-the-poverty-rate-in-half-its-easy/280971/. 307 “I am confident”: “The Future of Work and the Proposal for a Universal Basic Income: A Discussion with Andy Stern, Natalie Foster, and Sam Altman,” held at Bloomberg Beta in San Francisco on June 27, 2016, https://raisingthefloor.splashthat.com. 309 Anne-Marie Slaughter: Anne-Marie Slaughter, Unfinished Business (New York: Random House, 2015). 309 “patterns of consumption”: Anne-Marie Slaughter, “How the Future of Work May Make Many of Us Happier,” Huffington Post, retrieved April 4, 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne marie-slaughter/future-of-work-happier _b_6453594.html. 309 “support the families they are caring for”: Anne-Marie Slaughter, in conversation with Tim O’Reilly and Lauren Smiley, “Flexibility Needed: Not Just for On Demand Workers,” Next:Economy Summit, San Francisco, October 10–11, 2015.

Stephens II, “I Often Can’t Afford Groceries Because of Volatile Work Schedules at Gap,” Guardian, August 17, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/17/cant-afford-groceries-volatile-work-schedules-gap. 191 Starbucks: Jodi Cantor, “Working Anything but 9 to 5,” New York Times, August 13, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/star bucks-workers-scheduling-hours.html. 192 Starbucks only banned in mid-2014: Jodi Cantor, “Starbucks to Revise Policies to End Irregular Schedules for Its 130,000 Baristas,” New York Times, August 15, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/us/starbucks-to-revise-work-scheduling-policies.html. 192 “not enough hours”: Jodi Lambert, “The Real Low-Wage Issue: Not Enough Hours,” CNN, January 13, 2014, http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/13/news/economy/minimum-wage-hours/. 192 a host of other labor woes: Carrie Gleason and Susan Lambert, “Uncertainty by the Hour,” Future of Work Project, retrieved March 31, 2017, http://static.opensocietyfoundations. org/misc/future-of-work/just-in-time-workforce-technologies-and-low-wage-workers.pdf. 192 a study of Uber drivers: Jonathan Hall and Alan Krueger, “An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners in the United States,” Uber, January 22, 2015, https://s3.amazonaws.com/uber-static/comms/PDF/Uber_Driver-Partners _Hall_Kreuger_2015.pdf. 193 rather than to increase hours for individual workers: Susan Lambert, “Work Scheduling Study,” University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, May 2010, retrieved March 31, 2017, https://ssascholars.uchicago. edu/sites/default/files/work-scheduling-study/files/univ_of_chicago_work _scheduling_manager_report_6_25_0. pdf. 193 “In August 2013”: Esther Kaplan, “The Spy Who Fired Me,” Harper’s, March 2015, 36, available at http://populardemo cracy.org/sites/default/files/Harpers Magazine-2015-03-0085373.pdf. 194 “new jobs fall on that spectrum”: Lauren Smiley, “Grilling the Government About the On-Demand Economy,” Backchannel, August 23, 2015, https://backchannel.com/why-the-us-secretary-or-labor-doesn-t-uber-272f18799f1a. 194 They became part-time employees: Brad Stone, “Instacart Reclassifies Part of Its Workforce Amid Regulatory Pressure on Uber,” Bloomberg Technology, June 22, 2015, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-22/instacart-reclassifies-part-of-its-work force-amid-regulatory-pressure-on-uber. 195 present for their children’s birthdays: Noam Scheiber, “The Perils of Ever-Changing Work Schedules Extend to Children’s Well-Being,” New York Times, August 12, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/business/economy/the-perils-of-ever-changin-work-schedules-extend-to-childrens-well-being.html. 196 writing in Harvard Business Review: Andrei Hagiu and Rob Biederman, “Companies Need an Option Between Contractor and Employee,” Harvard Business Review, August 21, 2015, https://hbr.org/2015/08/companies-need-an-option-between-contractor-and-employee. 196 writing on Medium: Simon Rothman, “The Rise of the Uncollared Worker and the Future of the Middle Class,” Medium, July 7, 2015, https://news. greylock.com/the-rise-of-the-uncollared-worker-and-the-future-of-the-middle-class-860a928357b7. 196 “Shared Security Account”: Nick Hanauer and David Rolf, “Shared Security, Shared Growth,” Democracy, no. 37 (Summer 2015), http://democracyjournal.org/magazine/37/shared-security-shared-growth/?

Key to their ability to hire the best people, he said, is these companies’ willingness to let their researchers share their work. Apple, which has a culture of secrecy, has been unable to attract top talent, and as a result, has recently had to change its policies. Understanding where value is created versus where it is captured is equally important when considering the future of work. As we will see in the next chapter, the question of whether the next wave of automation will leave enough jobs for humans is deeply rooted in outdated maps of what counts as paid work, and what we take for granted and expect to be provided for free. 14 WE DON’T HAVE TO RUN OUT OF JOBS AT THE OUTSET OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION, JOHN MAYNARD Keynes penned a remarkable economic prognostication: that despite the ominous storm that was then enfolding the world, mankind was in fact on the brink of solving “the economic problem”—that is, the quest for daily subsistence.


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Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Ada Lovelace, algorithmic management, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, big-box store, Black Lives Matter, Cambridge Analytica, Charles Babbage, ChatGPT, collective bargaining, colonial rule, commoditize, company town, computer age, computer vision, coronavirus, cotton gin, COVID-19, cryptocurrency, DALL-E, decarbonisation, deskilling, digital rights, Donald Trump, Edward Jenner, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, factory automation, flying shuttle, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, George Floyd, gig economy, gigafactory, hiring and firing, hockey-stick growth, independent contractor, industrial robot, information asymmetry, Internet Archive, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, James Hargreaves, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, Jessica Bruder, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, military-industrial complex, move fast and break things, Naomi Klein, New Journalism, On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, OpenAI, precariat, profit motive, ride hailing / ride sharing, Sam Bankman-Fried, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, spinning jenny, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, super pumped, TaskRabbit, tech billionaire, tech bro, tech worker, techlash, technological determinism, Ted Kaczynski, The Future of Employment, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, W. E. B. Du Bois, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, working poor, workplace surveillance

Many factory owners, especially those who had built their operations in more remote places, could not find enough labor to run them—they did not want skilled workers, who cost more and were not pliable, and few wanted to work in the factories voluntarily—so they brokered deals with workhouses and orphanages like St Pancras, where Blincoe was signed up. Ironically, some of those factory owners, like Richard Arkwright, had built those operations in remote locations precisely because they were remote—away from population centers where workers intuited that factories signaled a hellish future of work and would try to burn them down. Hidden from view, these operations often turned into precisely the hells that workers feared. Disgruntled, anti-factory working people, like those who became Luddites, had an array of disturbing contemporary examples assembled before them. The true scope of horrors unfolding at the mills was not yet widely known, but plenty of examples were.

Consider: Do you find it disagreeable that the only job you can seem to find is part-time gig work arranged through an app, and that the company that cuts your paycheck does so according to a complex and opaque algorithm that seems to change the way you get paid every other week? You are mistaken; this app is the flexible future of work. You are a Luddite; the CEOs, business consultants, and corporate scribes that have championed this mode of work say so themselves.1 Do you dislike the notion that management has hinted that a robotic arm will be taking your place on the warehouse floor, or that, if you are not laid off, you will be forced to keep up with said robotic arm?

It instructed readers “not to fear AI”; though 85 million jobs were to be “displaced” by technology, eventually, it would create 97 million new ones. Economists and consultants frequently point to this tradeoff—yes, new technologies will destroy some jobs, but they will create new ones, too—as a means of alleviating public fears of mass layoffs. A 2017 McKinsey future of work report was titled “Jobs lost, jobs gained.” But imagine telling a starving weaver in 1811, or a despairing cab driver in 2021, not to worry, in the future more jobs will exist in the place of the one you are losing. We shouldn’t be surprised when they refuse to accept that it’s their duty to lay down and die, to again paraphrase Frank Peel.


pages: 241 words: 70,307

Leadership by Algorithm: Who Leads and Who Follows in the AI Era? by David de Cremer

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", algorithmic bias, algorithmic management, AlphaGo, bitcoin, blockchain, business climate, business process, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, corporate governance, data is not the new oil, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, fake news, future of work, job automation, Kevin Kelly, Mark Zuckerberg, meta-analysis, Norbert Wiener, pattern recognition, Peter Thiel, race to the bottom, robotic process automation, Salesforce, scientific management, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Stephen Hawking, The Future of Employment, Turing test, work culture , workplace surveillance , zero-sum game

The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298-318. 110 De Cremer, D. (2013). ‘The proactive leader: How to overcome procrastination and be a bold decision-maker.’ Palgrave MacMillan. 111 Jarrahi, M. H. (2018). ‘Artificial intelligence and the future of work: Human-AI symbiosis in organizational decision making.’ Business Horizons, 61(4), 577-586. 112 Malone, T.W. (2018). ‘How human-computer ‘Superminds’ are redefining the future of work.’ Sloan Management Review, 59(4), 34-41. 113 De Cremer, D., McGuire, J., Hesselbarth, Y., & Mai, M. (2019). ‘Can algorithms help us decide who to trust?’ Harvard Business Review. 6 June. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2019/06/can-algorithms-help-us-decide-who-to-trust 114 Bigman, Y.

After all, from a rational point of view, we should do anything possible to optimize our way of doing business. Such efforts, without a doubt, should also include thinking about how we can run our organizations and make decisions in better, more optimized ways. If we are serious about thinking in a rational fashion about how we want to approach the future of work, it should only be a matter of time before automated leadership will happen. Some research actually suggests that people today are ready to accept this idea. A 2019 study by Logg, Minson and Moore examined the attitude of humans towards the judgments and advice offered by algorithms. They arrived at some powerful conclusions.⁶⁰ The authors concluded the following: “Our studies suggest that people are often comfortable accepting guidance from algorithms, and sometimes even trust them more than other people. … It may not be necessary to invest in emphasizing the human element of [the] process.

It also excels in the practice of evaluating and even categorizing the performance of any employee. This reality has not escaped the attention of our managers today. In the last few years, I have noticed that in my (E)MBA classes, students almost immediately start sweating when they discuss the future of work and the roles of humans and algorithms. As I explained earlier, MBA stands for master of business administration. In theory, this categorizes any MBA student as an administrator trained to run companies in a systematic way, with the belief that management is based on rationality as a guideline.


Bulletproof Problem Solving by Charles Conn, Robert McLean

active transport: walking or cycling, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, asset allocation, availability heuristic, Bayesian statistics, behavioural economics, Big Tech, Black Swan, blockchain, book value, business logic, business process, call centre, carbon footprint, cloud computing, correlation does not imply causation, Credit Default Swap, crowdsourcing, David Brooks, deep learning, Donald Trump, driverless car, drop ship, Elon Musk, endowment effect, fail fast, fake news, future of work, Garrett Hardin, Hyperloop, Innovator's Dilemma, inventory management, iterative process, loss aversion, megaproject, meta-analysis, Nate Silver, nudge unit, Occam's razor, pattern recognition, pets.com, prediction markets, principal–agent problem, RAND corporation, randomized controlled trial, risk tolerance, Silicon Valley, SimCity, smart contracts, stem cell, sunk-cost fallacy, the rule of 72, the scientific method, The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver, time value of money, Tragedy of the Commons, transfer pricing, Vilfredo Pareto, walkable city, WikiLeaks

Coley, and David White with Charles Conn and Robert McLean, “Staircases to Growth,” McKinsey Quarterly 4 (November 1996). 10  McKinsey Executive Briefing. Technology, Jobs, and the Future of Work. www.mckinsey.com/global‐themes/employment‐and‐growth/technology‐jobs‐and‐the‐future‐of‐work. 11  “The Digital Future of Work,” McKinsey Global Institute, July 2017, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured‐insights/future‐of‐work/the‐digital‐future‐of‐work‐what‐skills‐will‐be‐needed. 12  Personal assets and savings are an important part of retirement income in developed countries. Government practices vary widely in allowing personal assets to be held in addition to a pension.


System Error by Rob Reich

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, 2021 United States Capitol attack, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Aaron Swartz, AI winter, Airbnb, airport security, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, algorithmic bias, AlphaGo, AltaVista, artificial general intelligence, Automated Insights, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Ben Horowitz, Berlin Wall, Bernie Madoff, Big Tech, bitcoin, Blitzscaling, Cambridge Analytica, Cass Sunstein, clean water, cloud computing, computer vision, contact tracing, contact tracing app, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, creative destruction, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, data is the new oil, data science, decentralized internet, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, deplatforming, digital rights, disinformation, disruptive innovation, Donald Knuth, Donald Trump, driverless car, dual-use technology, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, end-to-end encryption, Fairchild Semiconductor, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Filter Bubble, financial engineering, financial innovation, fulfillment center, future of work, gentrification, Geoffrey Hinton, George Floyd, gig economy, Goodhart's law, GPT-3, Hacker News, hockey-stick growth, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, information security, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, Jim Simons, jimmy wales, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Perry Barlow, Lean Startup, linear programming, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, meta-analysis, minimum wage unemployment, Monkeys Reject Unequal Pay, move fast and break things, Myron Scholes, Network effects, Nick Bostrom, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, NP-complete, Oculus Rift, OpenAI, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, Parler "social media", pattern recognition, personalized medicine, Peter Thiel, Philippa Foot, premature optimization, profit motive, quantitative hedge fund, race to the bottom, randomized controlled trial, recommendation engine, Renaissance Technologies, Richard Thaler, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, Sam Altman, Sand Hill Road, scientific management, self-driving car, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, side project, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, software is eating the world, spectrum auction, speech recognition, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, strong AI, superintelligent machines, surveillance capitalism, Susan Wojcicki, tech billionaire, tech worker, techlash, technoutopianism, Telecommunications Act of 1996, telemarketer, The Future of Employment, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, traveling salesman, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, trolley problem, Turing test, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, ultimatum game, union organizing, universal basic income, washing machines reduced drudgery, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, When a measure becomes a target, winner-take-all economy, Y Combinator, you are the product

Darren Walker: Steven Greenhouse, “Where Are the Workers When We Talk About the Future of Work?,” American Prospect, October 22, 2019, https://prospect.org/labor/where-are-the-workers-when-we-talk-about-the-future-of-work/. it was a union that secured: Adam Seth Litwin, “Technological Change at Work,” ILR Review 64, no. 5 (October 1, 2011): 863–88, https://doi.org/10.1177/001979391106400502. A movement is also afoot: Alana Semuels, “Getting Rid of Bosses,” Atlantic, July 8, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/no-bosses-worker-owned-cooperatives/397007/. what else might workers demand?: Pegah Moradi and Karen Levy, “The Future of Work in the Age of AI: Displacement or Risk-Shifting?

We no longer hear so much gushing about the internet as a tool for putting a library into everyone’s hands, social media as a means of empowering people to challenge their governments, or tech innovators who make our lives better by disrupting old industries. The conversation has shifted to the other pole. Humans are being replaced by machines, and the future of work is uncertain. Private companies surveil in ways that governments never even contemplated and profit handsomely in the process. The internet ecosystem feeds hate and intolerance with its echo chambers and filter bubbles. The conclusion seems inescapable: our technological future is grim. However, we must resist this temptation to think in extremes.

Yet the abstract virtues of democracy are difficult to mesh with a few harsh realities that appear again and again when it comes to governing technology: the technical ignorance of elected politicians who are hardly credible in providing oversight or contemplating regulation; profound disagreements about what we value and how trade-offs should be made, whether in regard to data privacy, free speech, and content moderation or automation and the future of work; the slow, painstaking consideration of legislation that seems to generate competing bills—so that everyone has his or her name on one—without generating significant progress, especially in a highly polarized political environment; and the strong status quo bias of democratic institutions, which means that policy change is slow and sticky, making it difficult for regulators to respond flexibly and adaptably to new developments in technology.


pages: 95 words: 6,448

Mending the Net: Toward Universal Basic Incomes by Chris Oestereich

Abraham Maslow, basic income, en.wikipedia.org, future of work, Future Shock, Overton Window, profit motive, rent-seeking, The Future of Employment, The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, universal basic income

[12] Davis, A, and Mishel, L, 2014, “CEO Pay Continues to Rise as Typical Workers Are Paid Less,” http://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-continues-to-rise/. [13] Proctor, B, Semega, J, and Kollar, M, 2016, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015 - Current Population Reports,” http.s://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-256.pdf, 9. [14] Vogel, P, 2016, “The Future of Work?” http://globalfocusmagazine.com/the-future-of-work/. [15] Wikipedia, 2016, “List of recessions in the United States,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States. [16] Scharf, K, and Smith, S, 2016, “Peer-to-peer fundraising and ‘relational altruism’ in charitable giving,” http://voxeu.org/article/peer-peer-fundraising-and-relational-altruism-charitable-giving


pages: 208 words: 57,602

Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation by Kevin Roose

"World Economic Forum" Davos, adjacent possible, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, algorithmic bias, algorithmic management, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Web Services, Atul Gawande, augmented reality, automated trading system, basic income, Bayesian statistics, Big Tech, big-box store, Black Lives Matter, business process, call centre, choice architecture, coronavirus, COVID-19, data science, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, disinformation, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, factory automation, fake news, fault tolerance, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Freestyle chess, future of work, Future Shock, Geoffrey Hinton, George Floyd, gig economy, Google Hangouts, GPT-3, hiring and firing, hustle culture, hype cycle, income inequality, industrial robot, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, Kevin Roose, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, labor-force participation, lockdown, Lyft, mandatory minimum, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, meta-analysis, Narrative Science, new economy, Norbert Wiener, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, off-the-grid, OpenAI, pattern recognition, planetary scale, plutocrats, Productivity paradox, QAnon, recommendation engine, remote working, risk tolerance, robotic process automation, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, social distancing, Steve Jobs, Stuart Kauffman, surveillance capitalism, tech worker, The Future of Employment, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, TikTok, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, work culture

But today, AI anxiety is burning bright again, fueled by popular books like Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots and Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee’s The Second Machine Age, both of which made the case that AI was going to fundamentally change society and transform the global economy. Academic studies of the future of work, like an Oxford University study that estimated that as many as 47 percent of U.S. jobs were at “high risk” of automation within the next two decades, added to the sense of impending doom. By 2017, three in four American adults believed that AI and automation would destroy more jobs than they would create, and a majority expected technology to widen the gap between the rich and poor.

An examination of the morality of machines, written by one of my all-time favorite technological thinkers. In the Age of the Smart Machine by Shoshana Zuboff (1988). Zuboff is better known these days as the author of Surveillance Capitalism, but her earlier book was a prescient look at the future of work during the first IT boom of the 1980s. Notes Introduction I got my first glimpse Kevin Roose, “The Hidden Automation Agenda of the Davos Elite,” New York Times, January 25, 2019. Aristotle mused that automated weavers Sean Carroll, “Aristotle on Household Robots,” Discover, September 28, 2010.

In particular, two economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo, “Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor,” Journal of Economic Perspectives (2019). A 2019 McKinsey report Kelemwork Cook, Duwain Pinder, Shelley Stewart, Amaka Uchegbu, and Jason Wright, “The Future of Work in Black America,” McKinsey, October 4, 2019. Oxford University economist Carl Benedikt Frey Carl Benedikt Frey, The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2019). Overall rates of depression and anxiety Jean M.


pages: 322 words: 84,580

The Economics of Belonging: A Radical Plan to Win Back the Left Behind and Achieve Prosperity for All by Martin Sandbu

air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, autonomous vehicles, balance sheet recession, bank run, banking crisis, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Boris Johnson, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, business cycle, call centre, capital controls, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Carmen Reinhart, centre right, collective bargaining, company town, debt deflation, deindustrialization, deskilling, Diane Coyle, Donald Trump, Edward Glaeser, eurozone crisis, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial engineering, financial intermediation, full employment, future of work, gig economy, Gini coefficient, green new deal, hiring and firing, income inequality, income per capita, industrial robot, intangible asset, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kenneth Rogoff, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, labour market flexibility, liquidity trap, longitudinal study, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, Martin Wolf, meta-analysis, mini-job, Money creation, mortgage debt, new economy, offshore financial centre, oil shock, open economy, pattern recognition, pink-collar, precariat, public intellectual, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, Richard Florida, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, secular stagnation, social intelligence, TaskRabbit, total factor productivity, universal basic income, very high income, winner-take-all economy, working poor

Half a Century of Policy Mistakes 1. Robert Solow, “The Future of Work: Why Wages Aren’t Keeping Up,” Pacific Standard, 11 August 2015, https://psmag.com/economics/the-future-of-work-why-wages-arent-keeping-up. Also see Nelson Lichtenstein, Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997, chap. 14. 2. Susan Pedersen, “One-Man Ministry,” review of Bread for All: The Origins of the Welfare State, by Chris Renwick, London Review of Books 40, no. 3 (2018): 3–6, https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n03/susan-pedersen/one-man-ministry. 3. Solow, “Future of Work.” 4. Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser, “Taxation,” Our World in Data, 2019, https://ourworldindata.org/taxation. 5.

Geoff Tily, “17-Year Wage Squeeze the Worst in Two Hundred Years,” Trade Unions Congress blog, 11 May 2018, https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/17-year-wage-squeeze-worst-two-hundred-years. 22. On stenographers, see Chris Summers, “Is Stenography a Dying Art?,” BBC News, 27 April 2011, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13035979. More generally, see Richard Baldwin, The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 23. Daron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion, and Giovanni Violante, “Deunionization, Technical Change and Inequality,” Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy 55 (2001): 229–64, https://economics.mit.edu/files/5691. 24. See Sarah O’Connor, “How to Manage the Gig Economy’s Growing Global Jobs Market,” Financial Times, 30 October 2018, http://www.ft.com/content/5fe8991e-dc2a-11e8-8f50-cbae5495d92b, and Baldwin, Globotics Upheaval. 25.

Interview with Karl Ove Moene in Martin Sandbu, “Let Unions Erode at Your Peril,” Financial Times, 4 July 2018, https://www.ft.com/content/c2ee79c4-7f65-11e8-bc55-50daf11b720d. 20. I have surveyed some of this evidence in Martin Sandbu, “Employee Empowerment and Business Productivity,” Financial Times, 20 March 2019, https://www.ft.com/content/2e1684d6-4a49-11e9-8b7f-d49067e0f50d. 21. Richard Baldwin, The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 22. “About Us,” IWGB, accessed 6 December 2019, https://iwgb.org.uk/page/about/about. 23. Historian David Alan Corbin quoted in Gwynn Guildford, “The 100-Year Capitalist Experiment That Keeps Appalachia Poor, Sick, and Stuck on Coal,” Quartz, 30 December 2017, https://qz.com/1167671/the-100-year-capitalist-experiment-that-keeps-appalachia-poor-sick-and-stuck-on-coal/. 24.


pages: 447 words: 111,991

Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It by Azeem Azhar

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, 23andMe, 3D printing, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Ada Lovelace, additive manufacturing, air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, algorithmic management, algorithmic trading, Amazon Mechanical Turk, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Bletchley Park, Blitzscaling, Boeing 737 MAX, book value, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, carbon footprint, Chris Urmson, Citizen Lab, Clayton Christensen, cloud computing, collective bargaining, computer age, computer vision, contact tracing, contact tracing app, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, cuban missile crisis, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, data science, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, decarbonisation, deep learning, deglobalization, deindustrialization, dematerialisation, Demis Hassabis, Diane Coyle, digital map, digital rights, disinformation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Donald Trump, Double Irish / Dutch Sandwich, drone strike, Elon Musk, emotional labour, energy security, Fairchild Semiconductor, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Firefox, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, future of work, Garrett Hardin, gender pay gap, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, gig economy, global macro, global pandemic, global supply chain, global value chain, global village, GPT-3, Hans Moravec, happiness index / gross national happiness, hiring and firing, hockey-stick growth, ImageNet competition, income inequality, independent contractor, industrial robot, intangible asset, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Perry Barlow, Just-in-time delivery, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, Law of Accelerating Returns, lockdown, low skilled workers, lump of labour, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, megacity, Mitch Kapor, Mustafa Suleyman, Network effects, new economy, NSO Group, Ocado, offshore financial centre, OpenAI, PalmPilot, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, Peter Thiel, Planet Labs, price anchoring, RAND corporation, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, remote working, RFC: Request For Comment, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Bork, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, Sam Altman, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, software as a service, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Stuxnet, subscription business, synthetic biology, tacit knowledge, TaskRabbit, tech worker, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Future of Employment, The Nature of the Firm, Thomas Malthus, TikTok, Tragedy of the Commons, Turing machine, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, uranium enrichment, vertical integration, warehouse automation, winner-take-all economy, workplace surveillance , Yom Kippur War

, Wall Street Journal, 1 April 2019 <https://www.wsj.com/articles/will-ai-destroy-more-jobs-than-it-creates-over-the-next-decade-11554156299> [accessed 11 January 2021]. 45 ‘Company Information’, Uber Newsroom Pakistan <https://www.uber.com/en-PK/newsroom/company-info/> [accessed 21 September 2020]. 46 ‘Mechanical Turk: Research in the Crowdsourcing Age’, Pew Research Center: Internet & Technology, 11 July 2016 <https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/07/11/research-in-the-crowdsourcing-age-a-case-study/> [accessed 28 September 2020]. 47 Jeff Howe, ‘The Rise of Crowdsourcing’, Wired, 1 June 2006 <https://www.wired.com/2006/06/crowds/> [accessed 28 September 2020]. 48 Nicole Lyn Pesce, ‘This Chart Shows How Uber Rides Sped Past NYC Yellow Cabs in Just Six Years’, MarketWatch, 9 August 2019 <https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-chart-shows-how-uber-rides-sped-past-nyc-yellow-cabs-in-just-six-years-2019-08-09> [accessed 7 January 2021]. 49 Kelle Howson et al., ‘Platform Workers, the Future of Work and Britain’s Election’, Media@LSE, 11 December 2019 <https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2019/12/11/platform-workers-the-future-of-work-and-britains-election/> [accessed 7 January 2021]. 50 James Manyika et al., Connecting Talent with Opportunity in the Digital Age (McKinsey & Company, 1 June 2015) <https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/connecting-talent-with-opportunity-in-the-digital-age> [accessed 6 October 2020]. 51 Neil Munshi, ‘Tech Start-Ups Drive Change for Nigerian Truckers’, Financial Times, 26 August 2019 <https://www.ft.com/content/c6a3d1f2-c27d-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9> [accessed 21 September 2020]. 52 ‘Upwork Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results’, Upwork Inc., 23 February 2021 <https://investors.upwork.com/news-releases/news-release-details/upwork-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2020-financial> [accessed 21 April 2021]. 53 Lijin Yeo, ‘The U.S.

Most of the rest of the world faces a shortage of both radiologists and the machines that they need. In practice, the kinds of tools that Rajesh has created seem to be helping overworked radiologists rather than making them redundant. This example hints at a more complex, nuanced vision of the future of work. It is true that automated systems do increasingly excel at once-human tasks. Store-cleaning robots are slowly becoming more common in the US, especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.7 In China, machine vision systems scan photos of damaged cars to evaluate the likely cost of repairs; no human needs to look at the vehicle.8 The list goes on.

In many cases, the very same companies who offer select employees ping-pong tables, craft beer and egg-freezing treatments are obsessively monitoring and controlling others via algorithms. This is the Janus face of work in the Exponential Age. Those who are well-educated and lucky can thrive. Those who aren’t might find themselves trapped in an increasingly punitive workplace. You may have noticed a pattern emerging. The future of work seems less defined by the absence of work and more by a growing chasm – between increasingly high-quality work for some, and increasingly low-quality, insecure work for others. We aren’t on the verge of a jobless future, but we are perhaps looking at a future in which – if we aren’t careful – work no longer serves the interests of society.


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The AI Economy: Work, Wealth and Welfare in the Robot Age by Roger Bootle

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, agricultural Revolution, AI winter, Albert Einstein, AlphaGo, Alvin Toffler, anti-work, antiwork, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, Bernie Sanders, Bletchley Park, blockchain, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carl Icahn, Chris Urmson, computer age, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, conceptual framework, corporate governance, correlation does not imply causation, creative destruction, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, Demis Hassabis, deskilling, Dr. Strangelove, driverless car, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, facts on the ground, fake news, financial intermediation, full employment, future of work, Future Shock, general purpose technology, Great Leap Forward, Hans Moravec, income inequality, income per capita, industrial robot, Internet of things, invention of the wheel, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, job satisfaction, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, license plate recognition, low interest rates, machine translation, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, mega-rich, natural language processing, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, Ocado, Paul Samuelson, Peter Thiel, Phillips curve, positional goods, quantitative easing, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, rising living standards, road to serfdom, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, Rutger Bregman, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, seminal paper, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Simon Kuznets, Skype, social intelligence, spinning jenny, Stanislav Petrov, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, synthetic biology, technological singularity, The Future of Employment, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, trade route, universal basic income, US Airways Flight 1549, Vernor Vinge, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters, wealth creators, winner-take-all economy, world market for maybe five computers, Y2K, Yogi Berra

Whether ordinary individuals, businesspeople, or workers in government and public policy, many readers will doubtless be itching to get straight to the nitty-gritty questions concerning the effects of robots and AI on the various aspects of their lives and activities described above. But they will need to hold their horses for a while. Any attempt to speculate about the future of work, incomes, education, leisure, and a whole host of other things that may be affected by robots and AI will be meaningless without an understanding of the macro environment. Indeed, it is precisely the lack of an adequate understanding of the macroeconomic aspects that mars so many accounts of the robot and AI revolution and leads their authors to false conclusions.

He says: “and when we sort them by the number of jobs they provide, we have to go all the way down to twenty-first place in the list until we encounter a new occupation: software developer, who make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. jobs market.”15 Following on in this vein, there are some pretty apocalyptic estimates of future unemployment from a number of analysts and forecasters. “The Millennium Project,” established in 1996 by a combination of UN organizations and US academic bodies, produced a report entitled “2015–16 State of the Future,” including a section on the future of work, based on a poll of 300 “experts” from different countries. Their verdict was that global unemployment would be “only” 16 percent in 2030, and still “only” 24 percent in 2050. So that’s all right, then.16 A more credible analysis comes from McKinsey. It estimates that, if advanced societies switch rapidly to new technology, by 2030 as many as 700 million people could be displaced by robots.

You may be surprised, though, to find him playing a major role here in the discussion about the balance between work and leisure. Mind you, as will soon become clear, his thinking on this subject is very far from being the last word. Indeed, his contribution in this area posed more questions than it provided answers. But it highlights a key question relevant to the future of work in the Robot Age, namely why do people currently work as much as they do? And whatever the reasons, are they bound to continue in this way in the future? Interestingly, although he envisaged a rather different route to this end state, Keynes had a similar vision to Marx. In an essay entitled “The Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” published in 1931, Keynes suggested that in a hundred years’ time the standard of living would be between four and eight times as high as it was then.6 This, he claimed, would be enough to end the economic problem, that is to say, shortage, and to replace it with abundance.


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Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles--And All of US by Rana Foroohar

"Susan Fowler" uber, "World Economic Forum" Davos, accounting loophole / creative accounting, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, algorithmic bias, algorithmic management, AltaVista, Andy Rubin, autonomous vehicles, banking crisis, barriers to entry, behavioural economics, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, book scanning, Brewster Kahle, Burning Man, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, cashless society, clean tech, cloud computing, cognitive dissonance, Colonization of Mars, computer age, corporate governance, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, cryptocurrency, data is the new oil, data science, deal flow, death of newspapers, decentralized internet, Deng Xiaoping, digital divide, digital rights, disinformation, disintermediation, don't be evil, Donald Trump, drone strike, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Etonian, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, Filter Bubble, financial engineering, future of work, Future Shock, game design, gig economy, global supply chain, Gordon Gekko, Great Leap Forward, greed is good, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, information asymmetry, intangible asset, Internet Archive, Internet of things, invisible hand, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job satisfaction, junk bonds, Kenneth Rogoff, life extension, light touch regulation, low interest rates, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Martin Wolf, Menlo Park, military-industrial complex, move fast and break things, Network effects, new economy, offshore financial centre, PageRank, patent troll, Paul Volcker talking about ATMs, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, pets.com, price discrimination, profit maximization, race to the bottom, recommendation engine, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Bork, Sand Hill Road, search engine result page, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, side hustle, Sidewalk Labs, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, smart cities, Snapchat, SoftBank, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, stock buybacks, subscription business, supply-chain management, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, tech billionaire, tech worker, TED Talk, Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Chicago School, the long tail, the new new thing, Tim Cook: Apple, too big to fail, Travis Kalanick, trickle-down economics, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, Upton Sinclair, warehouse robotics, WeWork, WikiLeaks, zero-sum game

Foroohar, “Vivienne Ming.” 16. Jodi Kantor, “Working Anything but 9 to 5,” The New York Times, August 13, 2014. 17. Rosenblat, Uberland, 177. 18. Ibid., 110. 19. “Prediction: How AI Will Affect Business, Work, and Life,” Managing the Future of Work, Harvard Business School podcast, May 8, 2019, https://www.hbs.edu/​managing-the-future-of-work/​podcast/​Pages/​default.aspx. 20. Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, The Race Between Education and Technology (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008). 21. World Trade Organization, “Impact of Technology on Labour Market Outcomes,” 2017. 22.

As Rosenblat points out, this asymmetry is similar to that enjoyed by other Big Tech firms, like Amazon, who can steer customers to more costly products through rankings, or Google, which promotes itself as a neutral arbiter of information, even as PageRank’s algorithms remain inside the black box, with any biases that might be present known only to the company itself.18 These strategies allow only “the fantasy that there are no more issues of power in the workplace,” said AFL-CIO policy director Damon Silvers in a Harvard Business School podcast on the future of work. “In reality, companies like Uber know more about their employees, and have a tighter grip on their behavior, than any steel or auto company ever did. In the absence of workers having collective power, digital technology, AI, and cheap surveillance technology will combine to make information advantages that accrue to employers…at a scale and intensity we’ve never seen before.”19 Superstars Take All There’s no question that low-level gig workers—from handymen to yoga instructors to childcare providers—get the short end of the stick in the digital economy.

According to data compiled by the government relations firm Mehlman, Castagnetti, 2019. 58. Cade Metz, “Why WhatsApp Only Needs 50 Engineers for Its 900M Users,” Wired, September 15, 2015. 59. Alistair Gray, “US Retailers Shut Up Shop as Amazon’s March Continues,” Financial Times, March 8, 2019. 60. James Manyika et al., “Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages,” McKinsey and Company, November 2017. 61. “Mapping Inequalities Across the On-Demand Economy,” Data and Society, accessed May 9, 2019, https://datasociety.net/​initiatives/​future-of-labor/​mapping-inequalities-across-the-on-demand-economy/. 62.


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After the Gig: How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win It Back by Juliet Schor, William Attwood-Charles, Mehmet Cansoy

1960s counterculture, Airbnb, algorithmic management, Amazon Mechanical Turk, American Legislative Exchange Council, back-to-the-land, barriers to entry, bike sharing, Californian Ideology, carbon footprint, clean tech, collaborative consumption, collaborative economy, Community Supported Agriculture, COVID-19, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, deskilling, driverless car, en.wikipedia.org, financial independence, future of work, gentrification, George Gilder, gig economy, global supply chain, global village, haute cuisine, income inequality, independent contractor, information asymmetry, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jean Tirole, Jeff Bezos, jitney, job satisfaction, John Perry Barlow, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), Kevin Kelly, Lyft, Marshall McLuhan, Mason jar, mass incarceration, Mitch Kapor, Network effects, new economy, New Urbanism, Occupy movement, peer-to-peer rental, Post-Keynesian economics, precariat, profit maximization, profit motive, race to the bottom, regulatory arbitrage, rent gap, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ruby on Rails, selection bias, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Skype, smart cities, social distancing, Stewart Brand, TaskRabbit, technological determinism, technoutopianism, Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Nature of the Firm, the payments system, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, urban planning, wage slave, walking around money, Whole Earth Catalog, women in the workforce, working poor, Yochai Benkler, Zipcar

The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ———. 2013. “Practical Anarchism: Peer Mutualism, Market Power, and the Fallible State.” Politics & Society 41 (2): 213–51. ———. 2016. “The Realism of Cooperativism.” In Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet, edited by Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider. New York: OR Books. ———. 2017a. “Peer Production, the Commons, and the Future of the Firm.” Strategic Organization 15 (2): 264–74. ———. 2017b. “Law, Innovation, and Collaboration in Networked Economy and Society.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 13 (1): 231–50. ———.

“Power and Productivity: A Political Economy of Technology.” In New Goals for a Just Economy, edited by Danielle Allen, Yochai Benkler, and Rebecca Henderson. Benner, Katie. 2016. “Federal Judge Blocks Racial Discrimination Suit against Airbnb.” New York Times, November 1, 2016. Berg, Janine, and Uma Rani. 2018. “Digital Labour Platforms and the Future of Work: Towards Decent Work in the Online World.” Geneva: International Labour Organization. www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_645337/lang--en/index.htm. Berger, Thor, Chinchih Chen, and Carl Benedikt Frey. 2018. “Drivers of Disruption? Estimating the Uber Effect.” European Economic Review 110 (November): 197–210.

December 5, 2014. https://medium.com/@trebors/platform-cooperativism-vs-the-sharing-economy-2ea737f1b5ad. ———. 2016. Uberworked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy. Cambridge: Polity. Scholz, Trebor, and Nathan Schneider, eds. 2016. Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet. New York: OR Books. Schor, Juliet B. 1988. “Does Work Intensity Respond to Macroeconomic Variables? Evidence from British Manufacturing, 1970–1986.” Harvard Institute for Economic Research Discussion Paper #1379, April 1988. ———. 1992. The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure.


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New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI by Frank Pasquale

affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, algorithmic bias, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Anthropocene, augmented reality, Automated Insights, autonomous vehicles, basic income, battle of ideas, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Bill Joy: nanobots, bitcoin, blockchain, Brexit referendum, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, carbon tax, citizen journalism, Clayton Christensen, collective bargaining, commoditize, computer vision, conceptual framework, contact tracing, coronavirus, corporate social responsibility, correlation does not imply causation, COVID-19, critical race theory, cryptocurrency, data is the new oil, data science, decarbonisation, deep learning, deepfake, deskilling, digital divide, digital twin, disinformation, disruptive innovation, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, effective altruism, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, Filter Bubble, finite state, Flash crash, future of work, gamification, general purpose technology, Google Chrome, Google Glasses, Great Leap Forward, green new deal, guns versus butter model, Hans Moravec, high net worth, hiring and firing, holacracy, Ian Bogost, independent contractor, informal economy, information asymmetry, information retrieval, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, James Bridle, Jaron Lanier, job automation, John Markoff, Joi Ito, Khan Academy, knowledge economy, late capitalism, lockdown, machine readable, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, medical malpractice, megaproject, meta-analysis, military-industrial complex, Modern Monetary Theory, Money creation, move fast and break things, mutually assured destruction, natural language processing, new economy, Nicholas Carr, Nick Bostrom, Norbert Wiener, nuclear winter, obamacare, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), open immigration, OpenAI, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, paperclip maximiser, paradox of thrift, pattern recognition, payday loans, personalized medicine, Peter Singer: altruism, Philip Mirowski, pink-collar, plutocrats, post-truth, pre–internet, profit motive, public intellectual, QR code, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, regulatory arbitrage, Robert Shiller, Rodney Brooks, Ronald Reagan, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Singularitarianism, smart cities, smart contracts, software is eating the world, South China Sea, Steve Bannon, Strategic Defense Initiative, surveillance capitalism, Susan Wojcicki, tacit knowledge, TaskRabbit, technological solutionism, technoutopianism, TED Talk, telepresence, telerobotics, The Future of Employment, The Turner Diaries, Therac-25, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, Turing test, universal basic income, unorthodox policies, wage slave, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, working poor, workplace surveillance , Works Progress Administration, zero day

Because they have some surprising implications, which should change how we organize social cooperation and deal with conflict. For example, at present, too many economies favor capital over labor and consumers over producers. If we want a just and sustainable society, we must correct these biases. That correction will not be easy. Ubiquitous management consultants tell a simple story about the future of work: if a machine can record and imitate what you do, you will be replaced by it.1 A narrative of mass unemployment now grips policymakers. It envisions human workers rendered superfluous by ever-more-powerful software, robots, and predictive analytics. With enough cameras and sensors, this story goes, managers can simulate your “data double”—a hologram or robot that performs your job just as well, at a fraction of your wages.

New laws of robotics should be similar, articulating broad principles while delegating specific authority to dedicated regulators with long experience in technical fields.8 NEW LAWS OF ROBOTICS With these goals in mind, four new laws of robotics will be explored and advanced in this book: Robotic systems and AI should complement professionals, not replace them.9 Clashing projections of technological unemployment drive popular discussions of the future of work. Some experts predict that almost every job is destined to be whittled away by technological advance. Others point out roadblocks on the path to automation. The question for policymakers is, Which of these barriers to robotization make sense, and which deserve scrutiny and removal? Robotic meat-cutters make sense; robotic day care gives us pause.

Computers’ capacity to store and process information has expanded exponentially, and more data about what individuals do during their workday is constantly accumulating.55 But professionalism involves something more complex: a recurrent need to deal with conflicts of values and duties, and even conflicting accounts of facts.56 That makes a difference to the future of work. For example, imagine that you are driving down a two-lane road at forty-five miles per hour, cruising home. You see a group of children walking home from school about a hundred yards ahead. Just as you’re about to pass by them, an oncoming eighteen-wheeler swerves out of its lane and is about to hit you head on.


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On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger

Adam Curtis, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Amazon Picking Challenge, autism spectrum disorder, basic income, behavioural economics, Bernie Sanders, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, cognitive dissonance, company town, David Attenborough, death from overwork, deskilling, do what you love, Donald Trump, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ford Model T, Ford paid five dollars a day, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, future of work, hive mind, housing crisis, independent contractor, Jeff Bezos, Jessica Bruder, job automation, job satisfaction, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Jon Ronson, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, Kiva Systems, late capitalism, Lean Startup, market design, McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit, McJob, Minecraft, Nicholas Carr, Nomadland, obamacare, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, pattern recognition, precariat, Richard Thaler, San Francisco homelessness, scientific management, Second Machine Age, security theater, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, speech recognition, TaskRabbit, tech worker, The Future of Employment, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tony Hsieh, Toyota Production System, Travis Kalanick, union organizing, universal basic income, unpaid internship, Upton Sinclair, wage slave, working poor

.* Numbers and statistics just aren’t up to communicating how something feels, even though that’s often extremely important information. That’s why I decided to go experience this brave new world myself—so readers can get an idea of what the modern experience of low-wage work feels like. I went to work at an Amazon warehouse, a call center, and a McDonald’s—three places that are fairly representative of the future of work in America. I spent between one and two months at each, and I worked them for real, with every ounce of my Dad-infused work ethic. And at each one, productivity-enforcing technology constantly corralled me and my coworkers into the weeds like a sheepdog snapping at a herd’s heels. Working in an Amazon warehouse outside Louisville, Kentucky, I walked up to sixteen miles a day to keep up with the rate at which I was supposed to pick orders.

Warehousing jobs have started to replace retail jobs in the US as more and more purchases take place online, and Amazon’s productivity-enforcing methods will spread across the low-wage labor market of the next couple of decades if they’re not constrained, just like Walmart’s did. The situation for Amazon’s blue-collar workers at present, then, is a real, honest look at that “future of work” everybody’s so interested in. But journalists can’t just wander into a fulfillment center to check out the working conditions. Most fulfillment centers are pretty remote, and security is tight—you can’t get through the entry turnstiles without an Amazon ID badge or an escort. It is, however, pretty easy to get a job in a fulfillment center.

Jones The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, Arlie Hochschild Blood, Sweat & Tears: The Evolution of Work, Richard Donkin False Prophets: The Gurus Who Created Modern Management and Why Their Ideas Are Bad for Business, James Hoopes The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home, Arlie Hochschild Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Michael Hammer and James Champy Just Enough Anxiety: The Hidden Driver of Business Success, Robert H. Rosen The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work, Sarah Kessler The Job: Work and Its Future in a Time of Radical Change, Ellen Ruppel Shell On low-wage work and workers The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler Precarious Lives: Job Insecurity and Well-Being in Rich Democracies, Arne Kalleberg The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences, Louis Uchitelle The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, Juliet Schor Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream, Benjamin Hunnicutt The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, Guy Standing Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, Arlie Hochschild The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, Steven Greenhouse The Working Life: The Promise and Betrayal of Modern Work, Joanne B.


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Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek, Alex Williams

3D printing, additive manufacturing, air freight, algorithmic trading, anti-work, antiwork, back-to-the-land, banking crisis, basic income, battle of ideas, blockchain, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, business cycle, call centre, capital controls, capitalist realism, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Cass Sunstein, centre right, collective bargaining, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, David Graeber, decarbonisation, deep learning, deindustrialization, deskilling, Doha Development Round, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, Ferguson, Missouri, financial independence, food miles, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, future of work, gender pay gap, general purpose technology, housing crisis, housing justice, income inequality, industrial robot, informal economy, intermodal, Internet Archive, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, late capitalism, liberation theology, Live Aid, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market design, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, mass incarceration, means of production, megaproject, minimum wage unemployment, Modern Monetary Theory, Mont Pelerin Society, Murray Bookchin, neoliberal agenda, New Urbanism, Occupy movement, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, Overton Window, patent troll, pattern recognition, Paul Samuelson, Philip Mirowski, post scarcity, post-Fordism, post-work, postnationalism / post nation state, precariat, precautionary principle, price stability, profit motive, public intellectual, quantitative easing, reshoring, Richard Florida, rising living standards, road to serfdom, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, Slavoj Žižek, social web, stakhanovite, Steve Jobs, surplus humans, synthetic biology, tacit knowledge, technological determinism, the built environment, The Chicago School, The Future of Employment, the long tail, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, wages for housework, warehouse automation, We are all Keynesians now, We are the 99%, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population

(London: Penguin, 2012); Andrew McGettigan, The Great University Gamble: Money, Markets and the Future of Higher Education (London: Pluto Press, 2013). 128.Standing, Precariat, p. 45. 129.Notably, even Paul Krugman and Lawrence Summers are doubtful that skills training will be able to solve the upcoming problems. Paul Krugman, ‘Sympathy for the Luddites’, New York Times, 13 June 2013; Lawrence Summers, ‘Roundtable: The Future of Jobs’, presented at The Future of Work in the Age of the Machine, Hamilton Project, Washington, DC, 19 February 2015, at hamiltonproject.org. 130.Glyn, Capitalism Unleashed, pp. 27–31. 131.Harvey, Companion to Marx’s Capital, Volume 1, pp. 284–5. 132.PMI surveys suggest the annual growth rate has been 2 per cent, which is far below what has been standard for global GDP growth.

A Basic Framework, Working Paper, National Bureau of Economic Research, April 2015, at nber.org; Seth Benzell, Laurence Kotlikoff, Guillermo LaGarda and Jeffrey Sachs, Robots Are Us: Some Economics of Human Replacement, Working Paper, National Bureau of Economic Research, February 2015, at nber.org. 39.Lawrence Summers, ‘Roundtable: The Future of Jobs’, presented at The Future of Work in the Age of the Machine, Hamilton Project, Washington, DC, 19 February 2015, at hamiltonproject.org. The ILO also argues that today’s sluggish global job growth is related largely to sluggish economic growth, but they also note that productivity growth has recovered quicker than employment growth.

ILO, World Employment and Social Outlook: The Changing Nature of Jobs (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2015), pp. 19, 23. 40.Bank of International Settlements, Annual Report, 2013/2014 (Basel: Bank for International Settlements, 2014), at bis.org, pp. 58–60; Robert Gordon, ‘US Productivity Growth: The Slowdown Has Returned After a Temporary Revival’, International Productivity Monitor 25 (2013); David Autor, ‘Roundtable: The Future of Jobs’, presented at the The Future of Work in the Age of the Machine, Hamilton Project, Washington, DC, 19 February 2015, at hamiltonproject.org. 41.Susantu Basu and John Fernald, Information and Communications Technology as a General-Purpose Technology: Evidence from U.S. Industry Data (San Francisco: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper, 2006), p. 17, pdf available at frbsf.org. 42.However, emerging research suggests industrial robots have already contributed around 16 per cent of recent labour productivity growth.


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The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, and Status in the Twenty-First Century by Ryan Avent

3D printing, Airbnb, American energy revolution, assortative mating, autonomous vehicles, Bakken shale, barriers to entry, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, BRICs, business cycle, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Clayton Christensen, cloud computing, collective bargaining, computer age, creative destruction, currency risk, dark matter, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, dematerialisation, Deng Xiaoping, deskilling, disruptive innovation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, Erik Brynjolfsson, eurozone crisis, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, falling living standards, financial engineering, first square of the chessboard, first square of the chessboard / second half of the chessboard, Ford paid five dollars a day, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, general purpose technology, gig economy, global supply chain, global value chain, heat death of the universe, hydraulic fracturing, income inequality, independent contractor, indoor plumbing, industrial robot, intangible asset, interchangeable parts, Internet of things, inventory management, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, knowledge economy, low interest rates, low skilled workers, lump of labour, Lyft, machine translation, manufacturing employment, Marc Andreessen, mass immigration, means of production, new economy, performance metric, pets.com, post-work, price mechanism, quantitative easing, Ray Kurzweil, rent-seeking, reshoring, rising living standards, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, Ronald Coase, savings glut, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, single-payer health, software is eating the world, supply-chain management, supply-chain management software, tacit knowledge, TaskRabbit, tech billionaire, The Future of Employment, The Nature of the Firm, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade liberalization, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, very high income, warehouse robotics, working-age population

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations1 Don’t mourn for me, friends, don’t weep for me never, For I’m going to do nothing for ever and ever. Epitaph for a charwoman, traditional, quoted in ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren’, John Maynard Keynes, 19302 Introduction In January of 2014, The Economist, my employer, published a piece I had written on the future of work in an age of rapid automation. A sample: Ten years ago technologically minded economists pointed to driving cars in traffic as the sort of human accomplishment that computers were highly unlikely to master. Now Google cars are rolling round California driver-free no one doubts such mastery is possible … A taxi driver will be a rarity in many places by the 2030s or 2040s … bad news for journalists who rely on that most reliable source of local knowledge and prejudice.1 Not long after, a minor earthquake rattled the city of Los Angeles early in the morning.

Never before in history have so many people been so well off as at this moment in time. But the next shoe is about to drop. Before we make it to point C – a world in which the benefits of the digital revolution are shared broadly and peacefully – we can expect difficulties. They have already begun. The subject of the future of work in a digital economy has been well covered – in serious magazines, including but by no means limited to my employer, The Economist, and in a growing number of important books. Worries and speculation have grown more intense and more common since 2011, when Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee published Race Against the Machine,19 which laid out in compelling detail how quickly the capabilities of clever software and robots were improving.

Mandel might be right, but that vision of future work relies on a very specific version of biomedical advance; innovations that grow the organ on the inside of the body or repair existing organs non-surgically might, alternatively, dramatically reduce the need for medical care.6 Indeed, while fields such as education and healthcare have long been held out as the great hope for future employment growth, that hope is built on an assumption that productivity in those industries will remain low. But it might not; the future of work in education and healthcare hinges on how society opts to resolve the trilemma. COST DISEASE, AND THE DOWNSIDE TO JOB CREATION William Baumol is an American economist. His career has been a long and productive one: he finished his PhD in 1949 and published his most recent book in 2012. Yet among his most significant contributions to the world is the story behind stagnant productivity growth across large swathes of modern economies.


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Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots by John Markoff

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, AI winter, airport security, Andy Rubin, Apollo 11, Apple II, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, basic income, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, Bill Atkinson, Bill Duvall, bioinformatics, Boston Dynamics, Brewster Kahle, Burning Man, call centre, cellular automata, Charles Babbage, Chris Urmson, Claude Shannon: information theory, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cloud computing, cognitive load, collective bargaining, computer age, Computer Lib, computer vision, crowdsourcing, Danny Hillis, DARPA: Urban Challenge, data acquisition, Dean Kamen, deep learning, DeepMind, deskilling, Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life?, don't be evil, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Hofstadter, Dr. Strangelove, driverless car, dual-use technology, Dynabook, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, factory automation, Fairchild Semiconductor, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death, future of work, Galaxy Zoo, General Magic , Geoffrey Hinton, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Grace Hopper, Gunnar Myrdal, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Hacker Ethic, Hans Moravec, haute couture, Herbert Marcuse, hive mind, hype cycle, hypertext link, indoor plumbing, industrial robot, information retrieval, Internet Archive, Internet of things, invention of the wheel, Ivan Sutherland, Jacques de Vaucanson, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, Jeff Hawkins, job automation, John Conway, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Perry Barlow, John von Neumann, Kaizen: continuous improvement, Kevin Kelly, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, labor-force participation, loose coupling, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, medical residency, Menlo Park, military-industrial complex, Mitch Kapor, Mother of all demos, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, new economy, Norbert Wiener, PageRank, PalmPilot, pattern recognition, Philippa Foot, pre–internet, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, reality distortion field, Recombinant DNA, Richard Stallman, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, Rodney Brooks, Sand Hill Road, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, semantic web, Seymour Hersh, shareholder value, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Singularitarianism, skunkworks, Skype, social software, speech recognition, stealth mode startup, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, Strategic Defense Initiative, strong AI, superintelligent machines, tech worker, technological singularity, Ted Nelson, TED Talk, telemarketer, telepresence, telepresence robot, Tenerife airport disaster, The Coming Technological Singularity, the medium is the message, Thorstein Veblen, Tony Fadell, trolley problem, Turing test, Vannevar Bush, Vernor Vinge, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, We are as Gods, Whole Earth Catalog, William Shockley: the traitorous eight, zero-sum game

Green, and Ben Sand, “The Great Reversal in the Demand for Skill and Cognitive Tasks,” NBER Working Paper No. 18901, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2013, http://www.economics.ubc.ca/files/2013/05/pdf_paper_paul-beaudry-great-reversal.pdf. 26.Ibid. 27.James Manyika, Susan Lund, Byron Auguste, and Sreenivas Ramaswamy, “Help Wanted: The Future of Work in Advanced Economies,” McKinsey Global Institute, March 2012, http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/employment_and_growth/future_of_work_in_advanced_economies. 28.Robin Harding, “US Has Lost 2M Clerical Jobs since 2007,” Financial Times, April 1, 2013, http://www.ft.com/intl/cm/s/0/37666e6c-9ae5-11e2-b982-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3V2czZqsP. 29.Melody Johnson, “Right-Wing Media Attack Obama for Accurate Remarks on Business’ [sic] Investment in Automated Machines,” MediaMatters for America, June 15, 2011, http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/06/15/right-wing-media-attack-obama-for-accurate-rema/180602. 30.

McCarthy’s and Engelbart’s work defined a new era in which digital computers would transform economies and societies as profoundly as did the industrial revolution. Recent experiments that guaranteed a “basic income” in the poorest part of the world may also offer a profound insight into the future of work in the face of encroaching, brilliant machines. The results of these experiments were striking because they ran counter to the popular idea that economic security undercuts the will to work. An experiment in an impoverished village in India in 2013 guaranteeing basic needs had just the opposite effect.

If not complete collapse, the slowing growth rate suggested a more turbulent and complex reality. One possibility is that rather than a pure deskilling, the changes observed may represent a broader “skill mismatch,” an interpretation that is more consistent with Keynesean expectations. For example, a recent McKinsey report on the future of work showed that between 2001 and 2009, jobs related to transactions and production both declined, but more than 4.8 million white-collar jobs were created relating to interactions and problem-solving.27 What is clear is that both blue-collar and white-collar jobs involving routinized tasks are at risk.


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Why We Work by Barry Schwartz

Atul Gawande, call centre, deskilling, do well by doing good, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, future of work, Higgs boson, if you build it, they will come, invisible hand, job satisfaction, meta-analysis, Paradox of Choice, scientific management, Silicon Valley, TED Talk, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Toyota Production System

May your lives be full of opportunities for good work. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Crucial Question EPIGRAPH CHAPTER 1 The False Rationale CHAPTER 2 When Work Is Good CHAPTER 3 How Good Work Goes Bad CHAPTER 4 The Technology of Ideas CHAPTER 5 The Future of Work ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WORKS CITED AND FURTHER READING ABOUT THE AUTHOR The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.

But it is a powerful fiction, and it becomes less and less fictional as it increasingly pervades our institutions and crowds out other types of relations between us and our work. Because of its self-fulfilling character, we cannot expect this fiction to die of natural causes. To kill it, we must nourish the alternatives. And that will not be easy. 5 The Future of Work: Designing Human Nature A scorpion wants to cross the river, but it can’t swim. It goes up to a frog, who can swim, and asks for a ride. The frog says, “If I give you a ride on my back you’ll go and sting me.” The scorpion replies, “It would not be in my interest to sting you, since, as I’ll be on your back, we both would drown.”


pages: 349 words: 99,230

Essential: How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice by Jamie K. McCallum

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, American Legislative Exchange Council, Anthropocene, antiwork, Bear Stearns, Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter, carbon tax, cognitive dissonance, collective bargaining, company town, coronavirus, COVID-19, death from overwork, defund the police, deindustrialization, deskilling, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, future of work, George Floyd, gig economy, global pandemic, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, green new deal, housing crisis, income inequality, independent contractor, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, job automation, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, labor-force participation, laissez-faire capitalism, lockdown, Loma Prieta earthquake, low-wage service sector, Lyft, manufacturing employment, market fundamentalism, minimum wage unemployment, moral hazard, Naomi Klein, occupational segregation, post-work, QR code, race to the bottom, remote working, rewilding, ride hailing / ride sharing, side hustle, single-payer health, social distancing, stock buybacks, strikebreaker, subprime mortgage crisis, TaskRabbit, The Great Resignation, the strength of weak ties, trade route, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, Upton Sinclair, women in the workforce, working poor, workplace surveillance , Works Progress Administration, zoonotic diseases

., “Racial and Ethnic Disparities Among COVID-19 Cases in Workplace Outbreaks by Industry Sector—Utah, March 6–June 5, 2020,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69, no. 33 (August 21, 2020): 1133–1138, https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6933e3. 14. Chen et al., “Excess Mortality Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic.” 15. “Bus Drivers,” Data USA, https://datausa.io/profile/soc/bus-drivers; Kelemwork Cook et al., “The Future of Work in Black America,” McKinsey & Company, October 4, 2019, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-black-america. 16. Shawn Fremstad, Hye Jin Rho, and Hayley Brown, “Meatpacking Workers Are a Diverse Group Who Need Better Protections,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, April 29, 2020, https://cepr.net/meatpacking-workers-are-a-diverse-group-who-need-better-protections/. 17.

Job openings for nurses are projected to grow at a faster rate than all other occupations from 2020 through 2026.19 We will also add 1,152,500 home health aides. Of the top fifteen occupations predicted to add the most jobs in the next decade, six are in healthcare: home health aides, nurses, medical assistants, health services, nursing assistants, and nurse practitioners.20 When you picture the future of work, picture a woman of color—in scrubs. When you picture the future of caregiving, picture the 3.4 million home care workers and the 1.6 million certified nursing assistants in long-term care homes. Picture them comforting our loved ones, singing them to sleep, saving their lives, and holding their hands as they die.


pages: 460 words: 107,454

Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People and Planet by Klaus Schwab, Peter Vanham

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, agricultural Revolution, air traffic controllers' union, Anthropocene, Apple II, Asian financial crisis, Asperger Syndrome, basic income, Berlin Wall, Big Tech, biodiversity loss, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, blue-collar work, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business process, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, car-free, carbon footprint, carbon tax, centre right, clean tech, clean water, cloud computing, collateralized debt obligation, collective bargaining, colonial rule, company town, contact tracing, contact tracing app, Cornelius Vanderbilt, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, cryptocurrency, cuban missile crisis, currency peg, cyber-physical system, decarbonisation, demographic dividend, Deng Xiaoping, Diane Coyle, digital divide, don't be evil, European colonialism, Fall of the Berlin Wall, family office, financial innovation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, gender pay gap, general purpose technology, George Floyd, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global supply chain, global value chain, global village, Google bus, green new deal, Greta Thunberg, high net worth, hiring and firing, housing crisis, income inequality, income per capita, independent contractor, industrial robot, intangible asset, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, job automation, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, lockdown, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, Martin Wolf, means of production, megacity, microplastics / micro fibres, Mikhail Gorbachev, mini-job, mittelstand, move fast and break things, neoliberal agenda, Network effects, new economy, open economy, Peace of Westphalia, Peter Thiel, precariat, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, race to the bottom, reserve currency, reshoring, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, San Francisco homelessness, School Strike for Climate, self-driving car, seminal paper, shareholder value, Shenzhen special economic zone , Shenzhen was a fishing village, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, special economic zone, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, synthetic biology, TaskRabbit, The Chicago School, The Future of Employment, The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, the scientific method, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, trade route, transfer pricing, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, War on Poverty, We are the 99%, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population, Yom Kippur War, young professional, zero-sum game

But throughout the world, including in our time, many others also protested new technologies and the new ways of working they promoted, whether through street protests against ride-hailing firms such as Uber or intellectual protests by politicians2 or academics3 in media. I too share the concern over the future of work in this era of automation. Back in 2015, I realized we were at the dawn of a new era—one of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and integrated cyber-physical systems—and that together they constituted a Fourth Industrial Revolution. The new technologies we were witnessing, including also 3D printing, quantum computing, precision medicine, and others, I came to believe, were on par with that of the First Industrial Revolution—the steam engine—those of the Second Industrial Revolution—the combustion engine and electricity—and that of the Third Industrial Revolution—information technology and computing.

To find out, I asked a colleague to go to Copenhagen and find out what explained this attitude. Dansk Metal President Claus Jensen gave us a first convincing argument.7 “Have you ever known of a country or company,” he asked, “that implemented old technology to get rich?” He was convinced that wasn't possible. And he didn't share the doom and gloom vision of some on the future of work: “Maybe Singularity University will think that everyone will be replaced by technology,” he said.8 “Maybe they think everyone will be standing at the sea, looking at robots making everything. But not everyone would say that.” He certainly didn't believe it. It went against his own experience and that of his predecessors at the union in the past 150 years.

At the same time, there is another factor at work: work in the gig economy globally has been on the rise, but traditional unions have so far largely been unable to provide adequate answers to its challenges. For gig workers, forming a modern union may be most important. Already, in the US, an estimated 57 million workers are freelancing,48 meaning that they work without a traditional employee contract. As a sign of how much this trend represents the future of work, more than half of the Generation Z—those born in the 1990s and early 2000s—are starting their careers by freelancing, with many seeing it as a long-term career path. Similar trends are playing out in countries such as Serbia, Ukraine, Pakistan, India, or Indonesia, home to Puty Puar, the successful designer from Chapter 5.


pages: 460 words: 107,454

Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People and Planet by Klaus Schwab

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, agricultural Revolution, air traffic controllers' union, Anthropocene, Apple II, Asian financial crisis, Asperger Syndrome, basic income, Berlin Wall, Big Tech, biodiversity loss, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, blue-collar work, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business process, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, car-free, carbon footprint, carbon tax, centre right, clean tech, clean water, cloud computing, collateralized debt obligation, collective bargaining, colonial rule, company town, contact tracing, contact tracing app, Cornelius Vanderbilt, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, cryptocurrency, cuban missile crisis, currency peg, cyber-physical system, decarbonisation, demographic dividend, Deng Xiaoping, Diane Coyle, digital divide, don't be evil, European colonialism, Fall of the Berlin Wall, family office, financial innovation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, gender pay gap, general purpose technology, George Floyd, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global supply chain, global value chain, global village, Google bus, green new deal, Greta Thunberg, high net worth, hiring and firing, housing crisis, income inequality, income per capita, independent contractor, industrial robot, intangible asset, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, job automation, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, lockdown, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, Martin Wolf, means of production, megacity, microplastics / micro fibres, Mikhail Gorbachev, mini-job, mittelstand, move fast and break things, neoliberal agenda, Network effects, new economy, open economy, Peace of Westphalia, Peter Thiel, precariat, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, race to the bottom, reserve currency, reshoring, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, San Francisco homelessness, School Strike for Climate, self-driving car, seminal paper, shareholder value, Shenzhen special economic zone , Shenzhen was a fishing village, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, special economic zone, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, synthetic biology, TaskRabbit, The Chicago School, The Future of Employment, The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, the scientific method, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, trade route, transfer pricing, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, War on Poverty, We are the 99%, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population, Yom Kippur War, young professional, zero-sum game

But throughout the world, including in our time, many others also protested new technologies and the new ways of working they promoted, whether through street protests against ride-hailing firms such as Uber or intellectual protests by politicians2 or academics3 in media. I too share the concern over the future of work in this era of automation. Back in 2015, I realized we were at the dawn of a new era—one of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and integrated cyber-physical systems—and that together they constituted a Fourth Industrial Revolution. The new technologies we were witnessing, including also 3D printing, quantum computing, precision medicine, and others, I came to believe, were on par with that of the First Industrial Revolution—the steam engine—those of the Second Industrial Revolution—the combustion engine and electricity—and that of the Third Industrial Revolution—information technology and computing.

To find out, I asked a colleague to go to Copenhagen and find out what explained this attitude. Dansk Metal President Claus Jensen gave us a first convincing argument.7 “Have you ever known of a country or company,” he asked, “that implemented old technology to get rich?” He was convinced that wasn't possible. And he didn't share the doom and gloom vision of some on the future of work: “Maybe Singularity University will think that everyone will be replaced by technology,” he said.8 “Maybe they think everyone will be standing at the sea, looking at robots making everything. But not everyone would say that.” He certainly didn't believe it. It went against his own experience and that of his predecessors at the union in the past 150 years.

At the same time, there is another factor at work: work in the gig economy globally has been on the rise, but traditional unions have so far largely been unable to provide adequate answers to its challenges. For gig workers, forming a modern union may be most important. Already, in the US, an estimated 57 million workers are freelancing,48 meaning that they work without a traditional employee contract. As a sign of how much this trend represents the future of work, more than half of the Generation Z—those born in the 1990s and early 2000s—are starting their careers by freelancing, with many seeing it as a long-term career path. Similar trends are playing out in countries such as Serbia, Ukraine, Pakistan, India, or Indonesia, home to Puty Puar, the successful designer from Chapter 5.


pages: 444 words: 117,770

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-First Century's Greatest Dilemma by Mustafa Suleyman

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 23andMe, 3D printing, active measures, Ada Lovelace, additive manufacturing, agricultural Revolution, AI winter, air gap, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, algorithmic bias, Alignment Problem, AlphaGo, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Web Services, Anthropocene, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA, ASML, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, barriers to entry, basic income, benefit corporation, Big Tech, biodiversity loss, bioinformatics, Bletchley Park, Blitzscaling, Boston Dynamics, business process, business process outsourcing, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, ChatGPT, choice architecture, circular economy, classic study, clean tech, cloud computing, commoditize, computer vision, coronavirus, corporate governance, correlation does not imply causation, COVID-19, creative destruction, CRISPR, critical race theory, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, cuban missile crisis, data science, decarbonisation, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, deindustrialization, dematerialisation, Demis Hassabis, disinformation, drone strike, drop ship, dual-use technology, Easter island, Edward Snowden, effective altruism, energy transition, epigenetics, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ernest Rutherford, Extinction Rebellion, facts on the ground, failed state, Fairchild Semiconductor, fear of failure, flying shuttle, Ford Model T, future of work, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, global pandemic, GPT-3, GPT-4, hallucination problem, hive mind, hype cycle, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet Archive, Internet of things, invention of the wheel, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John von Neumann, Joi Ito, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, lab leak, large language model, Law of Accelerating Returns, Lewis Mumford, license plate recognition, lockdown, machine readable, Marc Andreessen, meta-analysis, microcredit, move 37, Mustafa Suleyman, mutually assured destruction, new economy, Nick Bostrom, Nikolai Kondratiev, off grid, OpenAI, paperclip maximiser, personalized medicine, Peter Thiel, planetary scale, plutocrats, precautionary principle, profit motive, prompt engineering, QAnon, quantum entanglement, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, Recombinant DNA, Richard Feynman, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, Sam Altman, Sand Hill Road, satellite internet, Silicon Valley, smart cities, South China Sea, space junk, SpaceX Starlink, stealth mode startup, stem cell, Stephen Fry, Steven Levy, strong AI, synthetic biology, tacit knowledge, tail risk, techlash, techno-determinism, technoutopianism, Ted Kaczynski, the long tail, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Thomas Malthus, TikTok, TSMC, Turing test, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, uranium enrichment, warehouse robotics, William MacAskill, working-age population, world market for maybe five computers, zero day

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT Early analysis of ChatGPT Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang, “Experimental Evidence on the Productivity Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence,” MIT Economics, March 10, 2023, economics.mit.edu/​sites/​default/​files/​inline-files/​Noy_Zhang_1_0.pdf. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT That in turn could affect hiring The likely total is less, however, but still considerable. See James Manyika et al., “Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages,” McKinsey Global Institute, Nov. 28, 2017, www.mckinsey.com/​featured-insights/​future-of-work/​jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages. Exact wording: “We estimate that about half of all the activities people are paid to do in the world’s workforce could potentially be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies.”

Each individual instance counts for almost nothing. But what happens if the ultimate side effect of these compounding efficiencies is that humans aren’t needed for much work at all? THE AUTOMATION DEBATE In the years since I co-founded DeepMind, no AI policy debate has been given more airtime than the future of work—to the point of oversaturation. Here was the original thesis. In the past, new technologies put people out of work, producing what the economist John Maynard Keynes called “technological unemployment.” In Keynes’s view, this was a good thing, with increasing productivity freeing up time for further innovation and leisure.


pages: 252 words: 78,780

Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us by Dan Lyons

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "Susan Fowler" uber, "World Economic Forum" Davos, Airbnb, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, antiwork, Apple II, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Big Tech, bitcoin, blockchain, Blue Ocean Strategy, business process, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, Clayton Christensen, clean water, collective bargaining, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, cryptocurrency, data science, David Heinemeier Hansson, digital rights, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, fake news, full employment, future of work, gig economy, Gordon Gekko, greed is good, Hacker News, hiring and firing, holacracy, housing crisis, impact investing, income inequality, informal economy, initial coin offering, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job satisfaction, job-hopping, John Gruber, John Perry Barlow, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, Kanban, Kevin Kelly, knowledge worker, Larry Ellison, Lean Startup, loose coupling, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, McMansion, Menlo Park, Milgram experiment, minimum viable product, Mitch Kapor, move fast and break things, new economy, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, Parker Conrad, Paul Graham, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, precariat, prosperity theology / prosperity gospel / gospel of success, public intellectual, RAND corporation, remote working, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, Rubik’s Cube, Ruby on Rails, Sam Altman, San Francisco homelessness, Sand Hill Road, scientific management, self-driving car, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, six sigma, Skinner box, Skype, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, SoftBank, software is eating the world, Stanford prison experiment, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, stock buybacks, super pumped, TaskRabbit, tech bro, tech worker, TechCrunch disrupt, TED Talk, telemarketer, Tesla Model S, Thomas Davenport, Tony Hsieh, Toyota Production System, traveling salesman, Travis Kalanick, tulip mania, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, web application, WeWork, Whole Earth Catalog, work culture , workplace surveillance , Y Combinator, young professional, Zenefits

Beyer, Elizabeth. “Why One-Third of American Working-Age Men Could Be Displaced by Robots.” MarketWatch, May 14, 2018. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-one-third-of-american-working-age-men-could-be-displaced-by-robots-2018-05-14. Brookings. “The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation.” Event held May 14, 2018. https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-future-of-work-robots-ai-and-automation. Buchanan, Jeff. “Wisconsin Company Offers to Put RFID Chips in Employees’ Bodies.” Xconomy, July 26, 2017. https://www.xconomy.com/wisconsin/2017/07/26/wisconsin-company-offers-to-put-rfid-chips-in-employees-bodies.

Sales of robotic systems will more than triple, from $65 billion in 2016 to just under $200 billion in 2021. By 2030 robots may wipe out eight hundred million jobs, roughly one-fifth of all jobs worldwide, according to McKinsey. By 2050, robots may replace one-third of American working-age men, Brookings Institution vice president Darrell West claims in his 2018 book The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation. Companies love robots and AI-powered management systems. They don’t have accidents. They don’t call in sick and don’t have messy personal lives. They also don’t collect paychecks or demand health insurance and 401(k) plans. Someday, investors could create companies that might not need any flesh-and-blood humans at all.


pages: 288 words: 86,995

Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything by Martin Ford

AI winter, Airbnb, algorithmic bias, algorithmic trading, Alignment Problem, AlphaGo, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Web Services, artificial general intelligence, Automated Insights, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, basic income, Big Tech, big-box store, call centre, carbon footprint, Chris Urmson, Claude Shannon: information theory, clean water, cloud computing, commoditize, computer age, computer vision, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, coronavirus, correlation does not imply causation, COVID-19, crowdsourcing, data is the new oil, data science, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, deskilling, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, factory automation, fake news, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, George Floyd, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, Googley, GPT-3, high-speed rail, hype cycle, ImageNet competition, income inequality, independent contractor, industrial robot, informal economy, information retrieval, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, labor-force participation, Law of Accelerating Returns, license plate recognition, low interest rates, low-wage service sector, Lyft, machine readable, machine translation, Mark Zuckerberg, Mitch Kapor, natural language processing, Nick Bostrom, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, Ocado, OpenAI, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, passive income, pattern recognition, Peter Thiel, Phillips curve, post scarcity, public intellectual, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, remote working, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Rodney Brooks, Rubik’s Cube, Sam Altman, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, social distancing, SoftBank, South of Market, San Francisco, special economic zone, speech recognition, stealth mode startup, Stephen Hawking, superintelligent machines, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, the scientific method, Turing machine, Turing test, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, very high income, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, Y Combinator

Miso Robotics, “White Castle selects Miso Robotics for a new era of artificial intelligence in the fast food industry,” Press Release Newswire, July 14, 2020, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/white-castle-selects-miso-robotics-for-a-new-era-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-fast-food-industry-301092746.html. 22. James Manyika, Susan Lund, Michael Chui, et al., “Jobs lost, jobs gained: What the future of work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages,” McKinsey Global Institute, November 28, 2017, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages. 23. Ferris Jabr, “Cache cab: Taxi drivers’ brains grow to navigate London’s streets,” Scientific American, December 8, 2011, www.scientificamerican.com/article/london-taxi-memory/. 24.


pages: 626 words: 167,836

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation by Carl Benedikt Frey

3D printing, AlphaGo, Alvin Toffler, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Branko Milanovic, British Empire, business cycle, business process, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Charles Babbage, Clayton Christensen, collective bargaining, computer age, computer vision, Corn Laws, Cornelius Vanderbilt, creative destruction, data science, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, demographic transition, desegregation, deskilling, Donald Trump, driverless car, easy for humans, difficult for computers, Edward Glaeser, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, factory automation, Fairchild Semiconductor, falling living standards, first square of the chessboard / second half of the chessboard, Ford Model T, Ford paid five dollars a day, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane: The New Division of Labor, full employment, future of work, game design, general purpose technology, Gini coefficient, Great Leap Forward, Hans Moravec, high-speed rail, Hyperloop, income inequality, income per capita, independent contractor, industrial cluster, industrial robot, intangible asset, interchangeable parts, Internet of things, invention of agriculture, invention of movable type, invention of the steam engine, invention of the wheel, Isaac Newton, James Hargreaves, James Watt: steam engine, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, job satisfaction, job-hopping, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, labor-force participation, labour mobility, Lewis Mumford, Loebner Prize, low skilled workers, machine translation, Malcom McLean invented shipping containers, manufacturing employment, mass immigration, means of production, Menlo Park, minimum wage unemployment, natural language processing, new economy, New Urbanism, Nick Bostrom, Norbert Wiener, nowcasting, oil shock, On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, OpenAI, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Pareto efficiency, pattern recognition, pink-collar, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, Renaissance Technologies, rent-seeking, rising living standards, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, robot derives from the Czech word robota Czech, meaning slave, safety bicycle, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, seminal paper, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, social intelligence, sparse data, speech recognition, spinning jenny, Stephen Hawking, tacit knowledge, The Future of Employment, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, total factor productivity, trade route, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Turing test, union organizing, universal basic income, warehouse automation, washing machines reduced drudgery, wealth creators, women in the workforce, working poor, zero-sum game

.… There have been long periods of economic history in which things did not work out well, and we must wonder whether we are in another.… The Luddites and other opponents of mechanization are often portrayed as irrational enemies of progress, but they were not the people set to benefit from the new machinery, so their opposition makes sense. —ROBERT C. ALLEN, “LESSONS FROM HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF WORK” One of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century was unquestionably the creation of a diverse and prosperous middle class. It is therefore a matter of great concern that American society is now experiencing a dramatic decline in the fortunes of those people who might be described as middle class.

One Bureau of Labor Statistics case study, conducted in 1960, found that “a little over 80 percent of the employees affected by the change were in routine jobs involving posting, checking, and maintaining records; filing; computing; or tabulating, keypunch, and related machine operations. The rest were mainly in administrative, supervisory, and accounting work.”46 But if there was a Nobel Prize for predicting the future of work, it should have gone to Herbert Simon for his essay titled “The Corporation: Will It Be Managed by Machines?,” first published in 1960.47 (Of course, Simon did win one in economics for his work on the decision-making process within economic organizations.) While Simon did not lay out an explicit framework, he got things spectacularly right by looking at trends in technology.

A frequently used metric to assess this is the area under the curve (AUC), and by this measure the nonlinear model in our study is much more accurate than their linear model. For a detailed discussion of how and why these estimates differ, see also C. B. Frey and M. Osborne, 2018, “Automation and the Future of Work—Understanding the Numbers,” Oxford Martin School, https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/opinion/view/404. 55. See, for example, Arntz, Gregory, and Zierahn, 2016, “The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries,” table 5. 56. Council of Economic Advisers, 2016, “2016 Economic Report of the President,” chapter 5, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/ERP_2016_Chapter_5.pdf. 57.


pages: 165 words: 47,193

The End of Work: Why Your Passion Can Become Your Job by John Tamny

Albert Einstein, Andy Kessler, Apollo 13, asset allocation, barriers to entry, basic income, Bernie Sanders, cloud computing, commoditize, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, do what you love, Downton Abbey, future of work, George Gilder, haute cuisine, income inequality, Jeff Bezos, knowledge economy, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Palm Treo, Peter Thiel, profit motive, Saturday Night Live, Silicon Valley, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, There's no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home - Ken Olsen, trickle-down economics, universal basic income, upwardly mobile, Yogi Berra

It rests on something called Tamny’s Law, and all smart people will want to read this book to know what that is.” —James Rosen, author of The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate and Cheney One on One “John Tamny’s The End of Work is the answer for everyone who dreads Mondays. In this entertaining book, he shows how passion is becoming the path to a paycheck. The future of work is bright!” —John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods “Professional video game players, video game coaches, NFL Insiders? John Tamny’s exciting book about the explosion of jobs that don’t feel at all like work will resonate with those fearful about the future. It’s going to be glorious.” —Adam Schefter, ESPN NFL Insider “The United States is where the world’s ambitious have long come to make their mark.

Indeed, there would be no companies, no jobs, and no nonprofits if no one first created and preserved wealth. No ideology can get around that truth. So the path to the sort of jobs that combine work and passion is spending and taxing less. If politicians were to spend and tax substantially less, the future of work would be bright. CHAPTER TEN Love Your Robot, Love Your Job “I don’t really know what a vacation is. Usually, I’m so interested in what I’m doing and where I am, every night I’m making notes and keeping a record of it for myself. It’s like retirement: Some people look forward to retiring [but] I can’t imagine what that would mean.”1 —Russell Banks, novelist and travel writer In his endlessly interesting autobiography, Open, tennis great Andre Agassi explains the immense importance of a well-strung racquet.


pages: 372 words: 152

The End of Work by Jeremy Rifkin

banking crisis, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, blue-collar work, cashless society, Charles Babbage, collective bargaining, compensation consultant, computer age, deskilling, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, employer provided health coverage, Erik Brynjolfsson, full employment, future of work, general-purpose programming language, George Gilder, global village, Great Leap Forward, Herbert Marcuse, high-speed rail, hiring and firing, informal economy, interchangeable parts, invention of the telegraph, Jacques de Vaucanson, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kaizen: continuous improvement, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, land reform, low interest rates, low skilled workers, means of production, military-industrial complex, new economy, New Urbanism, Paul Samuelson, pink-collar, pneumatic tube, post-Fordism, post-industrial society, Productivity paradox, prudent man rule, Richard Florida, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Silicon Valley, speech recognition, strikebreaker, technoutopianism, Thorstein Veblen, Toyota Production System, trade route, trickle-down economics, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population, Works Progress Administration

"Life on the Leisure Track," Newsweek, June 14, 1993, p. 48. 33. "From Coast to Coast, from Affluent to Poor, Poll Shows Anxiety Over Jobs," New York Times, March 11, 1994, p. AI. CHAPTER 2 1. Bell, John Fred, A History of Economic Thought, (New York: Ronald Press Co., 1985), pp. 285-286. 2. Jones, Barry, Sleepers Wake! Technology and the Future of Work (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 2$ Standing, Guy, "The Notion of Technological Unemployment," International Labour Review, March/April1984, p. 131, 3. McLellan, David, tr., Marxs Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Okonomie (New York: Harpers, 1977) pp. 162-163. 4. Clark, John Bates, Essentials of Economic Theory (London, 1907) p. 452. 5.

Ceruzzi, Paul, ''An Unforeseen Revolution: Computers and Expectations, 1935-1985," in Corn, Joseph J., Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology, and the American Future (Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986), P·19 0 . 22. Ibid., PP.190-191. 23. Jones, Barry, Sleepers, Wake: Technology and the Future of Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 104-105' 24. "The First Automation," American Machinist, December 1990, p. 6; Noble, p.67· 25. ''Automatic Factory," Fortune, November 1946, p. 160. 26. "Machines Without Men," Fortune, November 1946, p. 204. 302 Notes 27. Noble, p. 25· 28. Business Week, January 1946, cited in "The End of Corporate Liberalism: Class Struggle in the Electrical Manufacturing Industry 1933-50," Radical America, July- August 1975. 29· Noble, p. 249. 30.

Society for the Reduction of Human Labor Newsletter, Hunnicutt, Benjamin Kline, and McGaughey, William, eds., Winter 1992-1993, vol. 3 #1, P.14. 5. Schor, Juliet, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (New York: Basic Books, 1991) pp. 1, 2, 5, 29, 32. 6. Jones, Barry, Sleepers Wake! Technology and the Future of Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), ch. 9. 7. Interview, March 18, 1994. Former Senator Eugene McCarthy argues that in the emerging high-tech era, the need to redistribute work becomes the essential battle cry of the forces fighting for economic justice. "What you have to look to," says McCarthy, "is a redistribution of work, through which you establish a claim to what is being produced." 8.


pages: 563 words: 136,190

The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America by Gabriel Winant

affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, anti-communist, antiwork, blue-collar work, business cycle, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, classic study, clean water, collective bargaining, company town, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, deindustrialization, desegregation, deskilling, emotional labour, employer provided health coverage, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ford paid five dollars a day, full employment, future of work, ghettoisation, independent contractor, invisible hand, Kitchen Debate, labor-force participation, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, mandatory minimum, manufacturing employment, mass incarceration, MITM: man-in-the-middle, moral hazard, new economy, New Urbanism, obamacare, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, pink-collar, post-industrial society, post-work, postindustrial economy, price stability, RAND corporation, Ronald Reagan, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, the built environment, union organizing, upwardly mobile, urban renewal, vertical integration, War on Poverty, white flight, Wolfgang Streeck, women in the workforce, work culture , working poor

For the first view, see Moishe Postone, Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993); Michael Denning, “Wageless Life,” New Left Review 66 (November–December 2010), 79–97; Kathi Weeks, The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Post-Work Imaginaries (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011); Aaron Benanav, “Automation and the Future of Work—1,” New Left Review 119 (September–October 2019), 5–38; Aaron Benanav, “Automation and the Future of Work—2,” New Left Review 120 (November–December 2019), 117–146. For more mainstream approaches, see Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (New York: Norton, 2014); Richard Baldwin, The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019). For the second view, see Arne L.

Charlie Deitch, “No Help Wanted: In Filing to Labor Board, UPMC Claims It Has No Employees,” Pittsburgh City Paper, January 30, 2013; “UPMC to Invest $2 Billion To Create 3 New Specialty Hospitals in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 3, 2017. 2. David Weil, The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014); Danny Vinik, “The Real Future of Work,” Politico Magazine, January–February 2018. See also Louis Hyman, Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary (New York: Viking, 2018). 3. See Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein, “We Were the Invisible Workforce: Unionizing Home Care,” in The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor, ed.


pages: 366 words: 94,209

Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity by Douglas Rushkoff

activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, algorithmic trading, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Andrew Keen, bank run, banking crisis, barriers to entry, benefit corporation, bitcoin, blockchain, Burning Man, business process, buy and hold, buy low sell high, California gold rush, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon footprint, centralized clearinghouse, citizen journalism, clean water, cloud computing, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, colonial exploitation, Community Supported Agriculture, corporate personhood, corporate raider, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data science, deep learning, disintermediation, diversified portfolio, Dutch auction, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, fiat currency, Firefox, Flash crash, full employment, future of work, gamification, Garrett Hardin, gentrification, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global supply chain, global village, Google bus, Howard Rheingold, IBM and the Holocaust, impulse control, income inequality, independent contractor, index fund, iterative process, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, jimmy wales, job automation, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, Large Hadron Collider, loss aversion, low interest rates, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, medical bankruptcy, minimum viable product, Mitch Kapor, Naomi Klein, Network effects, new economy, Norbert Wiener, Oculus Rift, passive investing, payday loans, peer-to-peer lending, Peter Thiel, post-industrial society, power law, profit motive, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, recommendation engine, reserve currency, RFID, Richard Stallman, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, Russell Brand, Satoshi Nakamoto, Second Machine Age, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, social graph, software patent, Steve Jobs, stock buybacks, TaskRabbit, the Cathedral and the Bazaar, The Future of Employment, the long tail, trade route, Tragedy of the Commons, transportation-network company, Turing test, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, unpaid internship, Vitalik Buterin, warehouse robotics, Wayback Machine, Y Combinator, young professional, zero-sum game, Zipcar

Williams’s widely read book Wikinomics points to Wikipedia as a new model for mass collaboration and value creation online. They go on to credit Amazon Mechanical Turk with creating valuable new opportunities for the next generation of digital workers. * I have been participating in the Open Society’s “Future of Work” initiative, and the labor theorists, union leaders, and futurists in attendance—arguably the world’s experts on the future of work—can’t even agree on the parameters for defining a “job” from this point forward. * The places in the world where subsistence agriculture is no longer possible are themselves largely the victims of colonialism, global market inequities, or Western-owned factory pollution.

., 229 Circuit City, 90 Citizens United case, 72 Claritas, 32 click workers, 50 climate change, 135, 227–28, 237 coin of the realm, 128–29 collaboration as corporate strategy, 106–7 colonialism, 71–72 commons, 215–23 co-owned networks and, 220–23 history of, 215–16 projects inspired by, 217–18 successful, elements of, 216–17 tragedy of, 215–16 worker-owned collectives and, 219–20 competencies, of corporations, 79–80 Connect+Develop, 107 Consumer Electronics Show, 19 Consumer Reports,33 contracting with small and medium-sized enterprises, 112 cooperative currencies, 160–65 favor banks, 161 LETS (Local Exchange Trading System), 163–65 time dollar systems, 161–63 co-owned networks, 220–23 corporations, 68–82 acquisition of startups, growth through, 78 amplifying effect of, 70, 73 Big Shift and, 76 cash holdings of, 76, 77–78 competency of, 79–80 cost reduction, growth through, 79–80 decentralized autonomous corporations (DACs), 149–50 Deloitte’s study of return on assets (ROA) of, 76–77 distributive alternative to platform monopolies, 93–97 evaluation of, 69–74 extractive nature of, 71–72, 73, 74, 75, 80–82 growth targets, meeting, 68–69 income inequality and, 81–82 limits to corporate model, 75–76, 80–82 managerial and financial methods to deliver growth by, 77–79 monopolies (See monopolies) obsolescence created by, 70–71, 73 offshoring and, 78–79 personhood of, 72, 73–74, 90, 91 recoding of, 93–97, 125–26 repatriation and, 80 retrieval of values of empire and, 71–72, 73 as steady-state enterprises, 97–123 Costco, 74 cost reduction, and corporate growth, 79–80 Couchsurfing.com, 46 crashes of 1929, 99 of 2007, 133–34 biotech crash, of 1987, 6 flash crash, 180 Creative Commons, 215 creative destruction, 83–87 credit, 132–33 credit-card companies, 143–44 crowdfunding, 38–39, 198–201 crowdsharing apps, 45–49 crowdsourcing platforms, 49–50 Crusades, 16 Cumbrian Pounds, 156 Curitiba, Brazil modified LETS program, 164–65 Daly, Herman, 184 data big, 39–44 getting paid for our own, 44–45 “likes” economy and, 32, 34–36 in pre-digital era, 40 Datalogix, 32 da Vinci, Leonardo, 236 debt, 152–54 decentralized autonomous corporations (DACs), 149–50 deflation, 169 Dell, 115–16 Dell, Michael, 115–16 Deloitte Center for the Edge, 76–77 destructive destruction, 100 Detroit Dollars, 156 digital distributism, 224–39 artisanal era mechanisms and values retrieved by, 233–34 developing distributive businesses, 237–38 digital industrialism compared, 226 digital technology and, 230–31 historical ideals of distributism, 228–30 leftism, distinguished, 231 Pope Francis’s encyclical espousing distributed approach to land, labor and capital, 227–28 Renaissance era values, rebirth of, 235–37 subsidiarity and, 231–32 sustainable prosperity as goal of, 226–27 digital economy, 7–11 big data and, 39–44 destabilizing form of digitally accelerated capitalism, creation of, 9–10 digital marketplace, development of, 24–30 digital transaction networks and, 140–51 disproportionate relationship between capital and value in, 9 distributism and, 224–39 externalizing cost of replacing employees in, 14–15 industrialism and, 13–16, 23–24, 44, 53–54, 93, 101–2, 201, 214, 226 industrial society, distinguished, 11 “likes” and similar metrics, economy of, 30–39 platform monopolies and, 82–93, 101 digital industrialism, 13–16, 23–24, 101–2, 201 digital distributism compared, 226 diminishing returns of, 93 externalizing costs and, 14–15 growth agenda and, 14–15, 23–24 human data as commodity under, 44 income disparity and, 53–54 labor and land pushed to unbound extremes by, 214 “likes” economy and, 33 reducing bottom line as means of creating illusion of growth and, 14 digital marketplace, 24–30 early stages of e-commerce, 25–26 highly centralized sales platforms of, 29 initial treatment of Internet as commons, 25 “long tail” of widespread digital access and, 26 positive reinforcement feedback loop and, 28 power-law dynamics and, 26–29 removal of humans from selection process in, 28 digital transaction networks, 140–51 Bitcoin, 143–49, 150–51, 152 blockchains and, 144–51 central authorities, dependence on, 142 decentralized autonomous corporations (DACs) and, 149–50 PayPal, 140–41 theft and, 142 direct public offerings (DPOs), 205–6 discount brokerages, 176–78 diversification, 208, 211 dividends, 113–14, 208–10 dividend traps, 113 Dorsey, Jack, 191–92 Draw Something, 192, 193 Drexler, Mickey, 116 dual transformation, 108–9 dumbwaiter effect, 19 Dutch East India Company, 71, 89, 131 eBay, 16, 26, 29, 45, 140 education industry, 95–97 Eisenhower administration, 52–53, 63, 75 Elberse, Anita, 28 employee-owned companies, 116–18 Enron, 133, 171n Eroski, 220 eSignal, 178 EthicalBay, 221 E*Trade, 176, 177 Etsy, 16, 26, 30 expense reduction, and corporate growth, 78–79 Facebook, 4, 31, 83, 93, 96, 201 data gathering and sales by, 41, 44 innovation by acquisition of startups, 78 IPO of, 192–93, 195 psychological experiments conducted on users by, 32–33 factors of production, 212–14 Fairmondo, 221 Family Assistance Plan, 63 family businesses, 103–4, 231–32 FarmVille, 192 favor banks, 161 Febreze Set & Refresh, 108 Federal Reserve, 137–38 feedback loop, and positive reinforcement, 28 Ferriss, Tim, 201 feudalism, 17 financial services industry, 131–33, 171–73, 175 Fisher, Irving, 158 flash crash, 180 flexible purpose corporations, 119–20 flow, investing in, 208–10 Forbes,88, 173, 174 40-hour workweek, reduction of, 58–60 401(k) plans, 171–74 Francis, Pope, 227, 228, 234 Free, Libre, Open Knowledge (FLOK) program, 217–18 Free (Anderson), 33 free money theory, local currencies based on, 156–59 barter exchanges, 159 during Great Depression, 158–59 self-help cooperatives, 159 stamp scrip, 158–59 tax anticipation scrip, 159 Wörgls, 157–58 frenzy, 98–99 Fried, Jason, 59 Friedman, Milton, 64 Friendster, 31 Frito-Lay, 80 front running, 180–81 Fulfillment by Amazon, 89 Fureai Kippu (Caring Relationship Tickets), 162 Future of Work initiative, 56n Gallo, Riso, 103–4 Gap, 116 Gates, Bill, 186 General Electric, 132 General Public License (GPL) for software, 216 Gesell, Silvio, 157 GI Bill, 99 Gimein, Mark, 147 Gini coefficient of income inequality, 81–82, 92 global warming, 135, 227–28, 237 GM, 80 Goldman Sachs, 133, 195 gold standard, 139 Google, 8, 48, 78, 83, 90–91, 93, 141, 218 acquisitions by, 191 business model of, 37 data sales by, 37, 44 innovation by acquisition of startups, 78 IPO of, 194–95 protests against, 1–3, 5, 98–99 grain receipts, 128 great decoupling, 53 Great Depression, 137, 158–59 Great Exhibition, 1851, 19 Greenspan, Alan, 132–33 growth, 1–11 bazaars, and economic expansion in late Middle Ages, 16–18 central currency and, 126, 129–31, 133–36 digital industrialism, growth agenda of, 14–15, 23–24 highly centralized e-commerce platforms and, 29 startups, hypergrowth expected of, 187–91 as trap (See growth trap) growth trap, 4–5, 68–123 central currency as core mechanism of, 133–34 corporations as program and, 68–82 platform monopolies and, 82–93, 101 recoding corporate model and, 93–97 steady-state enterprises and, 98–123 guaranteed minimum income programs, 62–65 guaranteed minimum wage public jobs, 65–66 guilds, 17 Hagel, John, 76–77 Hardin, Garrett, 215–16 Harvard Business Review,108–9 Heiferman, Scott, 196–97 Henry VIII, King, 215, 229 Hewlett-Packard UK, 112 high-frequency trading (HFT), 179–80 Hilton, 115 Hobby Lobby case, 72 Hoffman, Reid, 61 Holland, Addie Rose, 205–6 holograms, 235 Homeport New Orleans, 121 housing industry, 135 Huffington, Arianna, 34, 35, 201 Huffington Post, 34, 201 human role in economy, 13–67 aristocracy’s efforts to control peasant economy, 17–18 bazaars and, 16–18 big data and, 39–44 chartered monopolies and, 18 decreasing employment and, 30–39 digital marketplace, impact of, 24–30 industrialism and, 13–16, 18–24, 44 “likes” economy and, 30–39 reevaluation of employment and adopting policies to decrease it and, 54–67 sharing economy and, 44–54 Hurwitz, Charles, 117 IBM, 90–91, 112 inclusive capitalism, 111–12 income disparity corporate model and, 81–82 digital technology as accelerating, 53–54 Gini coefficient of, 81–82, 92 growth trap and, 4 power-law dynamics and, 27–28, 30 public service options for reducing, 65–66 IndieGogo, 30, 199 individual retirement accounts (IRAs), 171 industrial farming, 134–35 industrialism, 18–24 branding and, 20 digital, 13–16, 23–24, 44, 53–54, 93, 101–2, 201, 214, 226 disempowerment of workers and, 18–19 human connection between producer and consumer, loss of, 19–20 isolation of human consumers from one another and, 20–21 mass marketing and, 19–20 mass media and, 20–21 purpose of, 18–19, 22 value system of, 18–19 inflation, 169 Instagram, 31 Intercontinental Exchange, 182 interest, 129–31 investors/investing, 70, 72, 168–223 algorithmic trading and, 179–84 bounded, 210–15 commons model for running businesses and, 215–23 crowdfunding and, 198–201 derivative finance, volume of, 182 digital technology and, 169–70, 175–84 direct public offerings (DPOs) and, 205–6 discount brokerages and, 176–78 diversification and, 208, 211 dividends and, 208–10 flow, investing in, 208–10 high-frequency trading (HFT) and, 179–80 in low-interest rate environment, 169–70 microfinancing platforms and, 202–4 platform cooperatives and, 220–23 poor performance of do-it-yourself traders and, 177–78 retirement savings and, 170–75 startups and, 184–205 ventureless capital and, 196–205 irruption, 98 i-traffic, 196 iTunes, 27, 29, 34, 89 J.


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Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy by Nathan Schneider

1960s counterculture, Aaron Swartz, Adam Curtis, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, altcoin, Amazon Mechanical Turk, antiwork, back-to-the-land, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, Brewster Kahle, Burning Man, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Clayton Christensen, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, commons-based peer production, Community Supported Agriculture, corporate governance, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, Debian, degrowth, disruptive innovation, do-ocracy, Donald Knuth, Donald Trump, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, emotional labour, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, Evgeny Morozov, Fairphone, Food sovereignty, four colour theorem, future of work, Gabriella Coleman, gentrification, gig economy, Google bus, holacracy, hydraulic fracturing, initial coin offering, intentional community, Internet Archive, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, jimmy wales, John Perry Barlow, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, Julian Assange, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, low interest rates, Lyft, M-Pesa, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, mass immigration, means of production, Money creation, multi-sided market, Murray Bookchin, new economy, offshore financial centre, old-boy network, Peter H. Diamandis: Planetary Resources, Pier Paolo Pasolini, post-work, precariat, premature optimization, pre–internet, profit motive, race to the bottom, Richard Florida, Richard Stallman, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rutger Bregman, Salesforce, Sam Altman, Satoshi Nakamoto, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Slavoj Žižek, smart contracts, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, surveillance capitalism, tech worker, TED Talk, transaction costs, Turing test, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, underbanked, undersea cable, universal basic income, Upton Sinclair, Vanguard fund, Vitalik Buterin, W. E. B. Du Bois, white flight, Whole Earth Catalog, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, working poor, workplace surveillance , Y Combinator, Y2K, Zipcar

Productivity growth has been sluggish by historical standards in the United States, and a decade after the 2008 crash, job numbers are back up. The trouble is, those jobs are less secure or reliable than before, and the owners are taking more of the spoils. More than machines replacing humans, the new jobs seem to expect humans to act like machines.21 Perhaps the real visionaries of the future of work are not the app makers but those organizing co-ops in the fast-growing care sectors, ensuring that the most difficult work remains accountable to flesh and blood and heart. If the cooperative legacy did not exist, their task might seem insurmountable. But it’s really no worse than hard. As the stories I’ve told in this book declare, cooperation is no drop-in solution-for-everything.

May what I’ve gleaned from you be of use. Nathan Schneider is a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author, most recently, of Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse and coeditor of Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet. Illustration Credits All photographs were taken by me in the course of reporting. For charts, maps, and other graphics, I draw from the following sources, with permission from relevant organizations. Here Liberty Distributors, Policies and Procedures (December 1978).

See also Scholz’s subsequent, fuller account of the concept in his pamphlet Platform Cooperativism: Challenging the Corporate Sharing Economy (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 2016), as well as the collective manifesto he and I coedited, Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet (OR Books, 2016). Scholz also writes at length about platform cooperativism in Uberworked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy (Polity, 2017). Douglas Rushkoff, the concluding speaker at the 2015 Platform Cooperativism conference, advocates the model in Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity (Portfolio, 2016). 17.


pages: 168 words: 50,647

The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom Without the 9-To-5 by Taylor Pearson

Airbnb, barriers to entry, Ben Horowitz, Black Swan, call centre, cloud computing, commoditize, content marketing, creative destruction, David Heinemeier Hansson, drop ship, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, Google Hangouts, Hacker Conference 1984, Kaizen: continuous improvement, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, loss aversion, low skilled workers, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, market fragmentation, means of production, Oculus Rift, passive income, passive investing, Peter Thiel, power law, remote working, Ronald Reagan: Tear down this wall, scientific management, sharing economy, side hustle, side project, Silicon Valley, Skype, software as a service, software is eating the world, Startup school, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, systems thinking, TED Talk, telemarketer, the long tail, Thomas Malthus, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, unpaid internship, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, web application, Whole Earth Catalog

The scarce resource—entrepreneurship—can be invested in more easily than ever. You are now sitting at a nexus where your cost basis is very low, but your profits are very high if you’re an entrepreneur. Let’s look more closely at what those profits look like. Section 5: Entrepreneurship Is More Profitable than Ever The Future of Work “I don’t think of work as work or play as play. It’s all just living.” Richard Branson A Brief History of Work and Jobs If we look at modern day pre-neolithic, hunter/gatherer groups, they don’t “have jobs” or “do work” in the sense we think about them today. They did what they have to do to survive and different members have different roles.

The opportunity for our generation is that the tools to do the deed, to generate the work, to go out into the world and create, have never been more accessible, safer. For the first time in human history, the pursuit of money, meaning, and freedom through entrepreneurship are more profitable and synergistic than ever before. Conclusion The Future of Work Many people I talked to in the process of writing this asked me, do you really think that’s happening? You really think that we’re moving into this amazing period of freedom and wealth as entrepreneurs? The short answer: maybe. I don’t believe this is a future that will create itself. The opportunity is real.


pages: 411 words: 98,128

Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning From It by Brian Dumaine

activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, AI winter, Airbnb, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, Atul Gawande, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Swan, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, carbon tax, Carl Icahn, Chris Urmson, cloud computing, corporate raider, creative destruction, Danny Hillis, data science, deep learning, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Fairchild Semiconductor, fake news, fulfillment center, future of work, gig economy, Glass-Steagall Act, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, income inequality, independent contractor, industrial robot, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, Kevin Roose, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, military-industrial complex, money market fund, natural language processing, no-fly zone, Ocado, pets.com, plutocrats, race to the bottom, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, Sand Hill Road, self-driving car, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Snapchat, speech recognition, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, supply-chain management, TED Talk, Tim Cook: Apple, too big to fail, Travis Kalanick, two-pizza team, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, wealth creators, web application, Whole Earth Catalog, work culture

Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist: “World Wide Web,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/World-Wide-Web. The consulting firm McKinsey: James Manyika et al., “Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills and Wages,” McKinsey Global Institute, November 2017. McKinsey is also quick to point out: James Manyika and Kevin Sneader, “AI, Automation, and the Future of Work: Ten Things to Solve For,” McKinsey Global Institute, June 2018. Daniel Susskind of Oxford: Geoff Colvin, “How Automation Is Cutting into Workers’ Share of Economic Output,” Fortune, July 8, 2019.

Daniel Susskind of Oxford University has proposed an economic model that is centered on a new kind of capital, which he calls “advanced capital.” It is advanced in the sense that it is an investment designed to totally displace labor. His model leads to a scenario in which “wages decline to zero.” His thinking is not yet mainstream, but it is chilling just to contemplate. To better understand how Amazon’s automation threatens the future of work, I visited one of its vast warehouses in Kent, Washington. Anyone who has ever spent time at one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers—as the company calls them—will find that the work there is anything but fulfilling. The Kent facility on the outskirts of Seattle employs two thousand people and sprawls over 815,000 square feet.


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The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation Is the Key to an Abundant Future by Jeff Booth

3D printing, Abraham Maslow, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, additive manufacturing, AI winter, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, AlphaGo, Amazon Web Services, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, bitcoin, blockchain, Bretton Woods, business intelligence, butterfly effect, Charles Babbage, Claude Shannon: information theory, clean water, cloud computing, cognitive bias, collapse of Lehman Brothers, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, corporate raider, creative destruction, crony capitalism, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, currency manipulation / currency intervention, dark matter, deep learning, DeepMind, deliberate practice, digital twin, distributed ledger, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, fiat currency, Filter Bubble, financial engineering, full employment, future of work, game design, gamification, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, Gordon Gekko, Great Leap Forward, Hyman Minsky, hype cycle, income inequality, inflation targeting, information asymmetry, invention of movable type, Isaac Newton, Jeff Bezos, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, late fees, low interest rates, Lyft, Maslow's hierarchy, Milgram experiment, Minsky moment, Modern Monetary Theory, moral hazard, Nelson Mandela, Network effects, Nick Bostrom, oil shock, OpenAI, pattern recognition, Ponzi scheme, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, ride hailing / ride sharing, self-driving car, software as a service, technoutopianism, TED Talk, the long tail, the scientific method, Thomas Bayes, Turing test, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, winner-take-all economy, X Prize, zero-sum game

Paul Volcker, as quoted by Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Paul Volcker, at 91, Sees ‘A Hell of a Mess in Every Direction,’” New York Times, October 23, 2018. nytimes.com/2018/10/23/business/dealbook/paul-volcker-federal-reserve.html. 9. Kim Parker, Rich Morin, and Juliana Menasce Horowitz, “The Future of Work in the Automated Workplace,” Looking to the Future, Public Sees an America in Decline on Many Fronts, Pew Research Center, March 31, 2019. pewsocialtrends.org/2019/03/21/the-future-of-work-in-the-automated-workplace. 10. Ravi Suria, as quoted by Larry Dignan, “Amazon Cash to Run Dry by 2001?” ZDNet, June 23, 2000. zdnet.com/article/amazon-cash-to-run-dry-by-2001. 11. Matt Day and Jackie Gu, “The Enormous Numbers behind Amazon’s Market Reach,” Bloomberg, March 27, 2019. bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-amazon-reach-across-markets. 12.


pages: 285 words: 58,517

The Network Imperative: How to Survive and Grow in the Age of Digital Business Models by Barry Libert, Megan Beck

active measures, Airbnb, Amazon Web Services, asset allocation, asset light, autonomous vehicles, big data - Walmart - Pop Tarts, business intelligence, call centre, Clayton Christensen, cloud computing, commoditize, crowdsourcing, data science, disintermediation, diversification, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, future of work, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, independent contractor, Infrastructure as a Service, intangible asset, Internet of things, invention of writing, inventory management, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, job satisfaction, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, Larry Ellison, late fees, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, Mary Meeker, Oculus Rift, pirate software, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, six sigma, software as a service, software patent, Steve Jobs, subscription business, systems thinking, TaskRabbit, Travis Kalanick, uber lyft, Wall-E, women in the workforce, Zipcar

Rena Rasch, “Your Best Workers May Not Be Your Employees,” IBM Smarter Workforce Institute, October 2014, http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=SA&subtype=WH&htmlfid=LOL14027USEN. 4. Adam Davidson, “What Hollywood Can Teach Us About the Future of Work,” On Money, New York Times, May 5, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/magazine/what-hollywood-can-teach-us-about-the-future-of-work.html?_r=0. 5. Amy Adkins, “Majority of U.S. Employees Not Engaged Despite Gains in 2014,” Gallup, January 28, 2015, http://www.gallup.com/poll/181289/majority-employees-not-engaged-despite-gains-2014.aspx. 6. Tammy Erickson, “The Rise of the New Contract Worker,” HBR.org, September 7, 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/09/the-rise-of-the-new-contract-worker/. 7.


pages: 223 words: 58,732

The Retreat of Western Liberalism by Edward Luce

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, affirmative action, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Boris Johnson, Branko Milanovic, bread and circuses, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, business cycle, call centre, carried interest, centre right, Charles Lindbergh, cognitive dissonance, colonial exploitation, colonial rule, computer age, corporate raider, cuban missile crisis, currency manipulation / currency intervention, disinformation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Doha Development Round, Donald Trump, double entry bookkeeping, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, European colonialism, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, gentrification, George Santayana, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, illegal immigration, imperial preference, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, Internet of things, Jaron Lanier, knowledge economy, lateral thinking, Les Trente Glorieuses, liberal capitalism, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, means of production, meritocracy, microaggression, Monroe Doctrine, moral panic, more computing power than Apollo, mutually assured destruction, new economy, New Urbanism, Norman Mailer, offshore financial centre, one-China policy, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Peace of Westphalia, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, precariat, purchasing power parity, reserve currency, reshoring, Richard Florida, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Skype, Snapchat, software is eating the world, South China Sea, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, superstar cities, telepresence, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, unpaid internship, Washington Consensus, We are the 99%, We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters, white flight, World Values Survey, Yogi Berra

But they are a bit like prescribing aspirin for cancer. Before her ill-fated run for the presidency, Hillary Clinton was asked about rising structural unemployment: ‘I don’t have a quick glib answer for you. There are no easy fixes.’ Even the non-populist right has thrown up its hands. In its study of the future of work, the laissez-faire Baker Institute admitted it had been ‘unable to find any solutions based on the free market’. Karl Marx predicted that capitalism would push the workers of the world to unite. He got it back to front. It is the elites who are loosening their allegiances and workers who are reaching for national flags.

Depression, divorce, despair and suicide all soar after six months of not working. Champions of UBI depict it as a magic wand for the complex problems we face. I fear it would help bring about a kind of Hunger Games, in which the poor are kept afloat while sating themselves on dog-eat-dog reality entertainment. UBI is also silent on the future of work. We must think more radically than that. We must also bear in mind that anything we do will have global spillover effects. The developing world is making most of the capital goods that are used to displace the jobs of the middle-income people in the developed world. Their work is now increasingly devoted to looking after the rich.9 Should we still cling to the idea that sending everybody to university is a solution?


pages: 164 words: 57,068

The Second Curve: Thoughts on Reinventing Society by Charles Handy

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", Abraham Maslow, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, basic income, Bernie Madoff, bitcoin, bonus culture, British Empire, call centre, Clayton Christensen, corporate governance, delayed gratification, Diane Coyle, disruptive innovation, Edward Snowden, falling living standards, future of work, G4S, greed is good, independent contractor, informal economy, Internet of things, invisible hand, joint-stock company, joint-stock limited liability company, Kickstarter, Kodak vs Instagram, late capitalism, mass immigration, megacity, mittelstand, Occupy movement, payday loans, peer-to-peer lending, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, Robert Solow, Ronald Coase, shareholder value, sharing economy, Skype, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Steve Jobs, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, transaction costs, Veblen good, Walter Mischel

George’s House in Windsor Castle and the chairman of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. He was born in Co. Kildare in Ireland, the son of an archdeacon, and educated in Ireland, England (Oxford University) and the USA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His many books include The Empty Raincoat, Understanding Organizations, Gods of Management, The Future of Work and Waiting for the Mountain to Move. He and his wife Elizabeth live in London and Norfolk. Also by Charles Handy The New Philanthropists (with Elizabeth Handy) Myself and Other More Important Matters Reinvented Lives (with Elizabeth Handy) The Elephant and the Flea Thoughts for the Day (previously published as Waiting for the Mountain to Move) The New Alchemists (with Elizabeth Handy) The Hungry Spirit Beyond Certainty The Empty Raincoat Inside Organizations The Age of Unreason Understanding Voluntary Organizations Understanding Schools as Organizations The Future of Work Gods of Management Understanding Organizations The Second Curve Thoughts on Reinventing Society Charles Handy To my grandchildren Leo, Sam, Nephele, Scarlett who will have to live and work in the world I am envisaging.

Also by Charles Handy The New Philanthropists (with Elizabeth Handy) Myself and Other More Important Matters Reinvented Lives (with Elizabeth Handy) The Elephant and the Flea Thoughts for the Day (previously published as Waiting for the Mountain to Move) The New Alchemists (with Elizabeth Handy) The Hungry Spirit Beyond Certainty The Empty Raincoat Inside Organizations The Age of Unreason Understanding Voluntary Organizations Understanding Schools as Organizations The Future of Work Gods of Management Understanding Organizations The Second Curve Thoughts on Reinventing Society Charles Handy To my grandchildren Leo, Sam, Nephele, Scarlett who will have to live and work in the world I am envisaging. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS MANY PEOPLE, OFTEN unknowingly, have contributed to this book.


pages: 416 words: 112,268

Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell

3D printing, Ada Lovelace, AI winter, Alan Turing: On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, Alfred Russel Wallace, algorithmic bias, AlphaGo, Andrew Wiles, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, behavioural economics, Bletchley Park, blockchain, Boston Dynamics, brain emulation, Cass Sunstein, Charles Babbage, Claude Shannon: information theory, complexity theory, computer vision, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, connected car, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, data science, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, delayed gratification, Demis Hassabis, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ernest Rutherford, fake news, Flash crash, full employment, future of work, Garrett Hardin, Geoffrey Hinton, Gerolamo Cardano, Goodhart's law, Hans Moravec, ImageNet competition, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, invention of the wheel, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Nash: game theory, John von Neumann, Kenneth Arrow, Kevin Kelly, Law of Accelerating Returns, luminiferous ether, machine readable, machine translation, Mark Zuckerberg, multi-armed bandit, Nash equilibrium, Nick Bostrom, Norbert Wiener, NP-complete, OpenAI, openstreetmap, P = NP, paperclip maximiser, Pareto efficiency, Paul Samuelson, Pierre-Simon Laplace, positional goods, probability theory / Blaise Pascal / Pierre de Fermat, profit maximization, RAND corporation, random walk, Ray Kurzweil, Recombinant DNA, recommendation engine, RFID, Richard Thaler, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Shiller, robotic process automation, Rodney Brooks, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, smart cities, smart contracts, social intelligence, speech recognition, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, superintelligent machines, surveillance capitalism, Thales of Miletus, The Future of Employment, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, Thomas Bayes, Thorstein Veblen, Tragedy of the Commons, transport as a service, trolley problem, Turing machine, Turing test, universal basic income, uranium enrichment, vertical integration, Von Neumann architecture, Wall-E, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, web application, zero-sum game

Announcement of a large-scale drone swarm experiment: US Department of Defense, “Department of Defense announces successful micro-drone demonstration,” news release no. NR-008-17, January 9, 2017. 16. Examples of research centers studying the impact of technology on employment are the Work and Intelligent Tools and Systems group at Berkeley, the Future of Work and Workers project at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and the Future of Work Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. 17. A pessimistic take on future technological unemployment: Martin Ford, Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (Basic Books, 2015). 18. Calum Chace, The Economic Singularity: Artificial Intelligence and the Death of Capitalism (Three Cs, 2016). 19.

Chace, in The Economic Singularity, calls the “paradise” version of UBI the Star Trek economy, noting that in the more recent series of Star Trek episodes, money has been abolished because technology has created essentially unlimited material goods and energy. He also points to the massive changes in economic and social organization that will be needed to make such a system successful. 31. The economist Richard Baldwin also predicts a future of personal services in his book The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work (Oxford University Press, 2019). 32. The book that is viewed as having exposed the failure of “whole-word” literacy education and launched decades of struggle between the two main schools of thought on reading: Rudolf Flesch, Why Johnny Can’t Read: And What You Can Do about It (Harper & Bros., 1955). 33.


pages: 219 words: 63,495

50 Future Ideas You Really Need to Know by Richard Watson

23andMe, 3D printing, access to a mobile phone, Albert Einstein, Alvin Toffler, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, BRICs, Buckminster Fuller, call centre, carbon credits, Charles Babbage, clean water, cloud computing, collaborative consumption, computer age, computer vision, crowdsourcing, dark matter, dematerialisation, Dennis Tito, digital Maoism, digital map, digital nomad, driverless car, Elon Musk, energy security, Eyjafjallajökull, failed state, Ford Model T, future of work, Future Shock, gamification, Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute, germ theory of disease, global pandemic, happiness index / gross national happiness, Higgs boson, high-speed rail, hive mind, hydrogen economy, Internet of things, Jaron Lanier, life extension, Mark Shuttleworth, Marshall McLuhan, megacity, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, Network effects, new economy, ocean acidification, oil shale / tar sands, pattern recognition, peak oil, personalized medicine, phenotype, precision agriculture, private spaceflight, profit maximization, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, RFID, Richard Florida, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, self-driving car, semantic web, Skype, smart cities, smart meter, smart transportation, space junk, statistical model, stem cell, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steven Pinker, Stewart Brand, strong AI, Stuxnet, supervolcano, synthetic biology, tech billionaire, telepresence, The Wisdom of Crowds, Thomas Malthus, Turing test, urban decay, Vernor Vinge, Virgin Galactic, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, web application, women in the workforce, working-age population, young professional

The jobs are tiny—little bits of translation, a quick market research survey, or a handful of images to be tagged—each of which pays just a few cents each. To some extent, Jana is simply a tale of a savvy entrepreneur and the way companies are chopping up big tasks into small bits, aided by technology. But it’s also a story about the future of work, especially the way in which independent or freelance workers are taking over from salaried employees. According to the US Government Accountability Office, such jobs—“contingent workers” in jargon-speak—already make up a third of the US workforce. This trend is starting to make some people rethink what a job actually is or could be in the future.

Jobs also provide legal security, healthcare, pensions and other benefits. Or at least they used to. “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” Oscar Wilde, writer and poet But beyond considering why people need work it’s worth pausing to consider what else will affect the future of work and how the nature of jobs themselves will change. The list of factors impacting on work is a long one, and includes: globalization, automation, digitalization, artificial intelligence, workforce aging, skilled labor shortages, job mobility, open collaboration, outsourcing, transparency, business ethics, educational practices, regulatory changes, fluid networks, resource shortages, climate change, shifts in organizational structures and the impact of more women in the workforce.


pages: 533

Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech by Jamie Susskind

3D printing, additive manufacturing, affirmative action, agricultural Revolution, Airbnb, airport security, algorithmic bias, AlphaGo, Amazon Robotics, Andrew Keen, Apollo Guidance Computer, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, automated trading system, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Big Tech, bitcoin, Bletchley Park, blockchain, Boeing 747, brain emulation, Brexit referendum, British Empire, business process, Cambridge Analytica, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, cashless society, Cass Sunstein, cellular automata, Citizen Lab, cloud computing, commons-based peer production, computer age, computer vision, continuation of politics by other means, correlation does not imply causation, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, digital divide, digital map, disinformation, distributed ledger, Donald Trump, driverless car, easy for humans, difficult for computers, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, end-to-end encryption, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, Filter Bubble, future of work, Future Shock, Gabriella Coleman, Google bus, Google X / Alphabet X, Googley, industrial robot, informal economy, intangible asset, Internet of things, invention of the printing press, invention of writing, Isaac Newton, Jaron Lanier, John Markoff, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, knowledge economy, Large Hadron Collider, Lewis Mumford, lifelogging, machine translation, Metcalfe’s law, mittelstand, more computing power than Apollo, move fast and break things, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, Network effects, new economy, Nick Bostrom, night-watchman state, Oculus Rift, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, pattern recognition, payday loans, Philippa Foot, post-truth, power law, price discrimination, price mechanism, RAND corporation, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Stallman, ride hailing / ride sharing, road to serfdom, Robert Mercer, Satoshi Nakamoto, Second Machine Age, selection bias, self-driving car, sexual politics, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart cities, Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia, smart contracts, Snapchat, speech recognition, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, tech bro, technological determinism, technological singularity, technological solutionism, the built environment, the Cathedral and the Bazaar, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, The Wisdom of Crowds, Thomas L Friedman, Tragedy of the Commons, trolley problem, universal basic income, urban planning, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, work culture , working-age population, Yochai Benkler

Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (New York: Crown, 2016), 114. 21. O’Neil, Weapons, 120. 22. Laurence Mills, ‘Numbers, Data and Algorithms: Why HR Professionals and Employment Lawyers Should Take Data Science and Analytics Seriously’, Future of Work Hub, 4 April 2017 <http:// www.futureofworkhub.info/comment/2017/4/4/numbers-dataand-algorithms-why-hr-professionals-and-employment-lawyersshould-take-data-science-seriously> (accessed 1 December 2017); Ifeoma Ajunwa, Kate Crawford, and Jason Schultz, ‘Limitless Worker Surveillance’, California Law Review 105, no. 3, 13 March 2016 <https:// OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/05/18, SPi РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS Notes 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 419 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?

Brian Merchant, ‘Fully Automated Luxury Communism’, The Guardian, 18 March 2015 <https://www.theguardian.com/sustainablebusiness/2015/mar/18/fully-automated-luxury-communismrobots-employment> (accessed 8 December 2017). 53. Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider, eds., Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet (New York: OR Books/Counterpoint, 2017). 54. Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution (London: Profile Books, 2012), 66. 55. Parmy Olson, ‘Meet Improbable, the Startup Building the World’s Most Powerful Simulations’, Forbes, 15 June 2015 <https://www. forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2015/05/27/improbable-startupsimulations/#6ae2da044045> (accessed 8 December 2017). 56.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Miller, David and Larry Siedentop, eds. The Nature of Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983. Mills, Laurence. ‘Numbers, Data and Algorithms—Why HR Professionals and Employment Lawyers Should Take Data Science and Analytics Seriously’. Future of Work Hub, 4 Apr. 2017 <http://www.futureofworkhub.info/comment/2017/4/4/numbers-data-and-algorithmswhy-hr-professionals-and-employment-lawyers-should-take-data-­ science-seriously> (accessed 1 Dec. 2017). Millward, David. ‘How Ford Will create a new generation of driverless cars’. Telegraph, 27 Feb. 2017 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/ 2017/02/27/ford-seeks-pioneer-new-generation-driverless-cars/> (accessed 28 Nov. 2017).


pages: 396 words: 117,149

The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World by Pedro Domingos

Albert Einstein, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Arthur Eddington, backpropagation, basic income, Bayesian statistics, Benoit Mandelbrot, bioinformatics, Black Swan, Brownian motion, cellular automata, Charles Babbage, Claude Shannon: information theory, combinatorial explosion, computer vision, constrained optimization, correlation does not imply causation, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, Danny Hillis, data is not the new oil, data is the new oil, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, double helix, Douglas Hofstadter, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, experimental subject, Filter Bubble, future of work, Geoffrey Hinton, global village, Google Glasses, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Hans Moravec, incognito mode, information retrieval, Jeff Hawkins, job automation, John Markoff, John Snow's cholera map, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, large language model, lone genius, machine translation, mandelbrot fractal, Mark Zuckerberg, Moneyball by Michael Lewis explains big data, Narrative Science, Nate Silver, natural language processing, Netflix Prize, Network effects, Nick Bostrom, NP-complete, off grid, P = NP, PageRank, pattern recognition, phenotype, planetary scale, power law, pre–internet, random walk, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, Richard Feynman, scientific worldview, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, social intelligence, speech recognition, Stanford marshmallow experiment, statistical model, Stephen Hawking, Steven Levy, Steven Pinker, superintelligent machines, the long tail, the scientific method, The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver, theory of mind, Thomas Bayes, transaction costs, Turing machine, Turing test, Vernor Vinge, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, white flight, yottabyte, zero-sum game

If you’re a citizen or policy maker concerned with the social and political issues raised by big data and machine learning, this book will give you a primer on the technology—what it is, where it’s taking us, what it does and doesn’t make possible—without boring you with all the ins and outs. From privacy to the future of work and the ethics of roboticized warfare, we’ll see where the real issues are and how to think about them. If you’re a scientist or engineer, machine learning is a powerful armory that you don’t want to be without. The old, tried-and-true statistical tools don’t get you far in the age of big (or even medium) data.

Whether you read this book out of curiosity or professional interest, I hope you will share what you’ve learned with your friends and colleagues. Machine learning touches the lives of every one of us, and it’s up to all of us to decide what we want to do with it. Armed with your new understanding of machine learning, you’re in a much better position to think about issues like privacy and data sharing, the future of work, robot warfare, and the promise and peril of AI; and the more of us have this understanding, the more likely we’ll avoid the pitfalls and find the right paths. That’s the other big reason I wrote this book. The statistician knows that prediction is hard, especially about the future, and the computer scientist knows that the best way to predict the future is to invent it, but the unexamined future is not worth inventing.

The Naked Future, by Patrick Tucker (Current, 2014), surveys the use and abuse of data for prediction in our world. Craig Mundie argues for a balanced approach to data collection and use in “Privacy pragmatism” (Foreign Affairs, 2014). The Second Machine Age, by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee (Norton, 2014), discusses how progress in AI will shape the future of work and the economy. “World War R,” by Chris Baraniuk (New Scientist, 2014) reports on the debate surrounding the use of robots in battle. “Transcending complacency on superintelligent machines,” by Stephen Hawking et al. (Huffington Post, 2014), argues that now is the time to worry about AI’s risks.


pages: 234 words: 67,589

Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future by Ben Tarnoff

4chan, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, accounting loophole / creative accounting, Alan Greenspan, Alan Turing: On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, algorithmic management, AltaVista, Amazon Web Services, barriers to entry, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, blue-collar work, business logic, call centre, Charles Babbage, cloud computing, computer vision, coronavirus, COVID-19, decentralized internet, deep learning, defund the police, deindustrialization, desegregation, digital divide, disinformation, Edward Snowden, electricity market, fake news, Filter Bubble, financial intermediation, future of work, gamification, General Magic , gig economy, God and Mammon, green new deal, independent contractor, information asymmetry, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, Jessica Bruder, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, Leo Hollis, lockdown, lone genius, low interest rates, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, Menlo Park, natural language processing, Network effects, Nicholas Carr, packet switching, PageRank, pattern recognition, pets.com, profit maximization, profit motive, QAnon, recommendation engine, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, side project, Silicon Valley, single-payer health, smart grid, social distancing, Steven Levy, stock buybacks, supply-chain management, surveillance capitalism, techlash, Telecommunications Act of 1996, TikTok, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, undersea cable, UUNET, vertical integration, Victor Gruen, web application, working poor, Yochai Benkler

On the Theory and Measurement of Financial Intermediation,” American Economic Review 105, no. 4 (2015): 1408–38. 123, These companies were so successful … Facebook acquisitions: Mark Glick and Catherine Ruetschlin, “Big Tech Acquisitions and the Potential Competition Doctrine: The Case of Facebook,” Institute for New Economic Thinking Working Paper Series 104 (2019): 57–60. Google acquisitions: CB Insights, “The Google Acquisition Tracker,” available at cbinsights.com/. 124, Moreover, there aren’t … Decline in GDP and labor productivity growth rates: Aaron Benanav, Automation and the Future of Work (London: Verso, 2020), 31–32; Robert Brenner, The Economics of Global Turbulence: The Advanced Capitalist Economies from Long Boom to Long Downturn, 1945–2005 (Verso: London, 2018 [2006]), 341. Richest .01 percent of Americans quintupling their share of national wealth: Howard R. Gold, “Never Mind the 1 Percent.

“Cooperativism …”: Marve Romero, interview by Ana Ulin, “Issue 9: Tech Work under the Pandemic—Cleaner and App Co-Owner,” TWC Newsletter, April 1, 2021. 164, Similar efforts exist … The “Platform Co-op Directory” maintained by the Platform Cooperativism Consortium lists 504 projects in thirty-three countries; see directory.platform.coop/. For more on platform cooperativism, see Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider, eds., Ours to Hack and Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet (New York: OR Books, 2016); Nathan Schneider, Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy (New York: PublicAffairs, 2018). Municipal regulatory codes: Seth Ackerman, “How to Socialize Uber,” Jacobin, April 7, 2015. Ackerman cites several precedents for such restrictions: “Many states forbid corporations from engaging in certain kinds of farming; many exclude for-profit companies from certain kinds of gambling and credit counseling businesses; and federal restrictions on foreign ownership exist in a wide range of industries.”


pages: 280 words: 74,559

Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani

"Peter Beck" AND "Rocket Lab", Alan Greenspan, Anthropocene, autonomous vehicles, banking crisis, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Boston Dynamics, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, capital controls, capitalist realism, cashless society, central bank independence, collapse of Lehman Brothers, computer age, computer vision, CRISPR, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, decarbonisation, deep learning, dematerialisation, DIY culture, Donald Trump, double helix, driverless car, electricity market, Elon Musk, energy transition, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, financial independence, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, Future Shock, G4S, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, Gregor Mendel, housing crisis, income inequality, industrial robot, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, Jevons paradox, job automation, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, Kuiper Belt, land reform, Leo Hollis, liberal capitalism, low earth orbit, low interest rates, low skilled workers, M-Pesa, market fundamentalism, means of production, mobile money, more computing power than Apollo, new economy, off grid, pattern recognition, Peter H. Diamandis: Planetary Resources, post scarcity, post-work, price mechanism, price stability, private spaceflight, Productivity paradox, profit motive, race to the bottom, rewilding, RFID, rising living standards, Robert Solow, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sensor fusion, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, Slavoj Žižek, SoftBank, stem cell, Stewart Brand, synthetic biology, technological determinism, technoutopianism, the built environment, the scientific method, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, transatlantic slave trade, Travis Kalanick, universal basic income, V2 rocket, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, We are as Gods, Whole Earth Catalog, working-age population

Geriatric care – which combines high levels of fine motor coordination with affective labour and ongoing risk management – is one; after all, societies around the world will be affected by ageing populations over the course of the twenty-first century. Health and education generally will remain labour-intensive and, at the very least, will take longer to disappear. Even with these growth areas in mind, however, the overall picture of job losses due to automation makes standing still seem wildly optimistic. The Future of Work Not everyone agrees that progress will lead to peak human in the Third Disruption as the steam engine and fossil fuels led to peak horse in the Second. Indeed, two of the leading voices in the field of work and technological change, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, believe value will instead increasingly derive from the generation of new ideas.

‘First FDA Approval for Clinical Cloud-Based Deep Learning in Healthcare’. Forbes, 20 January 2017. Croft, Jane. ‘More than 100,000 Legal Roles to Become Automated’. Financial Times, 15 March 2016. Snow, Jackie. ‘A New Algorithm Can Spot Pneumonia Better than a Radiologist’. MIT Technology Review, 16 November 2017. The Future of Work Brynjolfsson, Erik and Andrew McAfee. The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. W.W. Norton, 2014. 5. Limitless Power: Post-Scarcity in Energy Energy and Disruption Malm, Andreas. Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming.


pages: 318 words: 77,223

The Only Game in Town: Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse by Mohamed A. El-Erian

"World Economic Forum" Davos, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, balance sheet recession, bank run, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, behavioural economics, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, break the buck, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, carried interest, collapse of Lehman Brothers, corporate governance, currency peg, disruptive innovation, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, eurozone crisis, fear index, financial engineering, financial innovation, Financial Instability Hypothesis, financial intermediation, financial repression, fixed income, Flash crash, forward guidance, friendly fire, full employment, future of work, geopolitical risk, Hyman Minsky, If something cannot go on forever, it will stop - Herbert Stein's Law, income inequality, inflation targeting, Jeff Bezos, Kenneth Rogoff, Khan Academy, liquidity trap, low interest rates, Martin Wolf, megacity, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, moral hazard, mortgage debt, Norman Mailer, oil shale / tar sands, price stability, principal–agent problem, quantitative easing, risk tolerance, risk-adjusted returns, risk/return, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, sovereign wealth fund, The Great Moderation, The Wisdom of Crowds, too big to fail, University of East Anglia, yield curve, zero-sum game

It is a revolution that combines two critical elements: empowering individuals to an extent that was deemed unlikely, if not unthinkable, not so long ago; and deploying big data, artificial intelligence, and what Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have dubbed “the second machine age.”3 Many observers and researchers have referred to these revolutionary and transformational forces as among the most powerful in history. In a March 2015 conference on the Future of Work, organized by WorldPost, a joint venture between Nicolas Berggruen’s Institute and Arianna Huffington’s Huffington Post, Andrew McAfee added that it is “the only free lunch that economists can agree on.” (He also noted that there are no economic laws that guarantee that the benefits will be shared equally or fairly.)

Powered by an economic liftoff as politicians are finally tipped into pursuing their policy-making responsibilities (the “Sputnik moment”), and amid stronger multilateral policy coordination, this second road out of the T junction leads to unambiguously better outcomes. The improved enabling environment allows for the productive engagement of lots of sidelined cash. With remarkable innovations accelerating and amplifying the beneficial effects—to quote Andrew McAfee at the March 2015 conference on the Future of Work, hosted in London by WorldPost, “we haven’t seen anything yet…[as these are] the best economic developments in human history”—the emergence of high inclusive growth would be underpinned by genuine financial stability, including the ability to grow out of excessive indebtedness. As hard as we try, it is challenging to predict precisely either when we will get to the neck of the T, or which road we’ll take.


pages: 209 words: 80,086

The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs, and Incomes by Phillip Brown, Hugh Lauder, David Ashton

active measures, affirmative action, An Inconvenient Truth, barriers to entry, Branko Milanovic, BRICs, business process, business process outsourcing, call centre, classic study, collective bargaining, corporate governance, creative destruction, credit crunch, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, deskilling, disruptive innovation, Dutch auction, Ford Model T, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, future of work, glass ceiling, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, immigration reform, income inequality, industrial cluster, industrial robot, intangible asset, job automation, Jon Ronson, Joseph Schumpeter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market bubble, market design, meritocracy, neoliberal agenda, new economy, Paul Samuelson, pensions crisis, post-industrial society, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, QWERTY keyboard, race to the bottom, Richard Florida, Ronald Reagan, shared worldview, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, stem cell, tacit knowledge, tech worker, The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, trade liberalization, transaction costs, trickle-down economics, vertical integration, winner-take-all economy, working poor, zero-sum game

—Jay Tate1 Standardization in terms of IT has become huge . . . not only standards for a single customer but across countries . . . technology is the ultimate equalizer . . . it will drive globalization, drive change . . . I hope that people don’t get reduced to the state of drones . . . but I think increasingly employment will shrink. —Chief Information Officer, Financial Services T he opportunity bargain rests on an upbeat view of the future of work where a growing number of Americans will do clever and complex things to earn a living in the global economy. Much of the business literature has focused on how companies should develop their human capital to create innovative ideas, products, and services to take American companies forward. Peter Drucker, a highly respected management guru, argued that the source of productivity in a knowledge-driven economy was different from an earlier age of mass production.

So we are recruiting against more of the behavioral stuff and teaching the skills stuff, the hard knowledge that you need for the role. Whatever the merits of her argument about the future of portfolio careers, it is diametrically opposed to how pundits of the knowledge economy have portrayed the future of work, within loosely defined occupational roles and high levels of employee discretion. In the modular corporation, there is a different kind of flexibility that requires clearly defined roles that are simplified and codified to enable plugand-play even for highly qualified employees. This is what is at the heart of digital Taylorism—the digital documentation of business process and job descriptions, linked to electronic databases of individual competence profiles, based on human capital metrics.


pages: 237 words: 74,109

Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener

autonomous vehicles, back-to-the-land, basic income, behavioural economics, Blitzscaling, blockchain, blood diamond, Burning Man, call centre, charter city, cloud computing, cognitive bias, cognitive dissonance, commoditize, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, dark triade / dark tetrad, data science, digital divide, digital nomad, digital rights, end-to-end encryption, Extropian, functional programming, future of work, gentrification, Golden Gate Park, growth hacking, guns versus butter model, housing crisis, Jane Jacobs, job automation, knowledge worker, Lean Startup, means of production, medical residency, microaggression, microapartment, microdosing, new economy, New Urbanism, Overton Window, passive income, Plato's cave, pull request, rent control, ride hailing / ride sharing, San Francisco homelessness, Sand Hill Road, self-driving car, sharing economy, Shenzhen special economic zone , side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Social Justice Warrior, social web, South of Market, San Francisco, special economic zone, subprime mortgage crisis, systems thinking, tech bro, tech worker, technoutopianism, telepresence, telepresence robot, union organizing, universal basic income, unpaid internship, urban planning, urban renewal, warehouse robotics, women in the workforce, work culture , Y2K, young professional

I had the premonition that I would never again work in a startup office that looked like it could be disassembled overnight, or in a culture-industry suite with mismatched coffee cups and drafty windows. I would not wear stretch-rayon business casual. I would not see mice. I would become self-actualized by achieving a healthy work-life balance, and I would allow myself to be taken care of, as if I had done something to deserve it. If this was the future of work, I thought, then I was all in. I wanted every workplace to be like this—I wanted it for everyone. I believed that it was sustainable. I believed that it would last. * * * “We’re expecting big things from you, ourselves, and for the company,” read the offer letter, with condescension I found only vaguely objectionable.

Others leveraged the startup for personal acclaim, blogging and branding their way to minor celebrity. They traveled the world as self-appointed corporate evangelists, hopping continents on the infinite conference circuit. They talked programming frameworks in Tokyo, design thinking in London, the future of work in Berlin. They spoke with the authority of tenured professors to audiences of eager developers, designers, and entrepreneurs, seas of men yoked with laminated day passes. They gave inspirational talks about the toxicity of meetings and waxed poetic about the transcendence of collaboration. They parlayed their personal experiences into universal truths.


pages: 248 words: 73,689

Age of the City: Why Our Future Will Be Won or Lost Together by Ian Goldin, Tom Lee-Devlin

15-minute city, 1960s counterculture, agricultural Revolution, Alvin Toffler, Anthropocene, anti-globalists, Berlin Wall, Bonfire of the Vanities, Brixton riot, call centre, car-free, carbon footprint, Cass Sunstein, charter city, Chuck Templeton: OpenTable:, clean water, cloud computing, congestion charging, contact tracing, coronavirus, COVID-19, CRISPR, data science, David Brooks, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, decarbonisation, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, desegregation, Edward Glaeser, Edward Jenner, Enrique Peñalosa, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial engineering, financial independence, future of work, General Motors Futurama, gentrification, germ theory of disease, global pandemic, global supply chain, global village, Haight Ashbury, Hernando de Soto, high-speed rail, household responsibility system, housing crisis, Howard Rheingold, income per capita, Induced demand, industrial robot, informal economy, invention of the printing press, invention of the wheel, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Perry Barlow, John Snow's cholera map, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, labour mobility, Lewis Mumford, lockdown, Louis Pasteur, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, Marshall McLuhan, mass immigration, megacity, Neal Stephenson, Network effects, New Urbanism, offshore financial centre, open borders, open economy, Pearl River Delta, race to the bottom, Ray Oldenburg, remote working, rent control, Republic of Letters, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, rising living standards, Salesforce, Shenzhen special economic zone , smart cities, smart meter, Snow Crash, social distancing, special economic zone, spinning jenny, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, superstar cities, the built environment, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Great Good Place, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade liberalization, trade route, Upton Sinclair, uranium enrichment, urban decay, urban planning, urban sprawl, Victor Gruen, white flight, working poor, working-age population, zero-sum game, zoonotic diseases

For generously taking time from their busy schedules to offer us their wisdom, we would like to thank: Ed Glaeser, Chairman of the economics department at Harvard and one of the world’s leading experts on the economics of cities; Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford and a renowned authority on the Silk Roads; John-Paul Ghobrial, Professor of Global and Modern History at Oxford and a valued colleague of Ian’s at Balliol College; Lord Norman Foster, not only a world-renowned architect but also an insightful observer of the built environment; Billy Cobbett, director of Slum Dwellers International with a lifetime of experience working to understand and improve cities in developing countries; Robert Muggah, co-author with Ian of Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years and an expert on all things cities; and Carl Frey, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Work and an innovative economic historian. This book has been vastly improved by their contributions. We have also benefited from the work of a number of excellent research assistants. Harry Camilleri provided tremendously rich and wide-ranging research assistance for an earlier iteration of this book and helped us improve the manuscript.

At both I was provided with the time to think and write undisturbed and benefited from conversations with fellow residents across many disciplines. I could not wish for a better work environment than that provided by the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. My research programmes on The Future of Work and Technological and Economic Change are funded by Citi, and my programme on The Future of Development by the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation. Their generosity has enabled me to employ an outstanding group of post-doctoral fellows, together with a programme manager and assistant. While not directly involved in this book, their support has allowed me to manage a highly active research programme while writing.


pages: 515 words: 126,820

Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World by Don Tapscott, Alex Tapscott

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Airbnb, altcoin, Alvin Toffler, asset-backed security, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, behavioural economics, bitcoin, Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, blockchain, Blythe Masters, Bretton Woods, business logic, business process, buy and hold, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon credits, carbon footprint, clean water, cloud computing, cognitive dissonance, commoditize, commons-based peer production, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, currency risk, decentralized internet, digital capitalism, disintermediation, disruptive innovation, distributed ledger, do well by doing good, Donald Trump, double entry bookkeeping, driverless car, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, failed state, fiat currency, financial innovation, Firefox, first square of the chessboard, first square of the chessboard / second half of the chessboard, future of work, Future Shock, Galaxy Zoo, general purpose technology, George Gilder, glass ceiling, Google bus, GPS: selective availability, Hacker News, Hernando de Soto, Higgs boson, holacracy, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, information asymmetry, information security, intangible asset, interest rate swap, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, jimmy wales, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, Lean Startup, litecoin, Lyft, M-Pesa, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, microcredit, mobile money, money market fund, Neal Stephenson, Network effects, new economy, Oculus Rift, off grid, pattern recognition, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer lending, peer-to-peer model, performance metric, Peter Thiel, planetary scale, Ponzi scheme, prediction markets, price mechanism, Productivity paradox, QR code, quantitative easing, radical decentralization, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, renewable energy credits, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, Satoshi Nakamoto, search costs, Second Machine Age, seigniorage, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Skype, smart contracts, smart grid, Snow Crash, social graph, social intelligence, social software, standardized shipping container, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, supply-chain management, systems thinking, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, The Nature of the Firm, The Soul of a New Machine, The Wisdom of Crowds, transaction costs, Turing complete, Turing test, Tyler Cowen, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, unbanked and underbanked, underbanked, unorthodox policies, vertical integration, Vitalik Buterin, wealth creators, X Prize, Y2K, Yochai Benkler, Zipcar

Edella Schlarger and Elinor Ostrom, “Property-Rights Regimes and Natural Resources: A Conceptual Analysis,” Land Economics 68(3) (August 1992): 249–62; www.jstor.org/stable/3146375. 47. Interview with Haluk Kulin, June 9, 2015. 48. John Paul Titlow, “Fire Your Boss: Holacracy’s Founder on the Flatter Future of Work,” Fast Company, Mansueto Ventures LLC, July 9, 2015; www.fastcompany.com/3048338/the-future-of-work/fire-your-boss-holacracys-founder-on-the-flatter-future-of-work. 49. World Bank, September 2, 2015; www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/04/15/massive-drop-in-number-of-unbanked-says-new-report. 50. “Bitcoin Powers New Worldwide Cellphone Top-Up Service,” CoinDesk, February 15, 2015; www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-powers-new-worldwide-cellphone-top-service/, accessed August 26, 2015.


pages: 460 words: 130,820

The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion by Eliot Brown, Maureen Farrell

"World Economic Forum" Davos, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Adam Neumann (WeWork), Airbnb, AOL-Time Warner, asset light, Bear Stearns, Bernie Madoff, Burning Man, business logic, cloud computing, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, Didi Chuxing, do what you love, don't be evil, Donald Trump, driverless car, East Village, Elon Musk, financial engineering, Ford Model T, future of work, gender pay gap, global pandemic, global supply chain, Google Earth, Gordon Gekko, greed is good, Greensill Capital, hockey-stick growth, housing crisis, index fund, Internet Archive, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), Larry Ellison, low interest rates, Lyft, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, Masayoshi Son, Maui Hawaii, Network effects, new economy, PalmPilot, Peter Thiel, pets.com, plant based meat, post-oil, railway mania, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robinhood: mobile stock trading app, rolodex, Salesforce, San Francisco homelessness, Sand Hill Road, self-driving car, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, side hustle, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, smart cities, Snapchat, SoftBank, software as a service, sovereign wealth fund, starchitect, Steve Jobs, subprime mortgage crisis, super pumped, supply chain finance, Tim Cook: Apple, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, vertical integration, Vision Fund, WeWork, women in the workforce, work culture , Y Combinator, Zenefits, Zipcar

On at least two occasions, he used SoftBank’s money to invest in companies with little clear connection to WeWork other than that they were run by his friends: Ashton Kutcher and Laird Hamilton, a star of the 1990s pro-surfing scene. Both ventures were financed from a $200 million pot of money from SoftBank, meant to be a mini venture capital fund. Dubbed the Creator Fund, the concept was pretty simple. WeWork would hunt for startups in the general area of “transformative companies driving the future of work” and give them SoftBank’s money, and then WeWork and SoftBank would split the profits. WeWork hired a whole staff for the fund who scoured for entrepreneurs building startups that fit this description, doling out small checks to the best of them, usually for less than $5 million. Many of these investments went to winners of WeWork’s Creator Awards in cities around the United States and the world.

Many of these investments went to winners of WeWork’s Creator Awards in cities around the United States and the world. Kutcher’s and Hamilton’s ventures, however, received more than $25 million each, making them by far the largest two investments in the fund. Neither had any clear connection with the “future of work.” The first investment went to Laird Superfood, a tiny startup founded by Hamilton in 2015 that made nondairy coffee creamer, juice, and other “plant-based superfood products” meant to give an energy boost. In the fall of 2018, Neumann struck the deal to lead a $32 million investment. It was an enormous sum for a company’s Series A investment; WeWork’s Series A was just $17 million, and even that was considered large.

long lines at a coffee station: Katrina Brooker, “The Most Powerful Person in Silicon Valley,” Fast Company, Jan. 14, 2019. nearly $450 million for a 50 percent stake: Parkmerced Investors LLC v. WeWork Companies LLC, New York County Supreme Court, No. 652094/2020, Term Sheet, filed as Exhibit 1, Sept. 4, 2020. “transformative companies driving the future of work”: “Job Description: Business Development Associate,” WeWork job posting for Creator Fund employee, posted on LinkedIn, early 2019. usually for less than $5 million: Internal WeWork documents detailing Creator Fund investments, WeWork, 2020. to lead a $32 million investment: Laird Superfood, Form S-1 Registration Statement, SEC, Aug. 31, 2020.


pages: 426 words: 136,925

Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillis

"RICO laws" OR "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations", Airbnb, Amazon Web Services, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, call centre, carried interest, cloud computing, cognitive dissonance, company town, coronavirus, COVID-19, data science, death of newspapers, deindustrialization, Donald Trump, edge city, fulfillment center, future of work, gentrification, George Floyd, Glass-Steagall Act, global pandemic, Great Leap Forward, high net worth, housing crisis, Ida Tarbell, income inequality, information asymmetry, Jeff Bezos, Jeffrey Epstein, Jessica Bruder, jitney, Kiva Systems, lockdown, Lyft, mass incarceration, McMansion, megaproject, microapartment, military-industrial complex, new economy, Nomadland, offshore financial centre, Oklahoma City bombing, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, plutocrats, Ralph Nader, rent control, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Mercer, Ronald Reagan, San Francisco homelessness, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, social distancing, strikebreaker, tech worker, Travis Kalanick, uber lyft, uranium enrichment, War on Poverty, warehouse robotics, white flight, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, working-age population, Works Progress Administration

More than 44 percent of all digital-services jobs: Jack Nicas and Karen Weise, “Chase for Talent Pushes Tech Giants Far Beyond West Coast,” The New York Times, December 13, 2018. a mere 1 percent of the country’s job and population growth: Monica Potts, “In the Land of Self-Defeat,” The New York Times, October 4, 2019. A report by McKinsey Global Institute: “The Future of Work in America: People and Places, Today and Tomorrow,” McKinsey Global Institute, July 11, 2019, https://mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-america-people-and-places-today-and-tomorrow#. Trump won eighteen of the twenty poorest states in the country: Jeffrey Goldberg interview with Tara Westover, “The Places Where the Recession Never Ended,” The Atlantic, December 2019.


pages: 903 words: 235,753

The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty by Benjamin H. Bratton

1960s counterculture, 3D printing, 4chan, Ada Lovelace, Adam Curtis, additive manufacturing, airport security, Alan Turing: On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, algorithmic trading, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, Andy Rubin, Anthropocene, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Benevolent Dictator For Life (BDFL), Berlin Wall, bioinformatics, Biosphere 2, bitcoin, blockchain, Buckminster Fuller, Burning Man, call centre, capitalist realism, carbon credits, carbon footprint, carbon tax, carbon-based life, Cass Sunstein, Celebration, Florida, Charles Babbage, charter city, clean water, cloud computing, company town, congestion pricing, connected car, Conway's law, corporate governance, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, dark matter, David Graeber, deglobalization, dematerialisation, digital capitalism, digital divide, disintermediation, distributed generation, don't be evil, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Eratosthenes, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, Evgeny Morozov, facts on the ground, Flash crash, Frank Gehry, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, functional programming, future of work, Georg Cantor, gig economy, global supply chain, Google Earth, Google Glasses, Guggenheim Bilbao, High speed trading, high-speed rail, Hyperloop, Ian Bogost, illegal immigration, industrial robot, information retrieval, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), intermodal, Internet of things, invisible hand, Jacob Appelbaum, James Bridle, Jaron Lanier, Joan Didion, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, Joi Ito, Jony Ive, Julian Assange, Khan Academy, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kiva Systems, Laura Poitras, liberal capitalism, lifelogging, linked data, lolcat, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, Masdar, McMansion, means of production, megacity, megaproject, megastructure, Menlo Park, Minecraft, MITM: man-in-the-middle, Monroe Doctrine, Neal Stephenson, Network effects, new economy, Nick Bostrom, ocean acidification, off-the-grid, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, Oklahoma City bombing, OSI model, packet switching, PageRank, pattern recognition, peak oil, peer-to-peer, performance metric, personalized medicine, Peter Eisenman, Peter Thiel, phenotype, Philip Mirowski, Pierre-Simon Laplace, place-making, planetary scale, pneumatic tube, post-Fordism, precautionary principle, RAND corporation, recommendation engine, reserve currency, rewilding, RFID, Robert Bork, Sand Hill Road, scientific management, self-driving car, semantic web, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, skeuomorphism, Slavoj Žižek, smart cities, smart grid, smart meter, Snow Crash, social graph, software studies, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, spectrum auction, Startup school, statistical arbitrage, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, Stuxnet, Superbowl ad, supply-chain management, supply-chain management software, synthetic biology, TaskRabbit, technological determinism, TED Talk, the built environment, The Chicago School, the long tail, the scientific method, Torches of Freedom, transaction costs, Turing complete, Turing machine, Turing test, undersea cable, universal basic income, urban planning, Vernor Vinge, vertical integration, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Washington Consensus, web application, Westphalian system, WikiLeaks, working poor, Y Combinator, yottabyte

See Scott Kirsner, “Amazon Buys Warehouse Robotics Start-Up Kiva Systems for $775 Million,” Boston.com, March 19, 2012, http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2012/03/amazon_buys_warehouse_robotics.html. 65.  Stowe Boyd, “If Amazon Is the Future of Work, Then Be Afraid,” Gigaom Research, February 22, 2013, http://research.gigaom.com/2013/02/if-amazon-is-the-future-of-work/. 66.  This dynamic is the central problem drawn out in Jaron Lanier in Who Owns the Future? (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), and it leads him to advocate for, among other things, a revaluation of how tacit human knowledge might be rewarded by ubiquitous micropayments.

In describing the stress and precariousness of work in Amazon fulfillment centers, GigaOM, a Bay Area technology blog, went so far as to characterize employment at Amazon as a “dystopian model of neofeudalism.”65 As Amazon absorbs, centralizes, and consolidates production labor into tighter strata of proprietary commerce-logistics algorithms, the future of work is made that much more uncertain, and along with it the buying power of the workers who would also be their customer-Users.66 Perhaps the boldest (not necessarily best) design statement made by a Cloud platform is Campus 2 in Cupertino, as proposed by Apple and Sir Foster during Steve Jobs's last years (though when Jobs pitched the plans to the Cupertino City Council, he neglected to mention with whom exactly his vision sought collaboration; Foster was not named).

In describing the stress and precariousness of work in Amazon fulfillment centers it may be that less human labor is more humane, but as Amazon (and really all the major Cloud platforms) absorbs, centralizes, and consolidates production labor into tighter strata of proprietary commerce-logistics algorithms, the future of work is made that much more uncertain, and along with it, the real economic power of their workers to also be their customer-Users. 20.  For example, Ian Berry, “Monsanto to Buy Planting Technology Company,” Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304707604577422162132896528. 21. 


pages: 261 words: 78,884

$2.00 A Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin, H. Luke Shaefer

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, business cycle, clean water, ending welfare as we know it, future of work, Home mortgage interest deduction, housing crisis, impulse control, indoor plumbing, informal economy, low-wage service sector, machine readable, mass incarceration, race to the bottom, randomized controlled trial, Ronald Reagan, The Future of Employment, War on Poverty, working poor, Works Progress Administration

.” [>] projected to grow, not shrink: “Industry Employment and Output Projections to 2022,” Monthly Labor Review, December 2013, http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/industry-employment-and-output-projections-to-2022-1.htm. See also Rebecca Thiess, “The Future of Work: Trends and Challenges for Low-Wage Workers” (EPI Briefing Paper No. 341, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, DC, April 27, 2012), http://s2.epi.org/files/2012/bp341-future-of-work.pdf. [>] set workers up for failure: Susan J. Lambert, Anna Haley-Lock, and Julia R. Henly, “Schedule Flexibility in Hourly Jobs: Unanticipated Consequences and Promising Directions,” Community, Work & Family 15, no. 3 (2012): 293–315; Arne L.


pages: 362 words: 83,464

The New Class Conflict by Joel Kotkin

2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Alvin Toffler, American Society of Civil Engineers: Report Card, back-to-the-city movement, Bob Noyce, Boston Dynamics, California gold rush, Californian Ideology, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon footprint, classic study, Cornelius Vanderbilt, creative destruction, crony capitalism, David Graeber, degrowth, deindustrialization, do what you love, don't be evil, Downton Abbey, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, Elon Musk, energy security, falling living standards, future of work, Future Shock, Gini coefficient, Google bus, Herman Kahn, housing crisis, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, Internet of things, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, Kevin Roose, labor-force participation, Larry Ellison, Lewis Mumford, low interest rates, low-wage service sector, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Mary Meeker, mass affluent, McJob, McMansion, medical bankruptcy, microapartment, Nate Silver, National Debt Clock, New Economic Geography, new economy, New Urbanism, obamacare, offshore financial centre, Paul Buchheit, payday loans, Peter Calthorpe, plutocrats, post-industrial society, public intellectual, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, rent control, rent-seeking, Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, Richard Florida, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley ideology, Solyndra, Steve Jobs, stock buybacks, tech worker, techlash, technoutopianism, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Thomas L Friedman, Tony Fadell, too big to fail, transcontinental railway, trickle-down economics, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, upwardly mobile, urban planning, urban sprawl, Virgin Galactic, War on Poverty, women in the workforce, working poor, young professional

Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, p. 349. 65. U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Transportation Implications of Telecommuting, http://ntl.bts.gov/DOCS/telecommute.html; Dan Schawbel, “How Millennials Will Shape the Future of Work,” Pando Daily, September 3, 2013, http://pando.com/2013/09/03/how-millennials-will-shape-the-future-of-work. 66. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. 1, trans. Henry Reeve (New York: Bantam, 2002), p. 213. 67. Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History (New York: Frederick Unger, 1973), pp. 57–58. 68.


pages: 472 words: 80,835

Life as a Passenger: How Driverless Cars Will Change the World by David Kerrigan

3D printing, Airbnb, airport security, Albert Einstein, autonomous vehicles, big-box store, Boeing 747, butterfly effect, call centre, car-free, Cesare Marchetti: Marchetti’s constant, Chris Urmson, commoditize, computer vision, congestion charging, connected car, DARPA: Urban Challenge, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, deskilling, disruptive innovation, Donald Shoup, driverless car, edge city, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, fake news, Ford Model T, future of work, General Motors Futurama, hype cycle, invention of the wheel, Just-in-time delivery, Lewis Mumford, loss aversion, Lyft, Marchetti’s constant, Mars Rover, megacity, Menlo Park, Metcalfe’s law, Minecraft, Nash equilibrium, New Urbanism, QWERTY keyboard, Ralph Nader, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rodney Brooks, Sam Peltzman, self-driving car, sensor fusion, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, smart cities, Snapchat, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Steve Jobs, technological determinism, technoutopianism, TED Talk, the built environment, Thorstein Veblen, traffic fines, transit-oriented development, Travis Kalanick, trolley problem, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, Unsafe at Any Speed, urban planning, urban sprawl, warehouse robotics, Yogi Berra, young professional, zero-sum game, Zipcar

Although the scale of the changes within the scope of this book is massive, it is only part of an even larger point where humans need to decide how much of their traditional roles they are going to delegate to computers. That may sound dramatic, but that is the decision point humans are approaching. Questions like the future of work after robots, climate change and driverless cars are trans-generational where the final consequences may not be seen by the generation making many of the decisions. Several excellent studies on the future of work have been compiled and I’ve included some in the references section. Epochal innovations are by definition rare but there is no constraint that says several cannot come at once, or over a short period of time.


The Buddha and the Badass: The Secret Spiritual Art of Succeeding at Work by Vishen Lakhiani

Abraham Maslow, Buckminster Fuller, Burning Man, call centre, Colonization of Mars, crowdsourcing, data science, deliberate practice, do what you love, Elon Musk, fail fast, fundamental attribution error, future of work, gamification, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, meta-analysis, microbiome, performance metric, Peter Thiel, profit motive, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, skunkworks, Skype, social bookmarking, social contagion, solopreneur, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, TED Talk, web application, white picket fence, work culture

It’s remarkable when the people around you grow, because they expand you too. Community has a miraculous compounding effect. So care for your people and show them they matter. Even in small ways. Because then the work you’re doing together will matter to them. The Future of Work Bill Jensen, author of Hacking Work: Breaking Stupid Rules for Smart Results, once visited Mindvalley HQ. “What do you think will be one of the biggest trends in the future of work?” I asked. “Work will no longer be just about getting employees engaged in the company vision,” he told me. “Companies will need to be engaged with the employee’s vision.” Bill is an oracle.


pages: 309 words: 81,243

The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent by Ben Shapiro

2021 United States Capitol attack, active measures, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Alan Greenspan, Amazon Web Services, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, coronavirus, COVID-19, critical race theory, crowdsourcing, defund the police, delayed gratification, deplatforming, disinformation, don't be evil, Donald Trump, fake news, Ferguson, Missouri, future of work, gender pay gap, George Floyd, global pandemic, green new deal, Greta Thunberg, Herbert Marcuse, hiring and firing, illegal immigration, income inequality, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), It's morning again in America, Jon Ronson, Kevin Roose, lockdown, Mark Zuckerberg, mass incarceration, microaggression, mutually assured destruction, New Journalism, obamacare, Overton Window, Parler "social media", Robert Bork, Ronald Reagan, Saturday Night Live, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, social distancing, Social Justice Warrior, Steven Pinker, Susan Wojcicki, tech bro, the scientific method, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, War on Poverty, yellow journalism

“Percentage of the US population who have completed four years of college or more from 1940 to 2019, by gender,” Statista.com, March 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/. 8. Joseph B. Fuller and Manjari Raman, “Dismissed by Degrees,” Harvard Business School, October 2017, https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/dismissed-by-degrees.pdf. 9. “Number of People with Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Doubles Since 2000,” Census.gov, February 21, 2019, https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/02/number-of-people-with-masters-and-phd-degrees-double-since-2000.html#:~:text=Since%202000%2C%20the%20number%20of,from%208.6%20percent%20in%202000. 10.

Some of Its Leaders Think So,” NYTimes.com, February 9, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threat-american-universities.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage. 51. Joseph B. Fuller and Manjari Raman, “Dismissed by Degrees,” Harvard Business School, October 2017, https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/dismissed-by-degrees.pdf. CHAPTER 4: HOW SCIENCE™ DEFEATED ACTUAL SCIENCE 1. Adam Gabbatt, “US anti-lockdown rallies could cause surge in Covid-19 cases, experts warn,” TheGuardian.com, April 20, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/20/us-protests-lockdown-coronavirus-cases-surge-warning. 2.


pages: 338 words: 85,566

Restarting the Future: How to Fix the Intangible Economy by Jonathan Haskel, Stian Westlake

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Andrei Shleifer, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, book value, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, business cycle, business process, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, central bank independence, Charles Lindbergh, charter city, cloud computing, cognitive bias, cognitive load, congestion charging, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, creative destruction, cryptocurrency, David Graeber, decarbonisation, Diane Coyle, Dominic Cummings, Donald Shoup, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, equity risk premium, Erik Brynjolfsson, Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science, facts on the ground, financial innovation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, general purpose technology, gentrification, Goodhart's law, green new deal, housing crisis, income inequality, index fund, indoor plumbing, industrial cluster, inflation targeting, intangible asset, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, job-hopping, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, lockdown, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Marc Andreessen, market design, Martin Wolf, megacity, mittelstand, new economy, Occupy movement, oil shock, patent troll, Peter Thiel, Phillips curve, postindustrial economy, pre–internet, price discrimination, quantitative easing, QWERTY keyboard, remote working, rent-seeking, replication crisis, risk/return, Robert Gordon, Robert Metcalfe, Robert Shiller, Ronald Coase, Sam Peltzman, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, six sigma, skeuomorphism, social distancing, superstar cities, the built environment, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, total factor productivity, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber for X, urban planning, We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters, work culture , X Prize, Y2K

Bank of England, February 11. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2020/jonathan-haskel-lecture-at-the-university-of-nottingham. ________. 2020b. “Remarks by Jonathan Haskel on COVID-19 and Monetary Policy.” Bank of England, July 1. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2020/jonathan-haskel-brighton-hove-chamber-of-commerce. ________. 2021. “What Is the Future of Working from Home?” Economics Observatory, April 20. https://www.economicsobservatory.com/what-is-the-future-of-working-from-home. Haskel, Jonathan, and Stian Westlake. 2017. Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Hayek, F. A. 1945. “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” American Economic Review 35 (4): 519–30.


pages: 486 words: 150,849

Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History by Kurt Andersen

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, air traffic controllers' union, airline deregulation, airport security, Alan Greenspan, always be closing, American ideology, American Legislative Exchange Council, An Inconvenient Truth, anti-communist, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, artificial general intelligence, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bear Stearns, Bernie Sanders, blue-collar work, Bonfire of the Vanities, bonus culture, Burning Man, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon tax, Cass Sunstein, centre right, computer age, contact tracing, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate raider, cotton gin, COVID-19, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, cryptocurrency, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, Donald Trump, Dr. Strangelove, Elon Musk, ending welfare as we know it, Erik Brynjolfsson, feminist movement, financial deregulation, financial innovation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, Future Shock, game design, General Motors Futurama, George Floyd, George Gilder, Gordon Gekko, greed is good, Herbert Marcuse, Herman Kahn, High speed trading, hive mind, income inequality, industrial robot, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, It's morning again in America, James Watt: steam engine, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, jitney, Joan Didion, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, Kevin Roose, knowledge worker, lockdown, low skilled workers, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, mass immigration, mass incarceration, Menlo Park, Naomi Klein, new economy, Norbert Wiener, Norman Mailer, obamacare, Overton Window, Peter Thiel, Picturephone, plutocrats, post-industrial society, Powell Memorandum, pre–internet, public intellectual, Ralph Nader, Right to Buy, road to serfdom, Robert Bork, Robert Gordon, Robert Mercer, Ronald Reagan, Saturday Night Live, Seaside, Florida, Second Machine Age, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, stock buybacks, strikebreaker, tech billionaire, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Future of Employment, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tim Cook: Apple, too big to fail, trickle-down economics, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, Unsafe at Any Speed, urban planning, urban renewal, very high income, wage slave, Wall-E, War on Poverty, We are all Keynesians now, Whole Earth Catalog, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, working poor, young professional, éminence grise

” * * * — From the end of World War II through the New York World’s Fair, as I’ve described, the future looked pretty fabulous to most Americans, but then during the roiling late 1960s people got confused and scared of the new. Specifically concerning what computers implied for the future of work and jobs, however, the consensus suddenly did the reverse: for two decades, experts had worried about where automation was leading our economy, but starting in the late 1960s the smart set couldn’t wait to get to superautomated Tomorrowland. A significant early worrier had been the mathematician Norbert Wiener—college graduate at fourteen, Harvard professor at nineteen, at MIT the godfather of artificial intelligence—who back in 1948 published Cybernetics, a groundbreaking book that gave a new technological field a name.

A significant early worrier had been the mathematician Norbert Wiener—college graduate at fourteen, Harvard professor at nineteen, at MIT the godfather of artificial intelligence—who back in 1948 published Cybernetics, a groundbreaking book that gave a new technological field a name. It was remarkably popular, and talking about it to a reporter back then, Wiener succinctly and accurately foresaw the future of work—that is, our present. Just as “the first industrial revolution devalued human labor” such that “no pick-and-shovel ditch-digger can sell his services at any price in competition with a steamshovel,” before too long the second industrial revolution would completely automate a factory without a human operator…Such machines will make it very difficult for the human being to sell a service that consists of making routine, stereotyped decisions.

“How the Pill Became a Lifestyle Drug: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Birth Control in the United States Since 1960.” American Journal of Public Health 102, no. 8 (2012): 1462–72. Weisberg, Jacob. Ronald Reagan. New York: Times Books/Henry Holt, 2016. Welch, Jack, and John A. Byrne. Jack: Straight from the Gut. New York: Warner Books, 2001. West, Darrell M. The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2018. Westbrook, Wayne W. Wall Street in the American Novel. New York: New York University Press, 1980. Wiener, Norbert. The Human Use of Human Beings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950. Wilkinson, Will. “The Density Divide: Urbanization, Polarization, and Populist Backlash.”


pages: 346 words: 89,180

Capitalism Without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy by Jonathan Haskel, Stian Westlake

23andMe, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, Alvin Toffler, Andrei Shleifer, bank run, banking crisis, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, book value, Brexit referendum, business climate, business process, buy and hold, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon credits, cloud computing, cognitive bias, computer age, congestion pricing, corporate governance, corporate raider, correlation does not imply causation, creative destruction, dark matter, Diane Coyle, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, Elon Musk, endogenous growth, Erik Brynjolfsson, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, Fellow of the Royal Society, financial engineering, financial innovation, full employment, fundamental attribution error, future of work, gentrification, gigafactory, Gini coefficient, Hernando de Soto, hiring and firing, income inequality, index card, indoor plumbing, intangible asset, Internet of things, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, Kanban, Kenneth Arrow, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, laissez-faire capitalism, liquidity trap, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Marc Andreessen, Mother of all demos, Network effects, new economy, Ocado, open economy, patent troll, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, pets.com, place-making, post-industrial society, private spaceflight, Productivity paradox, quantitative hedge fund, rent-seeking, revision control, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, Ronald Coase, Sand Hill Road, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, six sigma, Skype, software patent, sovereign wealth fund, spinning jenny, Steve Jobs, sunk-cost fallacy, survivorship bias, tacit knowledge, tech billionaire, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tim Cook: Apple, total factor productivity, TSMC, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, urban planning, Vanguard fund, walkable city, X Prize, zero-sum game

Back in the heady days of the late 1990s, when pundits began to be excited en masse about a new economy, there was something of a shared vision of what businesses would need to do to succeed in the new economy, and what that would mean for management and working life. Charles Handy’s 1994 book The Future of Work forecasted, presciently, a future of portfolio jobs and careers for the well-educated and precarious subcontracting for others. Charles Leadbeater’s Living on Thin Air, published at the height of the dot-com bubble, begins with a portrait of the author as a portfolio knowledge worker and then identifies eight characteristics that successful new economy companies would have: they would be cellular, self-managing, entrepreneurial, and integrative; they would offer their staff ownership stakes; and they would need deep reservoirs of knowledge, public legitimacy, and collaborative leadership.

See US Federal Reserve FedEx, 190–91 financial assets, 20 financialization, 161, 168 Financial Times, 183 financing, 158–60, 179–81; banking industry and, 158–59, 162–66; through crowdfunding, 166; and equity markets, 169–74; for intangible investments, 218–21; and investing in the intangible economy, 201–6; problems in, 160–79; short-termism in, 161, 168–69; stock markets and, 167–68, 205–6; through venture capital (VC), 154–55, 161, 166, 174–79 Five Star Movement, 122–23 fixed assets, 20 Florida, Richard, 148, 215 Food and Drug Administration. See US Food and Drug Administration Ford, Henry, 36 Forman, Chris, 139 Frascati Manual, 38 Freeman, Chris, 39 Freeman, Richard, 124 FreshDirect, 23 Fukao, Kyoji, 42 Future of Work, The (Handy), 182 Gal, Peter, 96 Gann, David, 197 Garicano, Luis, 134, 135, 191 Gaspar, Jess, 146 Gates, Bill, 222–23 Gates Foundation, 222–23 Gavious, Ilanit, 204 GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History (Coyle), 36 Genentech, 174, 175 General Electric (GE), 51, 60–61, 184, 194, 204 General Theory of Employment (Keynes), 249n1 generational inequality, 121–22 GitHub, 29, 79, 152, 217 Glaeser, Edward, 62, 79, 138–39, 142, 146, 147 globalization, 119; and growing market sizes, 34–35 Gold, Joe, 17 Goldfarb, Avi, 139 Goldin, Claudia, 228 Goldwyn, Sam, 229 Goodridge, Peter, 25, 223 goodwill, 251n9 Google, 67–68, 73, 87, 170, 209, 222; contestedness and, 115; Kaggle and, 152; scalability of, 101–2, 105; spillovers and, 110; venture capital and, 174, 175, 176, 177 Goos, Martin, 123 Gordon, Robert, 93, 228 government: funding of training and education by, 228–30; investment by, 231–34, 234–36; and public procurement, 226–28; R&D spending by, 33–34, 55, 77, 223–24 Graham, John R., 168 Great Depression, 36, 127 “Great Doubling, The” (Freeman), 124 Great Invention: The Story of GDP, The (Masood), 36 Great Recession, 103, 108, 116 Great Stagnation, The (Cowen), 93 Greenspan, Alan, 40, 244n3 Greenstein, Shane, 139 Griliches, Zvi, 38, 62 gross domestic product (GDP), 3, 20, 42; difficulty in calculation of, 37, 244n3; government spending and, 55; human capital and, 54; and intangible investment, 35, 54, 117; IT investment and, 29–30; measurement of, 38, 40–41, 245n10; and tangible versus intangible investment, 25–27, 32 Groysberg, Boris, 194 Gu, Feng, 185, 203 Guerrero kidnapping, 74 Guvenen, Fatih, 129 gyms, commercial, 15–19 Håkanson, Christina, 131, 133 Haldane, Andrew, 168 Hall, Bronwyn, 62, 105–6, 211–12 Haltiwanger, John, 42 Handy, Charles, 182, 183 Hargreaves, Ian, 213 Harvard Business Review, 184 Harvey, Campbell, R., 168 Haskel, Jonathan, 42 Hayek, Friedrich von, 190 Hermalin, Benjamin, 199 Hewlett Packard, 170 high-intensity interval training (HIIT), 17 Hilber, Christian, 216 Home Depot, 194 Horizon 2020 program, 218 Hounsfield, Godrey, 59, 61 housing, 122, 128–29, 136–39; affordable, 148–49; creative class and, 215; planning of, 215–16 Howitt, Peter, 41 HTC, 73, 112 Hubbard, Thomas, 134, 135 Hughes, Alan, 223 Hulten, Charles, 4–5, 43, 45, 48, 56 human capital, 54, 119 IBM, 39, 170 ICI, 167, 169 income, 119–20, 127–28; implications of an intangible economy for, 143; intangibles, firms, and inequality of, 130; intangibles’ effects on, 129–40; scalability and, 133–34 industrial commons, 84–85 Industrial Revolution, 126 industrial structure, 30–31 inequality, 118–19; accumulation of capital as reason for, 124–25; and differences in wages between firms, 129; of earnings, 120–21, 127–40; of esteem, 122–23, 129–40, 141–42; field guide to, 119–23; between the generations, 121–22; in an intangible-rich economy, 130–32, 135–35, 236–38; measures of, 119–20; of place, 122, 128–29, 136–39, 249n3; as result of improvements in technology, 123–24, 126–27; role of housing prices in, 122, 128–29, 136–39; standard explanations for, 123–25; symbolic analysts and, 133–34; and taxes, 139–40; trade and, 124; of wealth, 121, 128–40; worker screening and, 134–35 influence activities, 196 information, definition of, 64 infrastructure, 144, 157; definition of, 144–45; enabling character of, 145; hype and false promises surrounding, 145–47; institutional, 153–56; physical, 147–51; role of norms and standards in, 154–55; soft, 156; telecommunications, 151–52 innervation, 18 innovation districts, 215 innovative property, 43–45 Institution of Cleveland Engineers, 83 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 83 intangible economy, the, 182–85, 206–7; competition in, 185–87; cult of the manager and, 184, 188; financing of (see under financing); inequality in (see under inequality); investing in, 201–6; managing in, 188–200; public policy and (see under public policy); R&D in (see under R&D [research and development]) intangible myths, 135–36 intangibles, 10–11, 201–6, 239–42; accounting treatment of, 202–4; banking industry and, 162–66; changing business climate and, 31–34, 239–40; contestedness of, 87–88, 115, 132; cosmopolitanism versus conservatism and, 141–42; depreciation of, 56–57; differences between tangibles and, 7–10, 58; effect on GDP growth of, 117; effects of institutional infrastructure on, 153; effects of low levels of investment in, 102–3; effects on income, wealth, and esteem inequality of, 129–40; emergent characteristics of, 86–88; equity markets and, 169–74; as explanation for secular stagnation, 101–16; financial architecture for, 218–21; the four S’s of, 8–10, 58, 61–63, 88; future challenges of measuring, 52–55; globalization and growing market sizes and, 34–35; in gyms, 15–19; and income inequality, 130–32; industrial structure and, 30–31; measurement of, 7–8, 46–49; mobile, 139–40, 248n4; properties of, 8–10; public procurement and, 226–28; as real investment or not, 49–52; reasons for growth of investment in, 27–35; research on, 5–7; and secular stagnation (see under secular stagnation); solving underinvestment in, 221–30; steady growth of investment in, 23–27; types of, 21–22, 43–46; venture capital as well-suited for, 175–77; worker screening and, 134–35.


pages: 307 words: 88,180

AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee

"World Economic Forum" Davos, AI winter, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, algorithmic bias, algorithmic trading, Alignment Problem, AlphaGo, artificial general intelligence, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, bike sharing, business cycle, Cambridge Analytica, cloud computing, commoditize, computer vision, corporate social responsibility, cotton gin, creative destruction, crony capitalism, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, Deng Xiaoping, deskilling, Didi Chuxing, Donald Trump, driverless car, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, full employment, future of work, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, gig economy, Google Chrome, Hans Moravec, happiness index / gross national happiness, high-speed rail, if you build it, they will come, ImageNet competition, impact investing, income inequality, informal economy, Internet of things, invention of the telegraph, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Lean Startup, low skilled workers, Lyft, machine translation, mandatory minimum, Mark Zuckerberg, Menlo Park, minimum viable product, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, new economy, Nick Bostrom, OpenAI, pattern recognition, pirate software, profit maximization, QR code, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, Robert Mercer, Rodney Brooks, Rubik’s Cube, Sam Altman, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, SoftBank, Solyndra, special economic zone, speech recognition, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, strong AI, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, urban planning, vertical integration, Vision Fund, warehouse robotics, Y Combinator

The Potential Impact of Automation on the UK and Other Major Economies,” PwC, March 2017, https://www.pwc.co.uk/economic-services/ukeo/pwcukeo-section-4-automation-march-2017-v2.pdf. already automatable: James Manyika et al., “What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages,” McKinsey Global Institute, November 2017, https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/future-of-organizations-and-work/what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages. 20 to 25 percent fewer employees: Karen Harris, Austin Kimson, and Andrew Schwedel, “Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation and Inequality,” Bain and Company, February 7, 2018, http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/labor-2030-the-collision-of-demographics-automation-and-inequality.aspx.


pages: 339 words: 94,769

Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI by John Brockman

AI winter, airport security, Alan Turing: On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, Alignment Problem, AlphaGo, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Benoit Mandelbrot, Bill Joy: nanobots, Bletchley Park, Buckminster Fuller, cellular automata, Claude Shannon: information theory, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, CRISPR, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, Danny Hillis, data science, David Graeber, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, easy for humans, difficult for computers, Elon Musk, Eratosthenes, Ernest Rutherford, fake news, finite state, friendly AI, future of work, Geoffrey Hinton, Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute, gig economy, Hans Moravec, heat death of the universe, hype cycle, income inequality, industrial robot, information retrieval, invention of writing, it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Hawkins, Johannes Kepler, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John von Neumann, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, Laplace demon, Large Hadron Collider, Loebner Prize, machine translation, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, Menlo Park, military-industrial complex, mirror neurons, Nick Bostrom, Norbert Wiener, OpenAI, optical character recognition, paperclip maximiser, pattern recognition, personalized medicine, Picturephone, profit maximization, profit motive, public intellectual, quantum cryptography, RAND corporation, random walk, Ray Kurzweil, Recombinant DNA, Richard Feynman, Rodney Brooks, self-driving car, sexual politics, Silicon Valley, Skype, social graph, speech recognition, statistical model, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, Stewart Brand, strong AI, superintelligent machines, supervolcano, synthetic biology, systems thinking, technological determinism, technological singularity, technoutopianism, TED Talk, telemarketer, telerobotics, The future is already here, the long tail, the scientific method, theory of mind, trolley problem, Turing machine, Turing test, universal basic income, Upton Sinclair, Von Neumann architecture, Whole Earth Catalog, Y2K, you are the product, zero-sum game

But it’s also a more hopeful prospect, because an ability to program atoms as well as bits enables designs to be shared globally while locally producing things like energy, food, and shelter—all of these are emerging as exciting early applications of digital fabrication. Wiener worried about the future of work, but he didn’t question implicit assumptions about the nature of work that are challenged when consumption can be replaced by creation. History suggests that neither utopian nor dystopian scenarios prevail; we generally end up muddling along somewhere in between. But history also suggests that we don’t have to wait on history.

* * * — Despite this loss of control, we continue to march inexorably into a world in which AI will be everywhere: Individuals won’t be able to resist its convenience and power, and corporations and governments won’t be able to resist its competitive advantages. But important questions arise about the future of work. Computers have been responsible for considerable losses in blue-collar jobs in the last few decades, but until recently many white-collar jobs—jobs that “only humans can do”—were thought to be safe. Suddenly that no longer appears to be true. Accountants, many legal and medical professionals, financial analysts and stockbrokers, travel agents—in fact, a large fraction of white-collar jobs—will disappear as a result of sophisticated machine-learning programs.


pages: 350 words: 90,898

A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload by Cal Newport

Cal Newport, call centre, Claude Shannon: information theory, cognitive dissonance, collaborative editing, Compatible Time-Sharing System, computer age, COVID-19, creative destruction, data science, David Heinemeier Hansson, fault tolerance, Ford Model T, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, Garrett Hardin, hive mind, Inbox Zero, interchangeable parts, it's over 9,000, James Watt: steam engine, Jaron Lanier, John Markoff, John Nash: game theory, Joseph Schumpeter, Kanban, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Marshall McLuhan, Nash equilibrium, passive income, Paul Graham, place-making, pneumatic tube, remote work: asynchronous communication, remote working, Richard Feynman, rolodex, Salesforce, Saturday Night Live, scientific management, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, social graph, stealth mode startup, Steve Jobs, supply-chain management, technological determinism, the medium is the message, the scientific method, Tragedy of the Commons, web application, work culture , Y Combinator

But I firmly believe that any individual or organization who starts to think critically about the hyperactive hive mind workflow, then systematically replaces elements of it with processes that are more compatible with the realities of the human brain, will generate a substantial competitive edge. The future of work is increasingly cognitive. This means that the sooner we take seriously how human brains actually function, and seek out strategies that best complement these realities, the sooner we’ll realize that the hyperactive hive mind, though convenient, is a disastrously ineffective way to organize our efforts.

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York: Penguin, 1985), 51. 17. For more on this history, see chapter 1 of my previous book: Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2019). 18. Blake Thorne, “Asynchronous Communication Is the Future of Work,” I Done This (blog), June 30, 2020, http://blog.idonethis.com/asynchronous-communication/. 19. Radicati Group, Inc., Email Statistics Report, 2015–2019, Palo Alto, CA, March 2015. 20. Michael J. Fischer, Nancy A. Lynch, and Michael S. Paterson, “Impossibility of Distributed Consensus with One Faulty Process,” Journal of the ACM 32, no. 2 (April 1985): 374–82. 21.


pages: 335 words: 89,924

A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet by Raj Patel, Jason W. Moore

"World Economic Forum" Davos, agricultural Revolution, Anthropocene, Bartolomé de las Casas, biodiversity loss, British Empire, business cycle, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon credits, carbon footprint, classic study, clean water, collateralized debt obligation, colonial exploitation, colonial rule, company town, complexity theory, creative destruction, credit crunch, Donald Trump, double entry bookkeeping, energy transition, European colonialism, feminist movement, financial engineering, Food sovereignty, Ford Model T, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, future of work, Glass-Steagall Act, global supply chain, Haber-Bosch Process, interchangeable parts, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Joseph Schumpeter, land reform, Lewis Mumford, liberal capitalism, low interest rates, means of production, Medieval Warm Period, megacity, Mercator projection, meta-analysis, microcredit, Naomi Klein, Nixon shock, Occupy movement, peak oil, precariat, scientific management, Scientific racism, seminal paper, sexual politics, sharing economy, source of truth, South Sea Bubble, spinning jenny, strikebreaker, surplus humans, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, union organizing, Upton Sinclair, wages for housework, World Values Survey, Yom Kippur War

American socialists and communists had been agitating for bank nationalization, and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Dealers offered the act as a compromise safeguard.119 When twenty-first-century liberal protestors demanded the return of Glass-Steagall, they were asking for a compromise, not for what had been surrendered to cheap finance: housing. Similarly, when unions demand fifteen dollars an hour for work in the United States, a demand we have supported, a grand vision for the future of work is absent. Why should the future of care and food-service workers be to receive an incremental salary increase, barely enough on which to subsist? Why, indeed, ought ideas of human dignity be linked to hard work? Might there not be space to demand not just drudgery from work but the chance to contribute to making the world better?

“Adoption and Impact of Hybrid Wheat in India.” World Development 35, no. 8: 1422–35. Maxwell, John Francis. 1975. Slavery and the Catholic Church: The History of Catholic Teaching concerning the Moral Legitimacy of the Institution of Slavery. Chichester: Barry Rose. Maybud, Susan. 2015. “Women and the Future of Work—Taking Care of the Caregivers.” ILO’s Work in Progress. Geneva: International Labour Office. www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_351297.pdf. Mayhew, N.J. 2013. “Prices in England, 1170–1750.” Past and Present 219, no. 1: 3–39. McCarthy, Charles H. 1915.


pages: 90 words: 27,452

No More Work: Why Full Employment Is a Bad Idea by James Livingston

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Bear Stearns, business cycle, collective bargaining, delayed gratification, do what you love, emotional labour, full employment, future of work, Herbert Marcuse, Internet of things, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, labor-force participation, late capitalism, Lewis Mumford, liberal capitalism, obamacare, post-work, Project for a New American Century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Silicon Valley, surplus humans, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, Tyler Cowen, union organizing, warehouse automation, working poor

Income maintenance (c), or a guaranteed annual income, was the best alternative to existing welfare programs. 5. Any income-maintenance program would have to include both strong incentives to work and robust provisions for child care if it were to pass the test of public opinion and the vote of elected representatives. V The future of work looked bleak from the vantage point of the 1970s, whether viewed as a moral tablet or an economic indicator. From either perspective, it looks a lot worse now. The future these intellectuals, politicians, and policymakers had glimpsed was a world without work and the psychological renunciations that went with it; but instead of ignoring its disturbing and liberating implications, as the Left and the Right of our time seem determined to do, they mapped this world.


pages: 94 words: 26,453

The End of Nice: How to Be Human in a World Run by Robots (Kindle Single) by Richard Newton

3D printing, Abraham Maslow, adjacent possible, Black Swan, British Empire, Buckminster Fuller, Clayton Christensen, crowdsourcing, deliberate practice, digital divide, disruptive innovation, fail fast, fear of failure, Filter Bubble, future of work, Google Glasses, growth hacking, Isaac Newton, James Dyson, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, lateral thinking, Lean Startup, lolcat, low skilled workers, Mark Zuckerberg, move fast and break things, Paul Erdős, Paul Graham, reality distortion field, recommendation engine, rising living standards, Robert Shiller, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, skunkworks, social intelligence, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Tyler Cowen, Y Combinator

This is true for blue collar and white collar work; for high skill and low skill. If it can be reduced to computer code then software will eat the job. The period during which society reshapes from one dedicated to machine-like efficiency to one based on individual creativity will be bumpy. The economists Maarten Goos and Alan Manning forecast that the future of work is bifurcating into “lovely jobs and lousy jobs”. The lovely jobs will go to those who offer something that machines cannot. That something is their individuality. This will no longer be mere lip-service. What you personally bring will matter. This will be scary and exciting because the world will call on you to create, develop, expose and share your own ideas and thus be authentically yourself.


pages: 735 words: 165,375

The Survival of the City: Human Flourishing in an Age of Isolation by Edward Glaeser, David Cutler

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, agricultural Revolution, Alvin Toffler, Andrei Shleifer, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, British Empire, business cycle, buttonwood tree, call centre, carbon footprint, Cass Sunstein, classic study, clean water, collective bargaining, Columbian Exchange, contact tracing, Corn Laws, Cornelius Vanderbilt, coronavirus, COVID-19, crack epidemic, defund the police, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, desegregation, discovery of penicillin, Donald Trump, Edward Glaeser, Elisha Otis, Fellow of the Royal Society, flying shuttle, future of work, Future Shock, gentrification, George Floyd, germ theory of disease, global pandemic, global village, hiring and firing, Home mortgage interest deduction, Honoré de Balzac, income inequality, industrial cluster, James Hargreaves, Jane Jacobs, Jevons paradox, job automation, jobless men, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Snow's cholera map, knowledge worker, lockdown, Louis Pasteur, Mahatma Gandhi, manufacturing employment, mass incarceration, Maui Hawaii, means of production, megacity, meta-analysis, new economy, New Urbanism, Occupy movement, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, out of africa, place-making, precautionary principle, RAND corporation, randomized controlled trial, remote working, Richard Florida, Salesforce, Saturday Night Live, Silicon Valley, Skype, smart cities, social distancing, Socratic dialogue, spinning jenny, superstar cities, Tax Reform Act of 1986, tech baron, TED Talk, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, TikTok, trade route, union organizing, universal basic income, Upton Sinclair, urban planning, working poor, Works Progress Administration, zero-sum game, zoonotic diseases

We now work in services rather than manufacturing. Many of these services are delivered face-to-face. An economy with a large share of employment providing luxury services in face-to-face interactions is almost destined to collapse when confronted by an airborne pandemic. Over the past twenty years, much anxiety has emerged over the future of work in an age of machine learning and robotics. What remains for humans to do in a world in which machines can seemingly do everything? The replacement of human beings by mechanical devices is not some new trend. Robert Peel the elder was doing just that when he earned the wrath of local craftsmen with his spinning jennies.

grew by almost 100 million: World Bank, “Urban Population—United States”; World Bank, “Rural Population—United States.” rural population actually fell: World Bank, “Rural Population—United Kingdom.” “electronic cottages”: Toffler, The Third Wave, 213. “as there is no logical reason”: Cox, “The Future of Work Looks like Staying Out of the Office.” “a return to cottage industry”: Toffler, The Third Wave, 210. “number of workers who actually”: Toffler, The Third Wave, 211. “reduce energy requirements”: Toffler, The Third Wave, 221. “ ‘low-abstraction’ office workers”: Toffler, The Third Wave, 213.

Cowley, Joe, John Kiely, and Dave Collins. “Unravelling the Glasgow Effect: The Relationship between Accumulative Bio-Psychosocial Stress, Stress Reactivity and Scotland’s Health Problems.” Preventive Medicine Reports 4 (December 2016): 370–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.08.004. Cox, Kate. “The Future of Work Looks like Staying Out of the Office.” Ars Technica, February 18, 2020. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/02/employers-should-expand-not-cut-telework-into-the-future. “Cracking the History of the Uncommon Common Cracker.” New England Historical Society, January 24, 2014. www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/cracking-history-uncommon-common-cracker.


pages: 362 words: 99,063

The Education of Millionaires: It's Not What You Think and It's Not Too Late by Michael Ellsberg

affirmative action, Black Swan, Burning Man, corporate governance, creative destruction, do what you love, financial engineering, financial independence, follow your passion, future of work, hiring and firing, independent contractor, job automation, knowledge worker, lateral thinking, Lean Startup, Mark Zuckerberg, Max Levchin, means of production, mega-rich, meta-analysis, new economy, Norman Mailer, Peter Thiel, profit motive, race to the bottom, Sand Hill Road, shareholder value, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Skype, social intelligence, solopreneur, Steve Ballmer, survivorship bias, telemarketer, Tony Hsieh

These people, young and old, read books like The Four-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss, Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur by Pamela Slim, and Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love by Jonathan Fields. Daniel Pink, in Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, his 2001 book prophesying the current tidal wave of microentrepreneurialism, small business, and self-employment, calls them “self-employed knowledge workers, proprietors of home-based businesses . . . freelancers and e-lancers, independent contractors and independent professionals, micropreneurs and infopreneurs, part-time consultants . . . on-call troubleshooters, and full-time soloists.”9 These new kinds of opportunities, open to anyone who wants to pursue them, without any formal, traditional, or academic qualifications necessary to compete, have arisen largely because of technology.

Now the millennials are too conformist, at a time when that’s the wrong strategy. We’re now in a chaotic time, where people need to have skills that are adaptable.” Thiel is pointing out something which I think is incredibly important, and cuts to the heart of my whole intention with this book. If we only know one thing for certain about the future of work, business, and careers, it is this: the future is not going to be anything like we predict. The only thing we can be certain of is uncertainty. I say that, not as some pseudo-spiritual poetic notion, but as a cold, hard, objective fact. Systems theorists have known for decades that the more complex any system gets (whether it’s a physical or biological system, a social network, an organization, or an entire economy), the more unpredictable its behavior gets.


pages: 335 words: 96,002

WEconomy: You Can Find Meaning, Make a Living, and Change the World by Craig Kielburger, Holly Branson, Marc Kielburger, Sir Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, An Inconvenient Truth, barriers to entry, benefit corporation, blood diamond, Boeing 747, business intelligence, business process, carbon footprint, clean tech, clean water, Colonization of Mars, content marketing, corporate social responsibility, Downton Abbey, Elon Musk, energy transition, family office, food desert, future of work, global village, impact investing, inventory management, James Dyson, job satisfaction, Kickstarter, market design, meta-analysis, microcredit, Nelson Mandela, Occupy movement, pre–internet, retail therapy, Salesforce, shareholder value, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, Steve Jobs, TED Talk, telemarketer, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Virgin Galactic, working poor, Y Combinator

Reinvented retirement by shifting to part-time positions—career makeovers that cater more to interests and values as they start to think about legacies, both professional and personal. Many volunteer in their free time or take positions on charitable boards. Gen Xers born 1961 to 1980 A powerful force for a purpose-driven economy. And they're running things. In 2014, 68 percent of Inc 500 companies were run by Gen Xers.2 Time magazine called Gen Xers “the future of work,” with the first of their cohort turning 50 in 2015, and the average age of an S&P 1500 CEO being—you guessed it—50. This cohort volunteers more than any other generation. Incoming generations—Millennials born 1981 to 1995 and Gen Z born after 1995 They will withhold their talents and spending power from companies that don't live up to their expectations. 60 percent of Gen Zers want jobs that have a social impact.

They are ‘entrepreneurial’ (72 percent want to start their own businesses) and community-oriented (26 percent already volunteer).3 They now number some two billion worldwide.4 They are the most educated generation in history.5 Notes 1. Yeuh, Linda. “The Rise of the Global Middle Class.” BBC.com. June 19, 2013. Accessed June 26, 2017. http://www.bbc .com/news/business-22956470. 2. LaMotte, Susan. “Forget Millennials. Gen Xers Are the Future of Work.” TIME.com. October 2, 2014. Accessed April 1, 2017. http://time.com/3456522/millennials-generation-x-work/. 3. Anne Kingston. “Get Ready for Generation Z.” Maclean's. July 15, 2015. Accessed April 1, 2017. http://www.macleans .ca/society/life/get-ready-for-generation-z/. 4. Ibid. 5. “Generation Uphill.”


pages: 416 words: 100,130

New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World--And How to Make It Work for You by Jeremy Heimans, Henry Timms

"Susan Fowler" uber, "World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, 4chan, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, algorithmic management, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, battle of ideas, benefit corporation, Benjamin Mako Hill, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, British Empire, Chris Wanstrath, Columbine, Corn Laws, crowdsourcing, data science, David Attenborough, death from overwork, Donald Trump, driverless car, Elon Musk, fake news, Ferguson, Missouri, future of work, game design, gig economy, hiring and firing, holacracy, hustle culture, IKEA effect, impact investing, income inequality, informal economy, job satisfaction, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), Jony Ive, Kevin Roose, Kibera, Kickstarter, Lean Startup, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, Minecraft, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, obamacare, Occupy movement, post-truth, profit motive, race to the bottom, radical decentralization, ride hailing / ride sharing, rolling blackouts, rolodex, Salesforce, Saturday Night Live, sharing economy, side hustle, Silicon Valley, six sigma, Snapchat, social web, subscription business, TaskRabbit, tech billionaire, TED Talk, the scientific method, transaction costs, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, upwardly mobile, web application, WikiLeaks, Yochai Benkler

One senior HR leader recently told us that the website Glassdoor—which displays anonymous (and sometimes scathing) company reviews from current and former employees—“keeps her up at night” and is now having a much greater influence on new hires than her company recruiting site ever did. THE ATOMIZED AND UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF WORK Not only are workers becoming more transient, work itself is becoming more atomized and impermanent. The contingent workforce is growing rapidly, thanks in part to the rise of “gig economy” platforms. In a world of fraying loyalties, tour-of-duty professionals, downsizing, wannabe founders, and hybrid musician/coder/furniture designers, up to 40 percent of the U.S. workforce can now be counted as contingent.

But new power models can help us reimagine them. A small glimpse of this is coworker.org, a platform that allows anyone to start a workplace-level campaign, with or without a union, from Starbucks baristas who agitated for more staff to Uber drivers who fought to have tips introduced on the platform, and won. As we look to the future of work, it’s easy to imagine a bifurcation: the vast majority of work shaped by the financial logic of automation and the mathematical logic of the algorithm, alongside a small number of hyper-empowered “founders” with tremendous agency, access to capital, and capacity to innovate. But we should reject the idea that our destiny is to end up either being replaced by robots or treated like them.


Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy by Andrew Yang

2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Amazon Web Services, American Society of Civil Engineers: Report Card, basic income, benefit corporation, Bernie Sanders, blockchain, blue-collar work, call centre, centre right, clean water, contact tracing, coronavirus, correlation does not imply causation, COVID-19, data is the new oil, data science, deepfake, disinformation, Donald Trump, facts on the ground, fake news, forensic accounting, future of work, George Floyd, gig economy, global pandemic, income inequality, independent contractor, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Kevin Roose, labor-force participation, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, medical bankruptcy, new economy, obamacare, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, pez dispenser, QAnon, recommendation engine, risk tolerance, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, Rutger Bregman, Sam Altman, Saturday Night Live, shareholder value, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, single-payer health, Snapchat, social distancing, SoftBank, surveillance capitalism, systematic bias, tech billionaire, TED Talk, The Day the Music Died, the long tail, TikTok, universal basic income, winner-take-all economy, working poor

Upon declaring my (mostly anonymous) candidacy in February 2018, I had a hard time getting any attention at all. I would talk to just about anyone who would have me on—podcasters mainly. When a journalist would report on me, there would generally be some caveat saying, “This person is a long shot, but he has some very interesting ideas about automation and the future of work.” One thing I noticed: a disproportionate number of the journalists who gave me the time of day early were Asian American. The major cable news networks generally acted like I didn’t exist. This lasted for a year after I declared, until the beginning of 2019. When I was being ignored by cable news, I went on any podcast I could.

When I talk to government officials, oftentimes they lack the power to do anything about a problem, particularly in a time of legislative gridlock and dysfunction. You know what many of them say? “We do have the power to convene.” They will send fancy invitations to a bunch of powerful or well-known people who are involved with or knowledgeable about the issue at hand, and everyone will come together to discuss “the future of work” or “elevating entrepreneurship” or whatever the issue is. Their big delivery will be to get a mayor or senator or member of Congress to show up to said event as an enticement. I was named a Champion of Change by the Obama administration in 2012 and a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship in 2015.


pages: 116 words: 31,356

Platform Capitalism by Nick Srnicek

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Web Services, Big Tech, Californian Ideology, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, cloud computing, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, data science, deindustrialization, deskilling, Didi Chuxing, digital capitalism, digital divide, disintermediation, driverless car, Ford Model T, future of work, gig economy, independent contractor, Infrastructure as a Service, Internet of things, Jean Tirole, Jeff Bezos, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, liquidity trap, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, mittelstand, multi-sided market, natural language processing, Network effects, new economy, Oculus Rift, offshore financial centre, pattern recognition, platform as a service, quantitative easing, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Gordon, Salesforce, self-driving car, sharing economy, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, software as a service, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, the built environment, total factor productivity, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, unconventional monetary instruments, unorthodox policies, vertical integration, warehouse robotics, Zipcar

In terms of outsourcing, the lean model remains a minor player in a long-term trend. The profit-making capacity of most lean models likewise appears to be minimal and limited to a few specialised tasks. And, even there, the most successful of the lean models has been supported by VC welfare rather than by any meaningful revenue generation. Far from representing the future of work or that of the economy, these models seem likely to fall apart in the coming years. Conclusion We began this chapter by arguing that twenty-first-century capitalism has found a massive new raw material to appropriate: data. Through a series of developments, the platform has become an increasingly dominant way of organising businesses so as to monopolise these data, then extract, analyse, use, and sell them.


pages: 118 words: 35,663

Smart Machines: IBM's Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing (Columbia Business School Publishing) by John E. Kelly Iii

AI winter, book value, call centre, carbon footprint, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, crowdsourcing, demand response, discovery of DNA, disruptive innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson, Fairchild Semiconductor, future of work, Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, Internet of things, John von Neumann, Large Hadron Collider, Mars Rover, natural language processing, optical character recognition, pattern recognition, planetary scale, RAND corporation, RFID, Richard Feynman, smart grid, smart meter, speech recognition, TED Talk, Turing test, Von Neumann architecture, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!

For instance, in 1994 he visited the founding engineers of Mosaic Communications (later to be renamed Netscape) shortly after they set up shop in a tiny office on Castro Street in Mountain View, Calif. That was the dawn of the Internet era. Since then he has written hundreds of stories about innovation. In addition, he has authored books about the rise of the Indian tech industry, mobile computing, and the future of work. With that kind of deep experience, Steve’s a natural partner for me in this project. He interviewed dozens of IBM’s scientists and engineers plus numerous outside experts to flesh out the vision and shape the narrative. The creation of this new era of computing is a monumental endeavor, and, while IBM possesses a vision of the future and a broad portfolio of expertise, no company can take on this sort of challenge alone.


pages: 364 words: 99,897

The Industries of the Future by Alec Ross

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 23andMe, 3D printing, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, algorithmic bias, algorithmic trading, AltaVista, Anne Wojcicki, autonomous vehicles, banking crisis, barriers to entry, Bernie Madoff, bioinformatics, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, Boston Dynamics, Brian Krebs, British Empire, business intelligence, call centre, carbon footprint, clean tech, cloud computing, collaborative consumption, connected car, corporate governance, Credit Default Swap, cryptocurrency, data science, David Brooks, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, disintermediation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, distributed ledger, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, Edward Snowden, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, fiat currency, future of work, General Motors Futurama, global supply chain, Google X / Alphabet X, Gregor Mendel, industrial robot, information security, Internet of things, invention of the printing press, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, Joi Ito, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, lifelogging, litecoin, low interest rates, M-Pesa, machine translation, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Max Levchin, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, mobile money, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, Nelson Mandela, new economy, off-the-grid, offshore financial centre, open economy, Parag Khanna, paypal mafia, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer lending, personalized medicine, Peter Thiel, precision agriculture, pre–internet, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rubik’s Cube, Satoshi Nakamoto, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart cities, social graph, software as a service, special economic zone, supply-chain management, supply-chain management software, technoutopianism, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, Travis Kalanick, underbanked, unit 8200, Vernor Vinge, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, women in the workforce, work culture , Y Combinator, young professional

Each of these robots currently costs $25,000: John Biggs, “Foxconn Allegedly Replacing Human Workers with Robots,” TechCrunch, November 13, 2012, http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/13/foxconn-allegedly-replacing-human-workers-with-robots/; Nicholas Jackson, “Foxconn Will Replace Workers with 1 Million Robots in 3 Years,” Atlantic, July 31, 2011, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/foxconn-will-replace-workers-with-1-million-robots-in-3-years/242810/. By the end of 2012: Jackson, “Foxconn Will Replace Workers.” Gou hopes to have the first: Robert Skidelsky, “Rise of the Robots: What Will the Future of Work Look Like?” Guardian, February 19, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/feb/19/rise-of-robots-future-of-work. As he explained in a 2012 New York Times article: John Markoff, “Skilled Work, without the Worker,” New York Times, August 19, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/new-wave-of-adept-robots-is-changing-global-industry.html?


pages: 359 words: 105,248

Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing by Rachel Plotnick

augmented reality, cognitive load, crowdsourcing, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Dr. Strangelove, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, Google Glasses, Internet Archive, invisible hand, means of production, Milgram experiment, Oculus Rift, scientific management, Shoshana Zuboff, software studies, Steve Jobs

Michel Foucault, Essential Works of Foucault 1954–1984: Power, vol. 3 (London: Penguin Books, 2000); and Bruno Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988). 10. William H. Sewell Jr., “Toward a Post-Materialist Rhetoric for Labor History,” in Labor History: Essays on Discourse and Class Analysis, ed. Lenard R. Berlanstein (Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 15–38. 11. Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988). 12. “Work” depends on definition. “What counts” as work might vary significantly across industries and between actors. See Susan Leigh Star and Anselm Strauss, “Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work,” Computer Supported Cooperative Work 8 (1999): 9–30.

Zandy, Janet. Hands: Physical Labor, Class, and Cultural Work. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004. Zenith Radio Corporation. “Why You Can Operate Zenith TV from Your Easy Chair.” Coronet, February 1951. Retrieved from Duke Ad*Access. Zuboff, Shoshana. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Index Alarms. See also Bells; Communication bank, 18, 33–34, 163, 179 burglar, xx, xxv, 32–34, 38, 114, 173, 176, 178, 278n68, 279n70, 303n4 fire, xxv, 17–18, 32, 40, 156, 173–177, 246, 273n7, 314n31, 322n32 Annunciators, 19–20, 64–65, 67–68, 167–168, 173–174, 222, 230–231, 284n13.


Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy by Philippe van Parijs, Yannick Vanderborght

Airbnb, Albert Einstein, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, carbon tax, centre right, collective bargaining, cryptocurrency, David Graeber, declining real wages, degrowth, diversified portfolio, Edward Snowden, eurozone crisis, Fall of the Berlin Wall, feminist movement, full employment, future of work, George Akerlof, Herbert Marcuse, illegal immigration, income per capita, informal economy, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kickstarter, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, minimum wage unemployment, Money creation, open borders, Paul Samuelson, pension reform, Post-Keynesian economics, precariat, price mechanism, profit motive, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, road to serfdom, Robert Solow, Rutger Bregman, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, selection bias, sharing economy, sovereign wealth fund, systematic bias, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Tobin tax, universal basic income, urban planning, urban renewal, War on Poverty, working poor

In July 2015, 1,800 residents Â�were asked what they thought of a basic income of 650 euros financed by a transfer from the 20 Â�percent richest to the rest of the population. Fully 72 Â�percent answered they Â�were in Â�favor (GESOP 2015: 4). 10. The results of this survey Â�were presented by Dalia Research at the conference on “The Â�Future of Work” held in ZuÂ�rich on May 4, 2016. See https://Â�daliaresearch╉.Â�com╉/Â�. 11╉.Â�See Â�Tables 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, and 3.4 in Colombo et al. 2016, which contains many more inÂ�terÂ�estÂ�ing data. We thank the authors for having given us access to their report before publication. 12. Sloman 2016: 209, 213. 13.

The Compass report proposed a weekly individual basic income of 71 pounds for adults aged over 25 (about 13 Â�percent of GDP per capita) combined with conditional top-Â�ups (Reed and Lansley 2016: 17). Something similar may be happening with New Zealand’s Â�Labour Party. The idea of a local or regional basic-Â�income experiment features among the “ten big ideas” put forward by its Â�Future of Work Commission (2016: 9). And its leader (since 2014) Andrew Â�Little, former head of New Zealand’s largest trade Â�union (the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union, or EPMU), has expressed his interest in a basic income on several occasions (Rankin 2016: 34). 73. On the Dutch debate, see Van Parijs 1988, Groot and van der Veen 2000. 74.

Disoccupazione di massa e reddito di cittadinanza. Rome: Derive Approdi. Furukubo, Sakura. 2014. “Basic Income and Unpaid Care Work in Japan.” In Yannick Vanderborght and Toru Yamamori, eds., Basic Income in Japan: Prospects of a Radical Idea in a Transforming Welfare State, 131–139. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Â�Future of Work Commission. 2016. “Ten Big Ideas from Our Consultation: Snapshot of Work to Date.” March, Â�Labour Party, Wellington, New Zealand. https://Â�d3n8a8pro7vhmx╉ .Â�cloudfront╉.Â�net╉/Â�nzlabour╉/Â�pages╉/Â�4237╉/Â�attachments╉/Â�original╉/Â�1 458691880╉/ Â�Future╉_Â�of╉_Â�Work╉ _Â�Ten ╉_ Â�Big ╉_ Â�Ideas ╉_Â�sm╉.Â�pdf ╉?


pages: 619 words: 177,548

Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, 4chan, agricultural Revolution, AI winter, Airbnb, airline deregulation, algorithmic bias, algorithmic management, Alignment Problem, AlphaGo, An Inconvenient Truth, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, basic income, Bellingcat, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Bletchley Park, blue-collar work, British Empire, carbon footprint, carbon tax, carried interest, centre right, Charles Babbage, ChatGPT, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cloud computing, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collective bargaining, computer age, Computer Lib, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, conceptual framework, contact tracing, Corn Laws, Cornelius Vanderbilt, coronavirus, corporate social responsibility, correlation does not imply causation, cotton gin, COVID-19, creative destruction, declining real wages, deep learning, DeepMind, deindustrialization, Demis Hassabis, Deng Xiaoping, deskilling, discovery of the americas, disinformation, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, energy transition, Erik Brynjolfsson, European colonialism, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, factory automation, facts on the ground, fake news, Filter Bubble, financial innovation, Ford Model T, Ford paid five dollars a day, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, gender pay gap, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, global supply chain, Gordon Gekko, GPT-3, Grace Hopper, Hacker Ethic, Ida Tarbell, illegal immigration, income inequality, indoor plumbing, industrial robot, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Jacques de Vaucanson, James Watt: steam engine, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Johannes Kepler, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Kenneth Arrow, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, land reform, land tenure, Les Trente Glorieuses, low skilled workers, low-wage service sector, M-Pesa, manufacturing employment, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, megacity, mobile money, Mother of all demos, move fast and break things, natural language processing, Neolithic agricultural revolution, Norbert Wiener, NSO Group, offshore financial centre, OpenAI, PageRank, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, paperclip maximiser, pattern recognition, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, profit motive, QAnon, Ralph Nader, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Bork, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, robotic process automation, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, seminal paper, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, social intelligence, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, social web, South Sea Bubble, speech recognition, spice trade, statistical model, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, strikebreaker, subscription business, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, supply-chain management, surveillance capitalism, tacit knowledge, tech billionaire, technoutopianism, Ted Nelson, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, theory of mind, Thomas Malthus, too big to fail, total factor productivity, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, trickle-down economics, Turing machine, Turing test, Twitter Arab Spring, Two Sigma, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, union organizing, universal basic income, Unsafe at Any Speed, Upton Sinclair, upwardly mobile, W. E. B. Du Bois, War on Poverty, WikiLeaks, wikimedia commons, working poor, working-age population

—Edgar Allan Poe, “Maelzel’s Chess Player,” 1836 (italics in original) The world of the future will be an ever more demanding struggle against limitations of our intelligence, not a comfortable hammock in which we can lie down to be waited upon by our robot slaves. —Norbert Wiener, God and Golem, Inc., 1964 In its special report on the future of work in April 2021, the Economist magazine took to task those worrying about inequality and dwindling job opportunities for workers: “Since the dawn of capitalism people have lamented the world of work, always believing that the past was better than the present and that the workers of the day were uniquely badly treated.”

“Electrically Driven Shops.” Journal of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute 7, no. 2 (January): 83‒100. Welldon, Finn, R. 1971. The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy. Hamden, CT: Archon. Wells, H. G. 1895 [2005]. The Time Machine. London: Penguin Classics. West, Darrell M. 2018. The Future of Work: Robots, AI and Automation. Washington: Brookings Institution. White, Lynn Jr. 1964. Medieval Technology and Social Change. New York: Oxford University Press. White, Lynn Jr. 1978. Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Essays. Berkeley: University of California Press. Wickham, Christopher. 2016.

“Leaked Documents Show How China’s Army of Paid Internet Trolls Helped Censor the Coronavirus.” ProPublica, December 19. www.propublica.org/article/leaked-documents-show-how-chinas-army-of-paid-internet-trolls-helped-censor-the-coronavirus. Zuboff, Shoshana. 1988. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books. Zuboff, Shoshana. 2019. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. London: Profile Books. Zweig, Stefan. 1943. The World of Yesterday. Translated by Benjamin W. Huebsch and Helmut Ripperger. New York: Viking.


pages: 121 words: 36,908

Four Futures: Life After Capitalism by Peter Frase

Aaron Swartz, Airbnb, Anthropocene, basic income, bitcoin, business cycle, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon footprint, carbon tax, congestion pricing, cryptocurrency, deindustrialization, do what you love, Dogecoin, Donald Shoup, Edward Snowden, emotional labour, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ferguson, Missouri, fixed income, full employment, future of work, green new deal, Herbert Marcuse, high net worth, high-speed rail, income inequality, industrial robot, informal economy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), iterative process, Jevons paradox, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Kim Stanley Robinson, litecoin, mass incarceration, means of production, military-industrial complex, Occupy movement, pattern recognition, peak oil, plutocrats, post-work, postindustrial economy, price mechanism, private military company, Ray Kurzweil, Robert Gordon, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, smart meter, TaskRabbit, technoutopianism, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, Thomas Malthus, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, Wall-E, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, We are the 99%, Wolfgang Streeck

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts diminishing sea ice, acidification of the oceans, and increasing frequency of droughts and extreme storm events.2 At the same time, news of technological breakthroughs in the context of high unemployment and stagnant wages has produced anxious warnings about the effects of automation on the future of work. In early 2014, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee published The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies.3 They surveyed a future in which computer and robotics technology replaces human labor not just in traditional domains such as agriculture and manufacturing, but also in sectors ranging from medicine and law to transportation.


pages: 161 words: 39,526

Applied Artificial Intelligence: A Handbook for Business Leaders by Mariya Yao, Adelyn Zhou, Marlene Jia

Airbnb, algorithmic bias, AlphaGo, Amazon Web Services, artificial general intelligence, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, business intelligence, business process, call centre, chief data officer, cognitive load, computer vision, conceptual framework, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, en.wikipedia.org, fake news, future of work, Geoffrey Hinton, industrial robot, information security, Internet of things, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, job automation, machine translation, Marc Andreessen, natural language processing, new economy, OpenAI, pattern recognition, performance metric, price discrimination, randomized controlled trial, recommendation engine, robotic process automation, Salesforce, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, Silicon Valley, single source of truth, skunkworks, software is eating the world, source of truth, sparse data, speech recognition, statistical model, strong AI, subscription business, technological singularity, The future is already here

If you love to drive innovation by combining data, technology, design, and people, and to solve real problems at an enterprise scale, this is your playbook. There are plenty of technical tomes on the market for engineers and researchers who want to master the nitty-gritty details of modern algorithms and toolsets. You can also find plenty of general interest content for the public about the impact of AI on our society and the future of work. This book is a balance between the two. We won’t overload you with details on how to debug your code, but we also won’t bore you with endless generalizations that don’t help you make concrete business decisions. Instead, we teach you how to lead successful AI initiatives by prioritizing the right opportunities, building a diverse team of experts, conducting strategic experiments, and consciously designing your solutions to benefit both your organization and society as a whole.


pages: 429 words: 114,726

The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise by Nathan L. Ensmenger

barriers to entry, business process, Charles Babbage, Claude Shannon: information theory, computer age, deskilling, Donald Knuth, Firefox, Frederick Winslow Taylor, functional programming, future of work, Grace Hopper, informal economy, information retrieval, interchangeable parts, Isaac Newton, Jacquard loom, job satisfaction, John von Neumann, knowledge worker, Larry Ellison, loose coupling, machine readable, new economy, no silver bullet, Norbert Wiener, pattern recognition, performance metric, Philip Mirowski, post-industrial society, Productivity paradox, RAND corporation, Robert Gordon, scientific management, Shoshana Zuboff, sorting algorithm, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, systems thinking, tacit knowledge, technological determinism, the market place, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, Thorstein Veblen, Turing machine, Von Neumann architecture, world market for maybe five computers, Y2K

Evan, “The Y2K Problem: Technological Risk and Professional Responsibility,” ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society 29, no. 4 (1999): 24–29. 16. John Shore, “Why I Never Met a Programmer I Could Trust,” Communications of the ACM 31, no. 4 (1988): 372. 17. Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988). 18. Thomas Gieryn, “Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists,” American Sociological Review 48, no. 4 (1983): 781–795. 19. Ibid. 20. Andrei P. Ershov, “Aesthetics and the Human Factor in Programming,” Communications of the ACM 15, no. 7 (1972): 502. 21.

Redefining Success: Ethnographic Observations on the Careers of Technicians. In Broken Ladders: Managerial Careers in the New Economy, ed. Paul Osterman, 185–214. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Zaphyr, P. A. “The Science of Hypology” (letter to editor). Communications of the ACM 2 (1) (1959): 4. Zuboff, Shoshana. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Zussman, Robert. Mechanics of the middle class: Work and politics among American engineers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Index Abbott, Andrew, 234 ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) academic orientation of, 173–174, 191 Communications of the ACM, 101, 114–115, 173, 182 conflict with DPMA, 177, 182, 189, 196 Education Committee, 118, 173, 234 history of, 170–175 Journal of the ACM, 173 membership statistics, 170–171 Adaptive programming.


pages: 424 words: 114,820

Neurodiversity at Work: Drive Innovation, Performance and Productivity With a Neurodiverse Workforce by Amanda Kirby, Theo Smith

affirmative action, Albert Einstein, autism spectrum disorder, Automated Insights, barriers to entry, Black Lives Matter, call centre, commoditize, conceptual framework, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, deep learning, digital divide, double empathy problem, epigenetics, fear of failure, future of work, gamification, global pandemic, iterative process, job automation, lockdown, longitudinal study, meta-analysis, Minecraft, neurotypical, phenotype, remote work: asynchronous communication, remote working, seminal paper, the built environment, traumatic brain injury, work culture

Jennifer goes on to say: ‘I am encouraged to see neurodiversity networks increasingly visible within different organizations, and across professions. It is great to see connections across networks too, uniting in the message that being neuro-inclusive is vital for organizations to support all employees to work at their best. Together our neurodiverse voices can help shape the future of work, to support collaboration and innovation, and ensure that no one feels alone due to neurodiversity.’ In an ideal world, a staff network will have the support and backing of the organization, and where possible it will be established and led by the senior leadership! The benefits of staff networks go way beyond the inclusion of your staff.

Access to Work scheme (DWP, UK) 15, 91, 93, 99, 114, 122, 163, 183, 193 acquired brain injury (ABI) 294 ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) 282–83, 294 access to support and services 41–42 hyperactive/impulsive type 70 inattentive (dreamy) type 70 male bias in diagnostic criteria 69–71 parenting style and 23 spiky profiles 45–54 adjustments see reasonable adjustments; workplace adjustments Admiral Insurance, inclusive culture (case study) 228–31 adversity, cumulative adversity over time 68–71, 84 affinity 224 AI assessment 57, 153 air traffic controllers, pre-selection testing 155 Amazon 57 Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) 261 apprenticeships 125–36 Argyris, Chris 263 ascertainment bias 69–70 ASD see autism spectrum disorder Asperger, Hans 32 Asperger’s syndrome (AS) 32, 128–29, 294 Aspire2inspire Dyslexia CIC 71–72 assessment (related to recruitment) 137 approach to assessments and skill tests 149–51 assessment paradigm 56–57 future developments 151–56 game-based assessments 152, 153–54, 155 use of work samples 146, 147, 149 validity of methods used 143–47 when hiring diverse talent 147–49 assessment, diagnostic see diagnosis attention deficit disorder (ADD) 294 auditory discrimination 294 Austin, Paul 193–95 autism-friendly companies, Autotrader (case study) 87–91 autism spectrum condition (ASC) 284–86 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) 32, 284–86, 294–95 male bias in diagnostic criteria 69–71 parenting style and 23 spiky profiles 45–54 stereotyping of people with 44 variability within the diagnosis 41 Autotrader (case study) 87–91 Bandura, Albert 50 Banji, Milimo 82, 237–39 Barrett, Lincoln (AKA High Contrast) 26–27, 63–66, 236 barriers to entry 62, 75, 79 Barron, Christopher 203 BBC, Cape neurodiversity initiative (case study) 203–07 Beetham, Janette 242–44 belonging and inclusion 224–25 bias awareness of developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia) 70–71 in the recruitment process 114–15, 143–47 Billington, Paul 228–31 biopsychosocial model 33, 165–66, 295 Blau, Abram 30 blended working 114 Blume, Harvey 5, 298 Boorman, Bill 54–55, 81 brain scans 153 British Sign Language 214 Bronfenbrenner, Urie 33 Brookes vs the Government Legal Service (2017) 101 bullying in school 26, 198 Buro Harpold 249 CAI, Autism2Work (A2W) programme (case study) 128–29 camouflaging 70, 295 case studies becoming autism-inclusive at Microsoft 127 CAI Autism2Work programme 128–29 Dyllan Rafail 193–96 Elizabeth Takyi 71–72 Helen Arnold Richardson 75–77 Helen Needham (neurodiversity inclusion at work) 179–81 Hunter Hanson (perspective on interviews) 138–40 inclusive culture at Admiral Insurance 228–31 interviewing and selection methods (Kangas and Vlastelica) 143–45 Jenny McLaughlin 123–24 Leena and Sean at the BBC 203–07 Lincoln Barrett (AKA High Contrast) 63–66 Ravensbourne University 250–52 Shelley Winner 77–81 Umbrella Project, ADHD Foundation 123–24 untapped potential at IBM 193–96 categorization, implications of categorizing people 40–44 champions misuse of 261–62, 266 role of neurodiversity champions 239–42, 243–44 change management, MAD abilities and 52–53 Choudhury, Atif 268–71 chronic tic disorder (CTD) 295 Cleaton, Mary 23 Cockayne, Anne 141, 198–99, 201–02 communication, synchronous and asynchronous 134–35 communities, building and engaging with 236–39, 244 comorbidity 295 compensating 295 ComputerAid 116 conferences after the event 215 ask delegates for ideas about adjustments or specific support 212–13 break and lunch times 215 content and form of the day 214–15 data confidentiality 215 feedback from attendees after the event 215 guidance for presenters 213 key points 220 on the day 214 planning the conference 212 planning to be neuroinclusive 209–15 speakers and form of delivery 211–12 the space and the place 213 Universal Design 213 when you do not know anyone there 209–10 contract work 116 co-occurrence of medical conditions 43, 295 Cooper, Ross 254 Corrie, Clare 202–03 Covey, Stephen 28 Covid-19 pandemic, impacts of 13, 119–20, 153 creative industries, neurological diversity in 236–37 creative thinking, spiky profiles and 44, 52 Crenshaw, Kimberlé 84 criminal activity, loss of potential talents to 74–75 culture add 147–48 culture fit 147–48 Deficits in Attention, Motor Control and Perception (DAMP) 43 Delaney, Diane 195 Deloitte 12 developmental coordination disorder (DCD) 70–71, 288–89, 295 developmental dyscalculia see dyscalculia developmental dyslexia see dyslexia developmental language disorder (DLD) 73–74, 289–90, 295–96, 296–97 diagnosis access to support and services 31, 41–43 challenging the validity and usefulness of labels 29 cumulative lifetime effects of lack of identification 71–72 heterogeneity within labels 43 homeless people and rough sleepers 73 impact of a later diagnosis 34–36, 71–72 implications of categorizing people 40–44 male bias in diagnostic criteria 69–71 medical versus social model 22–23 positive and negative aspects of 32–34 reasons for missed diagnosis in childhood 72–74 reasons why people miss out on 68 uncertainty and diversity within categories 41 under-represented groups 72–73 undiagnosed people in prisons 73–74 waiting times for diagnostic assessments 42 why we like labels 28–29 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 31–32, 296 diagnostic classification systems 31–32 digital assessment technology 154–55 digital poverty 154–55 direct discrimination 100, 101–02 disability concept in the social model 95–96 definition in the Equality Act (2010) 97–98 disclosure of 98–99, 160–61, 197–98, 199 Disability Confident employers 121 Disability Discrimination Act (1995) 95 disability employment gap 12–13 disclosure of disability 98–99, 160–61, 197–98, 199 discrimination by association 102 direct discrimination 100, 101–02 Human Rights Act (1998) 104 indirect discrimination 101–02 key legislation against 95–99 diversity 225 business case for 225 business performance and 12 definition of 222–23 Diversity and Ability (D&A) 268–71 diversity policy 117 DNA assessments 153 Do-IT Neurodiversity Profiler 45–46, 56, 76–77 Doyle, Nancy 257–68 Drucker, Peter 16 DSM see Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders dyscalculia 176, 287–88, 296 dysgraphia 296 dyslexia 286–87, 296 assessment paradigms and 56–57 diagnostic uncertainties 41 Elizabeth Takyi (case study) 71–72 rates among people in prisons 48, 50 spiky profiles 45–54 stereotyping of people with 44 dyspraxia 296 see also developmental coordination disorder (DCD) Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations (ESSENCE) 43 education reasons for lack of educational progress 72 reasons why people miss out on 68–71 ‘school to prison’ pipeline 73–74 Education, Health and Care Plan (ECH) 296 Edwards, Rob 253–54 eliminating kryptonite (removing barriers to entry) 62 elitism 258–59, 263 emotional intelligence 224 empathy 114–15, 118, 224 employers ‘ban the box’ campaign 75 criminal record background checks 75, 79–80 duty under the Equality Act (2010) 96 equality provision legislation 13–14 ethical, moral and legal responsibilities 12–13 job adverts and attracting new talent 14 neuro-complementary teams 16 neurodiversity among your current employees 117–18 positive action 99 responsibility to make workplace adjustments 163 retaining the talent that you have 14–15 scenarios to test neurodiversity knowledge and actions 109–10 untapped potential of neurodiverse talent 15–16 why they should be more neuro-inclusive 12–16 see also reasonable adjustments; workplace adjustments employment see recruitment entrepreneurs, neurodiverse talent 15, 252–55 Equal Pay Act (1970) 95 equality definition of 158, 222 distinction from equity 158, 222 Equality Act (2010) UK 13, 92, 95–99, 160–61 disclosure of disability 98–99 duty of employers 96 harassment 102–03 main features of 96–97 protected characteristics 96–97 reasonable adjustments 96 victimization 103–04 what is included as a disability 97–98 equity 158, 222, 225 Evenbreak 116 Exceptional Individuals 116 executive function 296 executive function deficit 296 expressive language 296 expressive language disorder 296–97 eye contact 114–15, 141 Facebook 261 family life, strain of long waiting times for diagnostic assessments 42 Fitzgerald, F Scott 22 Fraser, Keith 34–36, 72 future of work 247–55 balancing out neurodivergent strengths and challenges 254–55 educational preparation for 250–52 entrepreneurship and neurodiversity 252–55 inclusive environments and accessibility 249–50 key points 255 Ravensbourne University (case study) 250–52 Gallup vs Newport City Council (2013) 92 game-based assessments 152, 153–54, 155 gender bias consequences for many undiagnosed adult females 71–72 diagnosis of neurodivergent traits 69–71 language used in job descriptions 118–19 perceived differences in neurodivergent traits 69–71 view of divergent behaviours in others 70 Genius Within CIC 257, 263–64 Google, Project Aristotle 228 Grant, Adam 156 Grayling, Chris 50 groupthink 148 Hacking, Ian 30 Hanson, Hunter, perspective on interviews (case study) 138–40 harassment 102–03 Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974) 104–05 Heathrow Airport, Disability Network 123–24 Hewitt, Jean 249–50 Hewlett, Katherine 254 hidden disability sunflower scheme 90 High Contrast (electronic music producer and DJ) see Barrett, Lincoln Highhouse, Scott 144 hiring managers, supporting those with spiky profiles 55 hiring schemes 125–36 Hobbs, Lucy 236 homeless people and rough sleepers 73, 81 hot desking 120, 169 Human Rights Act (1998) 104 hyperactivity 297 IBM, untapped potential (case study) 193–96 ICD see International Classification of Diseases impulsive behaviours 297 inclusion Alan Kriss and inclusive talent management 271–73 Atif Choudhury and Diversity and Ability (D&A) 268–71 changing concept of neurodiversity 256–57 definition of 221–22 diversity and 222–23 diversity and inclusion champion Paul Sesay 273–78 Nancy Doyle on neurodiversity at work 257–68 Inclusive Companies 273, 274, 275 inclusive workplace 221–44 Admiral Insurance (case study) 228–31 all-inclusive approach 223–25 belonging and inclusion 224–25 big companies and small companies 242–44 bringing your whole self to work 228 building and engaging with communities 236–39, 244 business case for diversity 225 caring has currency 225 defining inclusion 221–23 future of 247–55 how to be inclusive 227 how to succeed as 225–28 influence on employee wellbeing 224–25 neurodiversity awareness training 242–44 neurodiversity champions 239–42, 243–44 neurodiversity networks 231–35, 243–44 recruitment and 224 support groups 227 valuing and respecting differences 223–25 indirect discrimination 101–02 individual development plan (IDP) 297 induction 183–96 Access to Work scheme 193 appropriate and timely support 183–85 changes over time 192 clarify what the job is and what the rules are 190–91 considerations when carrying out 190 finding your way around 191–92 getting started 190 getting support in place 192 integration into the workplace 188–89 key points 196 level of involvement of the new employee 193 mentoring support 192–93 neurodiversity awareness training 189–90 neurodiversity champions 192–93 ‘non-rules’ (unspoken rules) of the organization 191 preparation for the start of a new job 183–85 purpose of 185–88 see also onboarding induction meeting 167 intellectual disability (ID) 297 International Classification of Diseases (ICD), WHO 31, 297 International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), WHO 33, 166 International Labour Organization 95 internships 125–36 intersectionality 29, 84 interviewers, check your internal dialogue 150–51 interviews 137–56 designing the interview process 137–38 future developments 151–56 hurdles faced by candidates 137–38 identifying the important skills for a role 142–45 myth of the perfect candidate 140–41 perspective of Hunter Hanson (case study) 138–40 remote interviewing 138 structured interviews 146 validity of interviewing and selection methods 143–47 IQ (intelligence quotient) 297 job adverts 118–20, 122 job crafting 202 Kangas, Mathea 142–45 Kanner, Leo 23 Kelly, Kirstie 1–2 kinaesthesia 297 Klass, James 274 Kriss, Alan 271–73 Kumulchew v Starbucks Coffee Company UK Ltd (2017) 101 labels 21–37 access to support and 22 biases relating to 23 challenging the terminology 27–28 challenging the validity and usefulness of 29 changes over time 31–32 changing perceptions of human variability 30–31 definition and scope of neurodiversity 24–27 diagnostic classification systems 31–32 enabling conversations about neurodiversity 22–24 getting the terminology right or wrong 23–24 impact of a later diagnosis 34–36 positive and negative aspects of diagnosis 32–34 social perceptions of 32–33 why we like them 28–29 see also categorization; diagnosis language changing perceptions of human variability 30–31 different meanings of words to different people 27–28 labels 21–37 learning disabilities and difficulties (LDD) 297 learning disability (LD) 297 left-handedness, changing perceptions of 30–31 legislation equality provision 13–14 importance that employers know about 96 workplace policies and procedures 86–111 Leonard, Jamie 1 line management BBC neurodiversity initiative (case study) 203–07 confidentiality issue 200–01 discussion with the wider team 200–01 employee decision about disclosure to 197–98 employee diagnosis disclosure and access to support 199 having good conversations with employees 197–207 key points 207 learning from shared experiences 203 making reasonable adjustments 201–02 role of HR in guiding the manager 200 starting a conversation and getting it right 198–207 support for managers 199–200 training in relation to neurodiversity 107, 201–03 LinkedIn 202–03 literacy difficulties, factors contributing to 50 MAD abilities (Moving Attitudes towards Diverse abilities) 46–53 managers see line management masking 70 McDowall, Almuth 264 McGrath, James 44 McLaughlin, Jenny (case study) 123–24 McLeod vs Royal Bank of Scotland plc (2016) 100 medical model 22–23, 31, 43, 298 meetings consider recording meetings 219 consider who has not participated and the reasons why 219 copies of meeting notes or presentations 219 face-to-face meetings 216–17 gain feedback about being inclusive 219 have a facilitator 218–19 key points 220 length of the meeting 218 offer closed captioning 219 offer different ways to ask questions 219 online meetings 217–19 planning to be neuroinclusive 209–10, 216–20 provide information before the meeting 218 set the ground rules at the start 218 webinars 217–19 mental health first aiders (MHFAs) 242, 266 mental retardation 298 Microsoft 91 becoming autism-inclusive (case study) 127 Milton, Damian 114 Minimal Brain Dysfunction 43 misophonia 298 mixed receptive-expressive language disorder 298 Muench, Nick, Autism2Work programme (case study) 128–29, 130 multiple tic disorder 290–92 music industry, neurological diversity in 236–37 National Autistic Society (NAS) 87–91 National Diversity Awards 273, 274–75 Needham, Helen (case study) 179–81 neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) 298 neurodisability (ND) 298 neurodivergence 25, 298 neurodiversity 298–99 as variability of human brains 40 categorization and 40 changing concept of 256–57 definition and scope of the concept 24–27 diagnostic uncertainties 41 Judy Singer’s concept of 278 origin and meaning of the term 2–6 prospects for the future 279 scenarios to test employer knowledge and actions 109–10 strengths and challenges approach 42–44 understanding among university students 82–83 what the concept means to different people 16–19 why it is important for organizations 10–19 neurodiversity policy 117 neuroqueer 299 neurotypical 25 NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), UK 164, 227 non-stimulant medicines 299 Nothing About Us Without Us 239 obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) 299 Offord, Jennifer 231–33 onboarding 133–34, 183–85, 196 see also induction parenting and neurodiversity in children 23 PAS 6463: ‘Design for the Mind: Neurodiversity and the built environment’ (BSI) 250 performance appraisals 105–08 adaptations for a dyslexic employee (possible scenario) 110 dealing with poor work performance (possible scenario) 109 person-centred approach 165–66 personality assessments 146 pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) 299 phenotypes 43 phoneme 299 phonology 299 pragmatics 299 pre-employment stage, loss of cognitively diverse demographics 68–84 prison population employment challenges after release 74–75, 79 Helen Arnold Richardson (case study) 75–77 levels of undiagnosed DLD 73–74 rates of neurodiverse traits 48, 50 ‘school to prison’ pipeline 73–74 Shelley Winner (case study) 77–81 Pritchard, Gary 250–52 proprioception 299 psychological safety 228 psychometric assessments 53–54, 101, 147 psychostimulant medicines 299 PwC 223 Race Relations Act (1976) 95 Rafail, Dyllan (case study) 193–96 Ravensbourne University (case study) 250–52 reasonable adjustments (made by employers) 15, 24–25, 100, 103, 116, 117, 121 duty of employers 96 individual situations 201–02 performance appraisals and 105–07, 110 see also workplace adjustments receptive language 299 Recruiting Toolbox 142–45, 148 recruitment process accessibility of the application process 120 alternative application process 120 alternative working arrangements 119–20 alternatives to a CV 121 assessment paradigms 56–57 attracting neurodiverse talent 113–24 bias in 114–15 bidirectional communication strategy 114–15 candidate experience 114–15 candidates’ confidence to sell their strengths and abilities 56 challenges for neurodiverse candidates 129–30 challenges for people with spiky profiles 53–58 challenges of looking for a job 113 check for inadvertent bias in job adverts 122 disability employment gap 12–13 general guidelines 117–22 impact of having a criminal record 74–75, 79 inclusion and 224 information about your company 122 job descriptions 113 key points 124 language used in job adverts 118–20, 122 language used relating to work 113 making workplaces more inclusive 1–2 means of disclosure of support needs 121 recognition of different strengths 54–58 rethinking how we recruit 151–56 supporting those with spiky profiles 55 technology to support recruitment and HR 122 Umbrella Project (case study) 123–24 untapped potential at IBM (case study) 193–96 use of consultants and advisory/support groups 118 validity of interviewing and selection methods 143–47 ways to encourage neurodiverse applicants 116 website accessibility 120 why some people are excluded 11–12 working from home 119–20 see also apprenticeships; hiring schemes; internships; interviews; work placements references, writing for an employee with disabilities (possible scenario) 109–10 referral, gender bias in 69–70 Richardson, Helen Arnold (case study) 75–77 Right Resources 242 Robbins, Mike 228 Robison, John Elder 114–15 rough sleepers 73 Saxon, Yvonne 92–94 Sayers, Dorothy L 40 self-confidence 26, 56 self-efficacy 50 self-stimulatory behaviour 300 semantics 300 seminars, neuroinclusive 209–10, 217–19, 220 Sesay, Paul 273–78 Sex Discrimination Act (1975) 95 Singer, Judy 5, 262, 278, 298 Skarsgård, Stellan 154 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurship and neurodiversity 252–55 social identity, intersectionality and cumulative adversity 84 social media, building and engaging with communities 236–39, 244 social model 22–23, 43, 95–96, 300 Sonne, Thorkil 194 Specialisterne Foundation 116, 193–96, 271–73 specific communication and language needs (SCLN) 289, 296 specific language impairment (SLI) 289, 296, 300 specific learning disability/difficulty (SpLD) 300 spiky profiles 45–58 challenge of the traditional recruitment process 53–58 creative thinking and 44, 52 definition of 40, 45 Do-IT Neurodiversity Profiler 45–46 MAD abilities 46–53 recognition of different strengths 54–58 staff networks 231–35, 243–44 stereotyping 33, 44, 70 stigma 6–8 stimming 300 strengths and challenges, enabling strengths 62–66 see also spiky profiles Sun Tzu 3 sunflower lanyards 123 superheroes, enabling neurodiverse abilities 61–67 superpowers, view of neurodiversity 61–62 support, access to 41–43, 62–84 synesthesia 65–66, 300 Takyi, Elizabeth (case study) 71–72 TapIn organization 82, 237 team working 16, 113–14, 147–48, 228 technology assistive technology 162 IT support strategies 178 opportunities for workplace adjustments 161–62 tools to support recruitment and HR 122 terminology see labels Thompson, Ed 1–2 tic disorders 300 tic spectrum disorder 290–92 tics 301 tokenism 262–63, 264–65 Tourette’s syndrome (TS) 290–92, 301 training champions training 243–44 neurodiversity awareness training 189–90, 201–03, 242–44 staff networks training and support 243–44 traumatic brain injury (TBI) 301 TRUFeeds case study 81 Tsaprounis, Christos 87–91 Umbrella Project, ADHD Foundation 123–24 United Nations, Agenda for Sustainable Development 3–4 Universal 236–37 Universal Design principles 199, 213 universities, understanding of neurodiversity 82–83 van de Haterd, Bas 151–54 Vermeesch, Michael 127 Veulliet, Yves 195, 196 victimization 103–04 Vlastelica, John 142–45, 148 von Koëttlitz, Raphaele 268 webinars 217–19 websites, readability of 170–73 Welch, Florence 236 Wells v the Governing Body of Great Yarmouth High School (2017) 102 Whyte, William H 17 Williams, Andrew 193–95 Williams, Robin 48, 154 Winner, Shelley (case study) 77–81 Wolchin, Rachel 57, 164 work placements 122, 125–36 working from home, neurodiverse advantages and disadvantages 248–49 working memory 301 working memory deficit 301 working remotely 16, 119–20, 170, 247–48 workplace bidirectional communication strategy 114–15 in-work support, Access to Work scheme 122 onboarding processes 113–14 understanding the ‘social rules’ 113–14 see also inclusive workplace workplace adjustments 158–81, 260, 262 Access to Work scheme (UK) 163 arriving at work 168 aspects to consider 164–65 biopsychosocial approach 165–66 consider the individual context 166–67 determining what is reasonable 162–63 distinction between equality and equity 158 employer awareness of duty under the Equality Act (2010) 160–61 examples of 161–62 generic principles 167–81 getting started 163–64 Helen Needham (case study) 179–81 helpful apps and software 178 home working 170 induction meeting 167 IT support strategies 178 key points 181 neurodiversity inclusion at work (case study) 179–81 office working 169 opportunity for innovation and inclusion 159–60 person-centred approach 165–66 responsibility to make the adjustments 163 supporting someone with coordination challenges 176–77 supporting someone with literacy-related challenges 177–78 supporting someone with numeracy challenges 176 supporting someone with organizational challenges 174 supporting someone with social, language and communication challenges 174–76 thinking about accessibility in all that you do 170–73 timely placement of 173 travel to work 168 Universal Design principles 170 use of technology 161–62 websites and written materials 170–73 what they are 160–65 wider positive impacts of 159–60 wording of statements about 164 work environment 168–70 see also reasonable adjustments workplace policies and procedures approach to putting in place 100–05 Autotrader (case study) 87 focus on individual needs 91 key legislation 95–99 key points 110–11 legal issues 86–111 performance appraisals 105–08 putting the policies and procedures in place 92–94 written materials, readability of 170–73 YouTube, ‘The Life Autistic’ video diaries (Hunter Hanson) 138 Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused.


Four Battlegrounds by Paul Scharre

2021 United States Capitol attack, 3D printing, active measures, activist lawyer, AI winter, AlphaGo, amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics, artificial general intelligence, ASML, augmented reality, Automated Insights, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Berlin Wall, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, Boeing 737 MAX, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, business continuity plan, business process, carbon footprint, chief data officer, Citizen Lab, clean water, cloud computing, commoditize, computer vision, coronavirus, COVID-19, crisis actor, crowdsourcing, DALL-E, data is not the new oil, data is the new oil, data science, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, Deng Xiaoping, digital map, digital rights, disinformation, Donald Trump, drone strike, dual-use technology, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, endowment effect, fake news, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of journalism, future of work, game design, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, geopolitical risk, George Floyd, global supply chain, GPT-3, Great Leap Forward, hive mind, hustle culture, ImageNet competition, immigration reform, income per capita, interchangeable parts, Internet Archive, Internet of things, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Kevin Kelly, Kevin Roose, large language model, lockdown, Mark Zuckerberg, military-industrial complex, move fast and break things, Nate Silver, natural language processing, new economy, Nick Bostrom, one-China policy, Open Library, OpenAI, PalmPilot, Parler "social media", pattern recognition, phenotype, post-truth, purchasing power parity, QAnon, QR code, race to the bottom, RAND corporation, recommendation engine, reshoring, ride hailing / ride sharing, robotic process automation, Rodney Brooks, Rubik’s Cube, self-driving car, Shoshana Zuboff, side project, Silicon Valley, slashdot, smart cities, smart meter, Snapchat, social software, sorting algorithm, South China Sea, sparse data, speech recognition, Steve Bannon, Steven Levy, Stuxnet, supply-chain attack, surveillance capitalism, systems thinking, tech worker, techlash, telemarketer, The Brussels Effect, The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver, TikTok, trade route, TSMC

Louis, June 1, 2015, https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2015/june/what-drives-long-run-economic-growth. 72six in ten jobs could be significantly transformed: James Manyika et al., Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages (McKinsey Global Institute, November 28, 2017), https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages#; James Manyika et al., Harnessing Automation for a Future That Works (McKinsey Global Institute, January 2017), https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/digital-disruption/harnessing-automation-for-a-future-that-works. 73executive order on AI leadership: Exec.


Battling Eight Giants: Basic Income Now by Guy Standing

basic income, Bernie Sanders, carbon tax, centre right, collective bargaining, decarbonisation, degrowth, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Extinction Rebellion, full employment, future of work, Gini coefficient, income inequality, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), job automation, labour market flexibility, Lao Tzu, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, Martin Wolf, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, open economy, pension reform, precariat, quantitative easing, rent control, Ronald Reagan, selection bias, universal basic income, Y Combinator

Painter, J. Thorold and J. Cooke, Pathways to a Universal Basic Income, London: Royal Society of Arts, 2018. 18 C. Roberts and M. Lawrence, Our Common Wealth: A Citizens Wealth Fund for the UK, London: IPPR, 2018. 19 Standing, Plunder of the Commons. 20 World Bank, World Development Report: The Future of Work, Washington DC: World Bank, October 2018, p. 111. 21 I. Marinescu, ‘No Strings Attached: The Behavioral Effects of U.S. Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs’, Roosevelt Institute, New York, May 2018. 22 A. Leigh, ‘Who Benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit? Incidence among Recipients, Co-workers and Firms’, The B.E.


pages: 130 words: 43,665

Powerful: Teams, Leaders and the Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord

call centre, data science, future of work, job satisfaction, late fees, Silicon Valley, Skype, subscription business, the scientific method, women in the workforce

Special thanks to all the Netflix employees past and present for their constant focus on company culture and collaboration and for letting me share some of their stories. My mom and my sister are constant models of powerful women. My kids, Tristan, Franny, and Rose, have inspired me to influence the future of work for them. Lastly, Michael Chamberlain, thanks for believing in me.


pages: 387 words: 119,409

Work Rules!: Insights From Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock

Abraham Maslow, Abraham Wald, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, AltaVista, Atul Gawande, behavioural economics, Black Swan, book scanning, Burning Man, call centre, Cass Sunstein, Checklist Manifesto, choice architecture, citizen journalism, clean water, cognitive load, company town, correlation coefficient, crowdsourcing, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, deliberate practice, en.wikipedia.org, experimental subject, Fairchild Semiconductor, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, Google Earth, Google Glasses, Google Hangouts, Google X / Alphabet X, Googley, helicopter parent, immigration reform, Internet Archive, Kevin Roose, longitudinal study, Menlo Park, mental accounting, meta-analysis, Moneyball by Michael Lewis explains big data, nudge unit, PageRank, Paul Buchheit, power law, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rana Plaza, random walk, Richard Thaler, Rubik’s Cube, self-driving car, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, side project, Silicon Valley, six sigma, statistical model, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, Steven Pinker, survivorship bias, Susan Wojcicki, TaskRabbit, The Wisdom of Crowds, Tony Hsieh, Turing machine, Wayback Machine, winner-take-all economy, Y2K

So that means that every single day that you see me, that’s on the worst day of my life. Dr. Swanson: What about today? Is today the worst day of your life? Peter: Yeah. Dr. Swanson: Wow, that’s messed up.14 I thought of these vastly different examples when a reporter from CNN International called for an article about the future of work. She argued that the model exemplified by places like Google—what I’ll call a “high-freedom” approach where employees are given great latitude—was the way of the future. Top-down, hierarchical, command-and-control models of management—“low-freedom” environments—would soon fade away. Someday, perhaps.

He owns a lot of comic books. A lot. Website: workrules.net Google+: plus.google.com/+LaszloBock LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/laszlobock Twitter: twitter.com/LaszloBock2718 Praise for Laszlo Bock and WORK RULES! “WORK RULES! offers a bold, inspiring, and actionable vision that will transform the future of work. It should be mandatory reading for everyone who leads, manages, or has a job.” —Adam Grant, author of Give and Take “Laszlo Bock’s book is a dazzling revelation: at once an all-access backstage pass to one of the smartest organizations on the planet, and also an immensely useful blueprint for creating a culture of creativity.


pages: 490 words: 153,455

Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe

Ada Lovelace, air traffic controllers' union, Amazon Mechanical Turk, antiwork, barriers to entry, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, big-box store, Black Lives Matter, blue-collar work, Boris Johnson, call centre, capitalist realism, Charles Babbage, collective bargaining, coronavirus, COVID-19, deindustrialization, delayed gratification, dematerialisation, desegregation, deskilling, do what you love, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, emotional labour, feminist movement, Ferguson, Missouri, financial independence, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, future of work, gamification, gender pay gap, gentrification, George Floyd, gig economy, global pandemic, Grace Hopper, green new deal, hiring and firing, illegal immigration, immigration reform, informal economy, job automation, job satisfaction, job-hopping, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, late capitalism, lockdown, lone genius, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, mass incarceration, means of production, mini-job, minimum wage unemployment, move fast and break things, Naomi Klein, new economy, oil shock, Peter Thiel, post-Fordism, post-work, precariat, profit motive, Rana Plaza, Richard Florida, Ronald Reagan, Rosa Parks, school choice, Silicon Valley, social distancing, Steve Jobs, TaskRabbit, tech billionaire, tech worker, traumatic brain injury, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, unpaid internship, W. E. B. Du Bois, wages for housework, War on Poverty, WeWork, women in the workforce, work culture , workplace surveillance , Works Progress Administration

When I asked what they’d miss about their jobs, none of them said the work itself—they spoke of coworkers so close they’d become like family, of after-shift beers at the bar across the street, and of the solidarity that came from being active in their union (solidarity that brought them to the picket lines in GM’s 2019 strike even after the plant had been closed for months). But mostly, they spoke of money, of the reality that losing a $26-an-hour job (plus overtime) meant a serious downgrade in their standard of living. Looming outside the Carrier plant were Amazon and Target distribution centers, the likely future of work for some of the folks let go from their union jobs. The distribution center or warehouse job has become synonymous with misery these days: stories abound of workers having to urinate into bottles because they’re not allowed enough restroom breaks, being tracked around the facility via GPS, or popping Advil like candy to deal with the aches and pains.

Writer Malcolm Harris noted, “The important lesson from the story is that platforms would rather disappear entirely than start collectively bargaining with talent.” 50 Whether Vine creators are “artists” is beyond the reach of this book; the point is that the celebration of amateur creativity, of work done out of love, is often the velvet glove over an iron fist that will crack down quickly on any resistance. In November 2019, I attended a talk in an art gallery in London about the “future of work.” During the question-and-answer session, two different artists referred to their abusive relationship with the art world. Young people work very hard to be accepted to exclusive art schools, noted OK Fox of the Art and Labor podcast; at the same time, they are drawn to those schools in many cases because they were misfits, or disillusioned by the vision of the capitalist workplace on offer.


pages: 742 words: 137,937

The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts by Richard Susskind, Daniel Susskind

23andMe, 3D printing, Abraham Maslow, additive manufacturing, AI winter, Albert Einstein, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, Andrew Keen, Atul Gawande, Automated Insights, autonomous vehicles, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, big data - Walmart - Pop Tarts, Bill Joy: nanobots, Blue Ocean Strategy, business process, business process outsourcing, Cass Sunstein, Checklist Manifesto, Clapham omnibus, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cloud computing, commoditize, computer age, Computer Numeric Control, computer vision, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, conceptual framework, corporate governance, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, data science, death of newspapers, disintermediation, Douglas Hofstadter, driverless car, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, Filter Bubble, full employment, future of work, Garrett Hardin, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Hacker Ethic, industrial robot, informal economy, information retrieval, interchangeable parts, Internet of things, Isaac Newton, James Hargreaves, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, Khan Academy, knowledge economy, Large Hadron Collider, lifelogging, lump of labour, machine translation, Marshall McLuhan, Metcalfe’s law, Narrative Science, natural language processing, Network effects, Nick Bostrom, optical character recognition, Paul Samuelson, personalized medicine, planned obsolescence, pre–internet, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Feynman, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, semantic web, Shoshana Zuboff, Skype, social web, speech recognition, spinning jenny, strong AI, supply-chain management, Susan Wojcicki, tacit knowledge, TED Talk, telepresence, The Future of Employment, the market place, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Wisdom of Crowds, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, Turing test, Two Sigma, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, WikiLeaks, world market for maybe five computers, Yochai Benkler, young professional

But to think clearly about the future and sustainability of any given job, we should start by thinking about its constituent tasks and move on from there. As the example with the doctor shows, changes in a person’s job start from an underlying churn and adjustment in the bundle of tasks that make it up. Some tasks are lost (to other people or to machines) and others are gained. This has far-reaching consequences for the future of work, and in sections 7.3 and 7.4 we develop these ideas more fully. There, we use them to provide an answer to pressing questions about ‘technological unemployment’—whether, as machines become increasingly capable, there will be any reasonably-paid work left for people to do. There is a further, practical reason for thinking in this way.

And so, while there may no longer be jobs for sausage-preparers (those have been lost to machines), there will be more jobs for bun-bakers and hotdog-compilers, because the machines have given rise to an increase in the overall output of hotdogs. If enough of these new jobs are created to balance the loss of jobs in preparing sausages, and if the old sausage-preparers can learn the skills required for these new jobs, we do not need to worry about the future of work at this company. The newly created jobs can absorb those whose jobs were destroyed. We concede that the hotdog story is a simplification of this corner of the food industry.26 But it does demonstrate that technology can be both destructive, by displacing people from their jobs, and creative, in that it can give rise to new jobs.


pages: 460 words: 131,579

Masters of Management: How the Business Gurus and Their Ideas Have Changed the World—for Better and for Worse by Adrian Wooldridge

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, affirmative action, Alan Greenspan, barriers to entry, behavioural economics, Black Swan, blood diamond, borderless world, business climate, business cycle, business intelligence, business process, carbon footprint, Cass Sunstein, Clayton Christensen, clean tech, cloud computing, collaborative consumption, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collateralized debt obligation, commoditize, company town, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, credit crunch, crowdsourcing, David Brooks, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, disintermediation, disruptive innovation, do well by doing good, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Edward Glaeser, Exxon Valdez, financial deregulation, Ford Model T, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, George Gilder, global supply chain, Golden arches theory, hobby farmer, industrial cluster, intangible asset, It's morning again in America, job satisfaction, job-hopping, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, Just-in-time delivery, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, lake wobegon effect, Long Term Capital Management, low skilled workers, Mark Zuckerberg, McMansion, means of production, Menlo Park, meritocracy, Michael Milken, military-industrial complex, mobile money, Naomi Klein, Netflix Prize, Network effects, new economy, Nick Leeson, Norman Macrae, open immigration, patent troll, Ponzi scheme, popular capitalism, post-industrial society, profit motive, purchasing power parity, radical decentralization, Ralph Nader, recommendation engine, Richard Florida, Richard Thaler, risk tolerance, Ronald Reagan, science of happiness, scientific management, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, supply-chain management, tacit knowledge, technoutopianism, the long tail, The Soul of a New Machine, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Davenport, Tony Hsieh, too big to fail, vertical integration, wealth creators, women in the workforce, young professional, Zipcar

Daniel Pink, the most prominent exponent of the free-agent school, likes to talk about Karl Marx’s revenge—the workers now have the means of production in their hands in the form of laptops and BlackBerrys. But people are social animals. They enjoy the rituals of office life. They like working with their colleagues. The future of work will be dictated by the human need to belong as much as by the logic of technology. What is happening at the moment is more complicated than the rise of “free agents.” Rather than dissolving into atomized individuals, organizations are splitting into two groups: an inner core of full-time workers and a periphery—or perhaps a penumbra—of part-time and contract workers.

Charles Handy, Myself and Other More Important Matters (New York: American Management Association, 2008), p. 124. 2. Ken Favaro, Per-Ola Karisson, and Gary Neilson, “CEO succession 2000–2009: A decade of convergence and compression,” Strategy + Business, Summer 2010, no. 59. 3. Lynda Gratton, Shift: The Future of Work Is Already Here (London: Collins, 2011), p. 249. 4. Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers, The Rise of Collaborative Consumption (New York: HarperBusiness), pp. 168–69. 5. Wendell Cox, “Decade of the Telecommute,” New Geography, October 5, 2010. 6. Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin, The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011), p. 24. 7.


pages: 689 words: 134,457

When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Walt Bogdanich, Michael Forsythe

"RICO laws" OR "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations", "World Economic Forum" Davos, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Alistair Cooke, Amazon Web Services, An Inconvenient Truth, asset light, asset-backed security, Atul Gawande, Bear Stearns, Boris Johnson, British Empire, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, carbon footprint, Citizen Lab, cognitive dissonance, collective bargaining, compensation consultant, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, Corrections Corporation of America, COVID-19, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, crony capitalism, data science, David Attenborough, decarbonisation, deindustrialization, disinformation, disruptive innovation, do well by doing good, don't be evil, Donald Trump, double entry bookkeeping, facts on the ground, failed state, financial engineering, full employment, future of work, George Floyd, Gini coefficient, Glass-Steagall Act, global pandemic, illegal immigration, income inequality, information security, interchangeable parts, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, job satisfaction, job-hopping, junk bonds, Kenneth Arrow, Kickstarter, load shedding, Mark Zuckerberg, megaproject, Moneyball by Michael Lewis explains big data, mortgage debt, Multics, Nelson Mandela, obamacare, offshore financial centre, old-boy network, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, profit maximization, public intellectual, RAND corporation, Rutger Bregman, scientific management, sentiment analysis, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, smart cities, smart meter, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, tech worker, The future is already here, The Nature of the Firm, too big to fail, urban planning, WikiLeaks, working poor, Yogi Berra, zero-sum game

McKinsey also agreed to limit its work with manufacturers of addictive narcotics and pledged to put tens of thousands of pages of documents related to its opioid work into a public database. Despite heavy media coverage of McKinsey’s role in fanning the flames of the opioid epidemic, many government officials remain loyal to the firm. In Healey’s own state, Governor Charlie Baker hired McKinsey to handle a study into the “future of work” while McKinsey was paying the state for the harm it caused from opioids. Healey called the governor’s decision to hire McKinsey “outrageous.” The Boston Globe reported that the state’s health department had already paid McKinsey more than $18.6 million since the beginning of 2020. Just hours after The New York Times published an article about Healey’s findings, a private chat room for present and former McKinsey workers registered their reactions.

., 255–56 ACA and, 62–65 accountability and, 16, 25, 28, 236–41, 277 addictive products and, 129, 278 Al-Elm Information Security and, 256–57 Allstate and, 192–203, 212 alumni network, 17–18, 22, 38, 93, 161, 272 Alzheimer’s drug approval and, 67–68 Aramco and, 243–44, 247–48 Arkansas Medicaid program and, 57, 60–62 Aspen Ideas Festival and, 149–51, 153–55 AT&T and, 48–49 at-risk contracts and, 232–34 Australian Green Team and, 159 autocratic states and, 25–28, 74, 108–9, 279 China, 92–109, 257 Russia, 108, 257 Saudi Arabia, 108, 243–57 Ukraine, 257, 279 auto industry and, 29, 32–33, 37 auto insurance and, 191–94 auto loans and, 172, 182, 182–84 Azar as HHS and, 146–47 banks as clients and, 172–89 matrix management, 175–79 securitization of credit, 182–89 BCG as rival of, 246, 248–49 Belt and Road strategy and, 101–3 Britain and Chairman’s Dinners, 262 “clubbable” consultants, 260–61, 275 Health and Social Care Act, 271–74 manufacturers in, 261–62 NHS cost-cutting, 259, 262, 264–75, 280 rail privatization, 263–65 steel privatization, 261 Budlender report and, 236–38 Buttigieg as consultant for, 26–27, 76 campaign contributions and, 65–66 carbon emissions and messaging by, 150–55, 159, 161–62, 164–70 CBP and, 83, 87 Centene purchase of AT Medics and, 274 Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and, 141–42, 145–46 Center for Societal Benefit Through Healthcare created by, 144 Chase as client of, 177–78, 180 Chevron and, 163 China and, 26, 46, 91–109, 165–66, 257, 279 consultants and, 95–103 financial crisis of 2007–10 and, 189 Muslim Uyghur detentions and, 105–6 SOEs and, 26, 91–93, 96–102, 107–8 Chinese copycat of, 99 client and billing lists and, 55, 107–8, 162–63, 168, 278, 280 client interests and, 18–19, 22, 24–25 clients and regulators both represented by, 22–23 clients competing in same market and, 22–23, 278, 281 client selection democracy index, 108–9 harms and, 25–28, 30–31, 143, 154, 161, 278 new oversight of 2019, 257 public-sector work, 242 values of, 18, 23–31, 108–9, 161–62 climate change and, 150–55, 166–69 CMS contract and, 70 coal-mining clients of, 28, 156–58, 160–69 companies acquired by, 30 compensation system of, 180–81 confidentiality and, 18, 22–23, 25, 28–29, 59, 66–67, 69–70, 83–84, 107–8, 168–69, 239, 278, 281 conflicts of interest and, 22, 35, 55–56, 59, 61–62, 66, 68, 74, 120, 123–29, 145–46, 238, 272, 278, 281 consultants advancement by, 21–22, 28, 38, 160 ability to do good, 20–21, 25 ability to opt out on ethical grounds, 28, 78, 158–60 China-based, 95–98, 103, 108 earnings and investments by, 180 number of, 22, 30–31 “on the beach” status, 22, 158–60 recruitment and training, 17, 19–22, 25, 28–31, 152–53, 161–63, 167, 249 up-or-out policy and, 38, 207 consultants’ dissent and, 24–28, 31, 278 disallowed in Saudi Arabia, 249–50 Edstrom, 160–62, 167 Elfenbein, 83–85, 88–90 ICE revelations and, 76–79, 83–90 Naveed, 169–70 opioid work and, 148 polluting clients and, 155–63, 167–70 Continental Illinois collapse and, 177–80, 186 corporate downsizing and, 33, 36–39 COVID-19 and, 71–73, 274–75 data analytics and, 204–22 athlete injury prediction, 210–12 Houston Astros, 204–6, 212–22 prescriptions, 130–31, 139–40 Davos and, 149–50 Disneyland and, 9–16, 281 Earth Day and, 168 Elixir bought by, 249–50 employee layoffs by clients of, 27–29, 34, 37–41, 44–46, 48–49 Enron and, 25, 42, 173, 187, 190, 204–9 environmentally focused work of, 152, 158–61, 165, 170 Eskom and Trillian and, 231–37, 239–42 executive compensation vs. worker wages and, 32–35, 41–43, 50, 180–81, 194, 198 FARA filings and, 246 FDA as client of, 22, 66–70, 145–46, 281 cigarettes and, 73, 120–22 contracts awarded 2008–2021, 145–46 e-cigarettes and vaping, 122–29 fees, 66, 68, 120, 145–46 no-bid contracts, 69–70 opioids and, 132, 134, 137, 141–42, 144–47, 280 pharmaceutical clients and, 22, 66–69, 141, 145–47, 281 federal contracts COVID-19, 71–73 GSA, 69–70 health-care industry, 65–72 ICE, 74–90 Federal Reserve report on, 186 financial industry and, 171–90 deregulation, 171–74 financial crisis of 2008–10 and, 173–74, 176–77, 188–90, 265 Financial Institutions Group, 180 financialization and, 180, 194, 196–97 foreign governments as clients of, 18 Britain, 258–75 corruption and, 25–28, 279 secrecy and, 239 Saudi Arabia, 108, 243–57, 279–80 South Africa, 223–42 fossil fuel companies and, 26, 156–59, 162–64, 166, 168 founding of, 3–4, 19, 159 Gary, Indiana, and, 1–9 George Floyd protests and, 107 globalization and, 41, 43, 189 Global Energy and Materials team, 166 global reach of, 18, 20, 39, 43, 94, 97, 189–90 GM and, 32–33, 37, 260 gold-mining clients of, 162 greenwashing and, 162, 165, 169 GSA on federal contracts with, 69–71 health-care benefits by clients of, 45–47 health-care industry clients of, 61–66, 148, 280 ACA and, 62–65 Centene, 274 NHS overhaul and, 259, 262, 264–75 state and federal clients and, 51–73, 280 home mortgage lending and, 181–82, 187–89 homeowners’ insurance, 194, 199–200 human rights and, 31, 99–101, 104–7 Chinese Uyghurs, 100, 104–6, 160 Hong Kong protests, 106–7 Moscow protests, 31 ICE and, 26, 74–90, 279 Illinois Medicaid program and, 51–57, 61 inequality and, 27–28, 32–50, 147–48, 278 influence and status of, 17–23, 28, 30, 64, 199, 278 insurance claims payouts and, 180, 191–203 Interior Department contract and, 70 job security and loyalty downplayed by, 37–38, 44–45 Johnson & Johnson as client of, 133–35 Juul as client of, 123–29 Khashoggi murder and, 253–54, 256–57 Made in China 2025 and, 102–3 maintenance cuts advised by, 1–16, 264, 280–81 Malaysia and, 26, 102 management philosophy and, 2–3, 17–18 shift to strategic planning, 36–37 management structure and style of, 26, 121, 278 managing partners Barton, 63, 86, 99, 101–2, 106, 165, 238, 241, 257, 272 Bower, 19, 32–33 Daniel, 98, 181 Davis, 98, 241, 249 Gupta, 39, 206 Sneader, 29–31, 74–75, 86, 90, 106–7, 143, 168, 239, 241, 254, 255, 257 Strenfels, 127–30, 168–70 Marshall Field’s and, 34 Massachusetts future of work study and, 148 matrix management and, 175–79, 260 media exposés of, 23, 25–28, 74–76, 79–85, 107–8, 133, 146, 148, 168–69, 257 Missouri Medicaid program and, 57–61 MLB review by, 221 Monitor as client of, 266–69 multinationals and, 95–96, 98–99 New York City contracts and, 225 New York Knicks and, 211 NOAA contract and, 70 nondisclosure agreements and, 27, 278 oil and gas companies and, 155–58, 162–64, 166 Aramco, 156, 243–44, 248 BP, 164 Chevron, 163–64 China and, 99 Enron and, 206–9 ExxonMobil, 20, 156–57, 163 Gazprom, 163, 257 PDVSA, 156 Pemex, 156 Royal Dutch Shell, 156, 163, 260–61 Texaco, 156–57 outsourcing and offshoring and, 33, 39–46, 49–50 partners compensation of, 18, 135 election of, 22 number of, 30 Peters’s critique of, 27–28, 36–37, 179 pharmaceutical companies and, 20, 22, 73, 281 FDA and, 66–69 opioids and, 26–27, 74, 109, 130–48, 280 opioid settlement and, 143, 148 polluters as clients of, 162, 164–70, 278 profit maximization and, 35–39, 198 public scrutiny of, 25–28, 74, 107, 148, 277–78 public-sector practice begun, 94 Purdue Pharma and, 109, 131–45, 148, 280 QuantumBlack bought by, 210–12 Railtrack maintenance and, 263–64 revenues and profits of, 24, 242, 257 Rice as consultant for, 224 Russia and, 26, 31, 108, 257 Saudi Arabia and, 108, 243–57, 279–80 consultants hired in, 248 ministries as clients of, 243–45, 249–51, 256 NEOM project and, 247, 256 purge of 2017 and, 250 sentiment analysis and, 251–57 “Saudi Arabia Beyond Oil” report and, 247–48 Saudi Center for International Strategic Partnerships and, 247 Seafirst and, 177–78, 180 secrecy and, 18, 25, 27, 54–58, 107, 111–12, 120, 136, 162, 168, 256–57, 277–78 securitization of credit and, 172 Enron and, 187, 207–9 financial crisis and, 188–90 launched by Bryan, 182–87, 189–90 Shanghai urban planning and, 99 shareholder profits and stock prices and, 24, 27–28, 36, 38–39, 42–43, 49–50, 198 shell companies and, 18 smart cities and, 103–4 South Africa and, 26, 30, 74, 223–42, 250, 257, 279–80 state capture investigations and, 236–42 South African Airways and Regiments and, 239–40 sovereign wealth funds and, 18, 165, 257 sports and, 209–22 steel industry and British, 261 coking coal and, 164–66 maintenance and safety in, 1–9, 280–81 U.S. steel, 1–10, 16, 280–81 St.


pages: 170 words: 49,193

The People vs Tech: How the Internet Is Killing Democracy (And How We Save It) by Jamie Bartlett

Ada Lovelace, Airbnb, AlphaGo, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Andrew Keen, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, Boris Johnson, Californian Ideology, Cambridge Analytica, central bank independence, Chelsea Manning, cloud computing, computer vision, creative destruction, cryptocurrency, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, disinformation, Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump, driverless car, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, Filter Bubble, future of work, general purpose technology, gig economy, global village, Google bus, Hans Moravec, hive mind, Howard Rheingold, information retrieval, initial coin offering, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, John Gilmore, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Perry Barlow, Julian Assange, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Menlo Park, meta-analysis, mittelstand, move fast and break things, Network effects, Nicholas Carr, Nick Bostrom, off grid, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, payday loans, Peter Thiel, post-truth, prediction markets, QR code, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, Renaissance Technologies, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Mercer, Ross Ulbricht, Sam Altman, Satoshi Nakamoto, Second Machine Age, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, smart cities, smart contracts, smart meter, Snapchat, Stanford prison experiment, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, strong AI, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, tech worker, technological singularity, technoutopianism, Ted Kaczynski, TED Talk, the long tail, the medium is the message, the scientific method, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Wisdom of Crowds, theory of mind, too big to fail, ultimatum game, universal basic income, WikiLeaks, World Values Survey, Y Combinator, you are the product

Research from Georg Graetz and Guy Michaels has found that, while manufacturing employment has fallen in most developed countries between 1996 and 2012, it has fallen less sharply where investment in robotics has been greatest. 4 ‘Automation and anxiety’, The Economist, 25 June 2016. 5 According to Martin Ford, futurist and author of the award winning book Rise of the Robots it won’t happen immediately but within a decade or so. 6 Stick Shift: Autonomous Vehicles, Driving Jobs, and the Future of Work, March 2017, Centre for Global Policy Solutions. 7 Mark Fahey, ‘Driverless cars will kill the most jobs in select US states’, www.cnbc.com, 2 September 2016. 8 ‘Real wages have been falling for longest period for at least 50 years, ONS says’, Guardian, 31 January 2014. ‘The World’s 8 Richest Men Are Now as Wealthy as Half the World’s Population’, www.fortune.com, 16 January 2017. 9 David Madland, ‘Growth and the Middle Class’ (Spring 2011), Democracy Journal, 20. 10 Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level (Penguin, 2009). 11 Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level, pp.272-273. 12 Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay. 13 Nicholas Carr, The Glass Cage (Bodley Head, 2015).


pages: 976 words: 235,576

The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite by Daniel Markovits

8-hour work day, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, affirmative action, algorithmic management, Amazon Robotics, Anton Chekhov, asset-backed security, assortative mating, basic income, Bernie Sanders, big-box store, business cycle, capital asset pricing model, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carl Icahn, carried interest, collateralized debt obligation, collective bargaining, compensation consultant, computer age, corporate governance, corporate raider, crony capitalism, David Brooks, deskilling, Detroit bankruptcy, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, Edward Glaeser, Emanuel Derman, equity premium, European colonialism, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, fear of failure, financial engineering, financial innovation, financial intermediation, fixed income, Ford paid five dollars a day, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, gender pay gap, gentrification, George Akerlof, Gini coefficient, glass ceiling, Glass-Steagall Act, Greenspan put, helicopter parent, Herbert Marcuse, high net worth, hiring and firing, income inequality, industrial robot, interchangeable parts, invention of agriculture, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job satisfaction, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, junk bonds, Kevin Roose, Kiva Systems, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, Kodak vs Instagram, labor-force participation, Larry Ellison, longitudinal study, low interest rates, low skilled workers, machine readable, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, mass incarceration, medical residency, meritocracy, minimum wage unemployment, Myron Scholes, Nate Silver, New Economic Geography, new economy, offshore financial centre, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Paul Samuelson, payday loans, plutocrats, Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances, precariat, purchasing power parity, rent-seeking, Richard Florida, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, Rutger Bregman, savings glut, school choice, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, six sigma, Skype, stakhanovite, stem cell, Stephen Fry, Steve Jobs, stock buybacks, supply-chain management, telemarketer, The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, Thomas Davenport, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, total factor productivity, transaction costs, traveling salesman, universal basic income, unpaid internship, Vanguard fund, War on Poverty, warehouse robotics, Winter of Discontent, women in the workforce, work culture , working poor, Yochai Benkler, young professional, zero-sum game

Workforce,” Bloomberg, March 12, 2014, accessed November 18, 2018, www.bloomberg.com/graphics/infographics/job-automation-threatens-workforce.html. displaced by automation by 2030: James Manyika et al., “Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages,” McKinsey Global Institute, November 2017, accessed October 26 2018, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages. even a sea change: Other explanations for labor market polarization that emphasize forces besides technological innovation of course also exist. Candidates include globalization, declining union membership, and changes in tax policy.


pages: 196 words: 54,339

Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff

1960s counterculture, Abraham Maslow, Adam Curtis, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Berlin Wall, big-box store, bitcoin, blockchain, Burning Man, carbon footprint, circular economy, clean water, clockwork universe, cloud computing, collective bargaining, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, corporate personhood, digital capitalism, disintermediation, Donald Trump, drone strike, European colonialism, fake news, Filter Bubble, full employment, future of work, game design, gamification, gig economy, Google bus, Gödel, Escher, Bach, hockey-stick growth, Internet of things, invention of the printing press, invention of writing, invisible hand, iterative process, John Perry Barlow, Kevin Kelly, Kevin Roose, knowledge economy, Larry Ellison, Lewis Mumford, life extension, lifelogging, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, mirror neurons, multilevel marketing, new economy, patient HM, pattern recognition, peer-to-peer, Peter Thiel, planned obsolescence, power law, prosperity theology / prosperity gospel / gospel of success, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan: Tear down this wall, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, social intelligence, sovereign wealth fund, Steve Jobs, Steven Pinker, Stewart Brand, tech billionaire, technoutopianism, TED Talk, theory of mind, trade route, Travis Kalanick, Turing test, universal basic income, Vannevar Bush, We are as Gods, winner-take-all economy, zero-sum game

Bouree Lam, “How REI’s Co-Op Retail Model Helps Its Bottom Line,” The Atlantic, March 21, 2017. In these “platform cooperatives,” participants own the platform they’re using Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider, Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, A New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet (New York: OR Books, 2017). 52. Luckily, according to this narrative, the automobile provided a safe, relatively clean alternative Stephen Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (New York: William Morrow, 2005).


The New Class War: Saving Democracy From the Metropolitan Elite by Michael Lind

"World Economic Forum" Davos, affirmative action, anti-communist, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, business cycle, Cambridge Analytica, capital controls, Cass Sunstein, central bank independence, centre right, collective bargaining, commoditize, corporate governance, cotton gin, crony capitalism, deindustrialization, disinformation, Doha Development Round, Donald Trump, Edward Snowden, export processing zone, fake news, future of work, gentrification, global supply chain, guest worker program, Haight Ashbury, illegal immigration, immigration reform, independent contractor, invisible hand, Jeremy Corbyn, knowledge economy, Les Trente Glorieuses, liberal world order, low skilled workers, low-wage service sector, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, mass immigration, means of production, Michael Milken, moral panic, Nate Silver, new economy, offshore financial centre, oil shock, open borders, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, purchasing power parity, Ralph Nader, regulatory arbitrage, rent-seeking, Richard Florida, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Silicon Valley, SoftBank, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, Timothy McVeigh, trade liberalization, union organizing, universal basic income, upwardly mobile, WikiLeaks, Wolfgang Streeck, working poor

For earlier versions of the argument in this chapter, see Michael Lind, “The Coming Realignment: Cities, Class, and Ideology After Social Conservatism,” Breakthrough Journal, no. 4, Summer 2014; and Michael Lind, “Cities without Nations,” National Review, September 26, 2016. 2. Saskia Sassen, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001); Saskia Sassen, “The Global City: Introducing a Concept,” Brown Journal of World Affairs 11, no. 2 (Winter/Spring, 2005). 3. Greg Rosalsky, “What the Future of Work Means for Cities,” NPR, Planet Money, January 15, 2019; David Autor, “Work of the Past, Work of the Future,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 25588, February 2019. 4. Richard Florida, “The High Inequality of U.S. Metro Areas Compared to Countries,” CityLab.com, October 9, 2012. 5.


pages: 519 words: 142,646

Track Changes by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum

active measures, Alvin Toffler, Apollo 11, Apple II, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, Bill Gates: Altair 8800, Buckminster Fuller, Charles Babbage, commoditize, computer age, Computer Lib, corporate governance, David Brooks, dematerialisation, Donald Knuth, Douglas Hofstadter, Dynabook, East Village, en.wikipedia.org, feminist movement, forensic accounting, future of work, Future Shock, Google Earth, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Haight Ashbury, HyperCard, Jason Scott: textfiles.com, Joan Didion, John Markoff, John von Neumann, Kickstarter, low earth orbit, machine readable, machine translation, mail merge, Marshall McLuhan, Mother of all demos, Neal Stephenson, New Journalism, Norman Mailer, off-the-grid, pattern recognition, pink-collar, planned obsolescence, popular electronics, Project Xanadu, RAND corporation, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, self-driving car, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, social web, Stephen Fry, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, systems thinking, tacit knowledge, technoutopianism, Ted Nelson, TED Talk, text mining, thinkpad, Turing complete, Vannevar Bush, Whole Earth Catalog, Y2K, Year of Magical Thinking

The colophon reads, “A book composed by hand in 10 point Garamond Bold, printed by the poet, me, on a Vandercook 219, at the New College Print Shop, sometime in June and July, wanting to finish.” (That last phrase an echo of the title.) There are no other overt references to word processing among the fifteen other poems in the book. The copy I consulted is in the Fales Library at New York University. 17. Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988), 179–180. 18. Thomas Haigh, “Remembering the Office of the Future,” IEEE Computer Society 28, no. 4 (2006): 7. 19. Thomas J. Anderson and William R. Trotter, Word Processing (New York: Amacom, 1974), 5; emphasis in original. 20. George R. Simpson, quoted in ibid., 5. 21.

“From ‘machines should work, people should think’ to ‘machines should work, people should think.’ Is it possible that the film might be trying to warn us against its own techno-utopianism?” (146–150). 23. Frank M. Knox, Managing Paperwork: A Key to Productivity (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980), ix. 24. See Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988), 301–310. 25. Knox, Managing Paperwork, ix. 26. See Thomas Haigh, “Remembering the Office of the Future,” IEEE Computer Society 28, no.4 (2006): 8. 27. DeLoca and Kalow, The Romance Division, 72. 28. Whether or not Steinhilper also introduced the English-language term “word processing” at the same time is difficult to ascertain conclusively; the claim that he did so is tendered in his own memoir, Don’t Talk—Do It: From Flying to Word Processing (Bromley, UK: Independent Books, 2006). 29.


pages: 176 words: 55,819

The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha

Airbnb, Andy Kessler, Apollo 13, Benchmark Capital, Black Swan, business intelligence, Cal Newport, Clayton Christensen, commoditize, David Brooks, Donald Trump, Dunbar number, en.wikipedia.org, fear of failure, follow your passion, future of work, game design, independent contractor, information security, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Joi Ito, late fees, lateral thinking, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Max Levchin, Menlo Park, out of africa, PalmPilot, Paul Graham, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, public intellectual, recommendation engine, Richard Bolles, risk tolerance, rolodex, Salesforce, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, social web, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, the strength of weak ties, Tony Hsieh, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen

Further Reading Below is more information on the books referenced in the earlier chapters, as well as a few additional recommendations on related themes. On our website, we link to each of these books, as well as to numerous other articles, blogs, Twitter feeds, and more. Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself By Daniel H. Pink In 2002, Pink made popular the phrase “free agent” to describe the self-employment phenomenon in the United States. At the time, Pink estimated that one-quarter to one-third of American workers worked as independent contractors. He explores their attitudes toward autonomy, informal networks, self-constructed safety nets, and more.


pages: 196 words: 55,862

Riding for Deliveroo: Resistance in the New Economy by Callum Cant

Airbnb, algorithmic management, call centre, capitalist realism, collective bargaining, deskilling, Elon Musk, fixed-gear, future of work, gamification, gig economy, housing crisis, illegal immigration, independent contractor, information asymmetry, invention of the steam engine, machine readable, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, new economy, Pearl River Delta, race to the bottom, ride hailing / ride sharing, scientific management, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, strikebreaker, tech worker, union organizing, Winter of Discontent, women in the workforce

Despite being hyper-precarious, despite being young, despite being migrants, they have shown that organized class power isn’t a thing of the past. The strike weapon is being transformed in the laboratory of platform capitalism, as new management tactics and new technologies employed by the ruling class run up against working-class self-organization. Food-platform workers, across national borders, are responding to the ‘future of work’ with the future of class struggle. Their fight is beginning to indicate a path to renewal for the whole working-class movement, and proves that the changing composition of the working class can provide new opportunities for socialist politics, even as it demolishes old certainties. So, their experiences deserve the closest possible analysis – because that movement is the best chance we have of getting out of the mess of the twenty-first century in one piece.


pages: 918 words: 257,605

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

"World Economic Forum" Davos, algorithmic bias, Amazon Web Services, Andrew Keen, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Bartolomé de las Casas, behavioural economics, Berlin Wall, Big Tech, bitcoin, blockchain, blue-collar work, book scanning, Broken windows theory, California gold rush, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Cass Sunstein, choice architecture, citizen journalism, Citizen Lab, classic study, cloud computing, collective bargaining, Computer Numeric Control, computer vision, connected car, context collapse, corporate governance, corporate personhood, creative destruction, cryptocurrency, data science, deep learning, digital capitalism, disinformation, dogs of the Dow, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Dr. Strangelove, driverless car, Easter island, Edward Snowden, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, facts on the ground, fake news, Ford Model T, Ford paid five dollars a day, future of work, game design, gamification, Google Earth, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Herman Kahn, hive mind, Ian Bogost, impulse control, income inequality, information security, Internet of things, invention of the printing press, invisible hand, Jean Tirole, job automation, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, Kevin Roose, knowledge economy, Lewis Mumford, linked data, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, means of production, multi-sided market, Naomi Klein, natural language processing, Network effects, new economy, Occupy movement, off grid, off-the-grid, PageRank, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, pattern recognition, Paul Buchheit, performance metric, Philip Mirowski, precision agriculture, price mechanism, profit maximization, profit motive, public intellectual, recommendation engine, refrigerator car, RFID, Richard Thaler, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Bork, Robert Mercer, Salesforce, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, Sidewalk Labs, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, slashdot, smart cities, Snapchat, social contagion, social distancing, social graph, social web, software as a service, speech recognition, statistical model, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, structural adjustment programs, surveillance capitalism, technological determinism, TED Talk, The Future of Employment, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tim Cook: Apple, two-sided market, union organizing, vertical integration, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, winner-take-all economy, Wolfgang Streeck, work culture , Yochai Benkler, you are the product

Perhaps because there was no one else to ask, the plant manager’s voice was weighted with urgency and frustration: “What’s it gonna be? Which way are we supposed to go? I must know now. There is no time to spare.” I wanted the answers, too, and so I began the project that thirty years ago became my first book, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. That work turned out to be the opening chapter in what became a lifelong quest to answer the question “Can the digital future be our home?” It has been many years since that warm southern evening, but the oldest questions have come roaring back with a vengeance. The digital realm is overtaking and redefining everything familiar even before we have had a chance to ponder and decide.

Lucas Matney, “Siri-Creator Shows Off First Public Demo of Viv, ‘The Intelligent Interface for Everything,’” TechCrunch, http://social.techcrunch.com/2016/05/09/siri-creator-shows-off-first-public-demo-of-viv-the-intelligent-interface-for-everything. 46. Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic, 1988), 381. 47. Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine, 362–86. 48. Zuboff, 383. 49. The five-factor model has become the standard since the 1980s because it lends itself easily to computational analysis. The model is based on a taxonomy of personality traits along five dimensions: extraversion (the tendency to be outgoing and energetic while seeking stimulation in the company of others), agreeableness (warmth, compassion, and cooperativeness), conscientiousness (the tendency to exhibit self-discipline, organization, and achievement orientation), neuroticism (the susceptibility to unpleasant emotions), and openness to experience (the tendency to be intellectually curious, creative, and open to feelings). 50.

Taylor Soper, “MIT Spinoff Tenacity Raises $1.5M to Improve Workplace Productivity with ‘Social Physics,’” GeekWire, February 10, 2016, https://www.geekwire.com/2016/tenacity-raises-1-5m; Ron Miller, “Endor Emerges from MIT Research with Unique Predictive Analytics Tech,” TechCrunch, March 8, 2017, http://social.techcrunch.com/2017/03/08/endor-emerges-from-mit-research-with-unique-predictive-analytics-tech; Rob Matheson, “Watch Your Tone,” MIT News, January 20, 2016, http://news.mit.edu/2016/startup-cogito-voice-analytics-call-centers-ptsd-0120. 23. Ben Waber, People Analytics: How Social Sensing Technology Will Transform Business and What It Tells Us About the Future of Work (Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press, 2013). 24. Ron Miller, “New Firm Combines Wearables and Data to Improve Decision Making,” TechCrunch, February 24, 2015, http://social.techcrunch.com/2015/02/24/new-firm-combines-wearables-and-data-to-improve-decision-making. 25. Miller, “New Firm”; Alexandra Bosanac, “How ‘People Analytics’ Is Transforming Human Resources,” Canadian Business, October 26, 2015, http://www.canadianbusiness.com/innovation/how-people-analytics-is-transforming-human-resources. 26.


pages: 243 words: 61,237

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink

always be closing, Atul Gawande, barriers to entry, behavioural economics, business cycle, call centre, Cass Sunstein, Checklist Manifesto, choice architecture, complexity theory, Credit Default Swap, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, disintermediation, Elisha Otis, future of work, George Akerlof, independent contractor, information asymmetry, Jeff Bezos, Kickstarter, longitudinal study, Marc Andreessen, Menlo Park, out of africa, Richard Thaler, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, Steve Jobs, The Market for Lemons, Upton Sinclair, Wall-E, zero-sum game

Available at http://gemconsortium.org/docs/2409/gem-2011-global-report. 5. Adam Davidson, “Don’t Mock the Artisanal-Pickle Makers,” New York Times Magazine, February 15, 2012. 6. “The Return of Artisanal Employment,” Economist, October 31, 2011. A handful of you might remember that I made a similar argument a decade ago in Daniel H. Pink, Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself (New York: Business Plus, 2002). 7. The latest Etsy data are available at http://www.etsy.com/press. 8. Robert Atkinson, “It’s the Digital Economy, Stupid,” Fast Company, January 8, 2009. 9. Carl Franzen, “Kickstarter Expects to Provide More Funding to the Arts Than NEA,” Talking Points Memo, February 24, 2012, available at http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/kickstarter-expects-to-provide-more-funding-to-the-arts-than-nea.php; Carl Franzen, “NEA Weighs In on Kickstarter Funding Debate,” Talking Points Memo, February 27, 2012, available at http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/the-nea-responds-to-kickstarter-funding-debate.php.


pages: 145 words: 40,897

Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps by Gabe Zichermann, Christopher Cunningham

airport security, business logic, future of work, game design, gamification, Ian Bogost, lateral thinking, minimum viable product, pattern recognition, power law, Ruby on Rails, SimCity, social graph, social web, systems thinking, urban planning, web application

But the tides are turning. Games have begun to influence our lives every day. They affect everything from how we vacation to how we train for marathons, learn a new language, and manage our finances. What we once called “play” at the periphery of our lives is quickly becoming the way we interact. Games are the future of work, fun is the new “responsible,” and the movement that is leading the way is gamification. Gamification Bandied about as the marketing buzzword of our time, gamification can mean different things to different people. Some view it as making games explicitly to advertise products or services.


pages: 223 words: 60,936

Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding From Anywhere by Tsedal Neeley

Airbnb, Boycotts of Israel, call centre, cloud computing, coronavirus, COVID-19, cryptocurrency, discrete time, Donald Trump, future of work, global pandemic, iterative process, job satisfaction, knowledge worker, Lean Startup, lockdown, mass immigration, natural language processing, remote work: asynchronous communication, remote working, Silicon Valley, social distancing

Neeley has deep knowledge of the science behind team communications and how best to lead from the next desk over or at a distance. Her vivid examples and insightful interpretations make the case for the growing importance of empathy and diversity. And her solutions to the productivity challenges of remoteness make this an essential guide for the future of work.” —Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and bestselling author of Confidence and Think Outside the Building “Everybody—not just the business community—is wondering how remote work will affect our future and how private and public organizations should adjust. With her timely and highly documented research, Neeley provides answers to questions on leadership from afar, on tools and methods needed to enhance productivity of dispersed teams, and on the psychological fundamentals of trust and emotional engagement.


pages: 541 words: 173,676

Generations: the Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future by Jean M. Twenge

1960s counterculture, 2021 United States Capitol attack, affirmative action, airport security, An Inconvenient Truth, Bear Stearns, Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter, book scanning, coronavirus, COVID-19, crack epidemic, critical race theory, David Brooks, delayed gratification, desegregation, Donald Trump, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, fake news, feminist movement, Ferguson, Missouri, Ford Model T, future of work, gender pay gap, George Floyd, global pandemic, Gordon Gekko, green new deal, income inequality, Jeff Bezos, Joan Didion, job automation, Kitchen Debate, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, light touch regulation, lockdown, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, McJob, meta-analysis, microaggression, Neil Armstrong, new economy, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Peter Thiel, QAnon, Ralph Nader, remote working, ride hailing / ride sharing, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, Saturday Night Live, Sheryl Sandberg, side hustle, Snapchat, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, superstar cities, tech baron, TED Talk, The Great Resignation, TikTok, too big to fail, Travis Kalanick, War on Poverty, We are the 99%, women in the workforce, World Values Survey, zero-sum game

As the writers of The Jetsons found out, predicting the future is a sticky business. Some trajectories will be clear, and others will not. But with an understanding of generations and the broad forces of cultural change, it’s possible to see a little more clearly into the coming years and what they will bring for demographics, work, politics, and everything else. The Future of Work “The 37-year-olds are afraid of the 23-year-olds who work for them,” announced the New York Times recently. In other words, Millennials are no longer the up-and-coming young employees. They’re the bosses, and they are trying to figure out the Gen Z young adults who are now the arbiters of cool.

Warm and scenic locations will see rising real estate prices, while colder and less scenic locations may eventually see less demand. Atlantic writer Derek Thompson calls the digital commute the next industrial revolution, geographically decoupling work locations and home locations for the first time in history. The future of work is both everywhere and nowhere. 2. Safe spaces and speech. When Gen Z’ers arrived on college campuses around 2013, older generations were taken aback at some of their demands, such as for trigger warnings on sensitive material. Students also asked for “safe spaces” they could retreat to in times of stress.


pages: 245 words: 64,288

Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That's OK: How to Survive the Economic Collapse and Be Happy by Pistono, Federico

3D printing, Albert Einstein, autonomous vehicles, bioinformatics, Buckminster Fuller, cloud computing, computer vision, correlation does not imply causation, en.wikipedia.org, epigenetics, Erik Brynjolfsson, Firefox, future of work, gamification, George Santayana, global village, Google Chrome, happiness index / gross national happiness, hedonic treadmill, illegal immigration, income inequality, information retrieval, Internet of things, invention of the printing press, Jeff Hawkins, jimmy wales, job automation, John Markoff, Kevin Kelly, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, labor-force participation, Lao Tzu, Law of Accelerating Returns, life extension, Loebner Prize, longitudinal study, means of production, Narrative Science, natural language processing, new economy, Occupy movement, patent troll, pattern recognition, peak oil, post scarcity, QR code, quantum entanglement, race to the bottom, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, RFID, Rodney Brooks, selection bias, self-driving car, seminal paper, slashdot, smart cities, software as a service, software is eating the world, speech recognition, Steven Pinker, strong AI, synthetic biology, technological singularity, TED Talk, Turing test, Vernor Vinge, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, women in the workforce

The time when with a high school education, a lot of good will, and hard work got you a decent middle class lifestyle are long gone. Those jobs that have been outsourced are not coming back, period. And even those overseas jobs are now threatened by the rapid advances in automation and robotics. The more companies automate, because of the need to increase their productivity, the more jobs will be lost, forever. The future of work and innovation is not in the past that we know, but in unfamiliar territory of the future that is yet to come. New and exciting fields are emerging every day. Synthetic biology, neurocomputation, 3D printing, contour crafting, molecular engineering, bioinformatics, life extension, robotics, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, these new frontiers that are rapidly evolving and are just the beginning of a new, amazing era of our species that will bring about the greatest transformation of all time.


pages: 222 words: 70,132

Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy by Jonathan Taplin

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "there is no alternative" (TINA), 1960s counterculture, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, AlphaGo, Amazon Mechanical Turk, American Legislative Exchange Council, AOL-Time Warner, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, back-to-the-land, barriers to entry, basic income, battle of ideas, big data - Walmart - Pop Tarts, Big Tech, bitcoin, Brewster Kahle, Buckminster Fuller, Burning Man, Clayton Christensen, Cody Wilson, commoditize, content marketing, creative destruction, crony capitalism, crowdsourcing, data is the new oil, data science, David Brooks, David Graeber, decentralized internet, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Dynabook, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, equal pay for equal work, Erik Brynjolfsson, Fairchild Semiconductor, fake news, future of journalism, future of work, George Akerlof, George Gilder, Golden age of television, Google bus, Hacker Ethic, Herbert Marcuse, Howard Rheingold, income inequality, informal economy, information asymmetry, information retrieval, Internet Archive, Internet of things, invisible hand, Jacob Silverman, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John Perry Barlow, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, Larry Ellison, life extension, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Max Levchin, Menlo Park, Metcalfe’s law, military-industrial complex, Mother of all demos, move fast and break things, natural language processing, Network effects, new economy, Norbert Wiener, offshore financial centre, packet switching, PalmPilot, Paul Graham, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, pre–internet, Ray Kurzweil, reality distortion field, recommendation engine, rent-seeking, revision control, Robert Bork, Robert Gordon, Robert Metcalfe, Ronald Reagan, Ross Ulbricht, Sam Altman, Sand Hill Road, secular stagnation, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Skinner box, smart grid, Snapchat, Social Justice Warrior, software is eating the world, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, tech billionaire, techno-determinism, technoutopianism, TED Talk, The Chicago School, the long tail, The Market for Lemons, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Tim Cook: Apple, trade route, Tragedy of the Commons, transfer pricing, Travis Kalanick, trickle-down economics, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, unpaid internship, vertical integration, We are as Gods, We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters, web application, Whole Earth Catalog, winner-take-all economy, women in the workforce, Y Combinator, you are the product

Gray, and Siddharth Suri, “Monopsony and the Crowd: Labor for Lemons?” Oxford Internet Institute, August 2014, ipp.oii.ox.ac.uk/2014/programme-2014/track-a/labour/sara-kingsley-mary-gray-monopsony-and. Oxford University’s Martin Programme on Technology and Employment is a critical resource for information on automation and the future of work. It can be found at www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/news/201501_Technology_Employment. Andrew Gumbel, “San Francisco’s Guerrilla Protest and Google Buses Swells into Revolt,” Guardian, January 25, 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/25/google-bus-protest-swells-to-revolt-san-francisco. Tom Perkins, “Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?”


pages: 254 words: 69,276

The Metric Society: On the Quantification of the Social by Steffen Mau

Airbnb, cognitive bias, cognitive load, collaborative consumption, connected car, crowdsourcing, digital capitalism, double entry bookkeeping, future of work, gamification, income inequality, informal economy, invisible hand, knowledge economy, labour market flexibility, lifelogging, Mark Zuckerberg, meritocracy, mittelstand, moral hazard, personalized medicine, positional goods, principal–agent problem, profit motive, QR code, reserve currency, school choice, selection bias, sharing economy, smart cities, subprime mortgage crisis, the scientific method, the strength of weak ties, Uber for X, vertical integration, web of trust, Wolfgang Streeck

Günter and Kerstin Rieder (2013) ‘The working customer – a fundamental change in service work’ in Customers at Work, ed. W. Dunkel and F. Kleemann, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Waber, Ben (2013) People Analytics: How Social Sensing Technology Will Transform Business and What It Tells Us about the Future of Work, Upper Saddle River: Financial Times Press. Wachtel, Howard K. (1998) ‘Student evaluation of college teaching effectiveness: a brief review’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 23/2 (pp. 191-212). Wanner, Claudia, and Herbert Fromme (2016) ‘Läuft bei Generali’, Süddeutsche Zeitung (21 June, p. 19).


pages: 270 words: 64,235

Effective Programming: More Than Writing Code by Jeff Atwood

AltaVista, Amazon Web Services, barriers to entry, cloud computing, endowment effect, fail fast, Firefox, fizzbuzz, Ford Model T, future of work, game design, gamification, Google Chrome, gravity well, Hacker News, job satisfaction, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, loss aversion, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Merlin Mann, Minecraft, Paul Buchheit, Paul Graham, price anchoring, race to the bottom, recommendation engine, science of happiness, Skype, social software, Steve Jobs, systems thinking, TED Talk, Tragedy of the Commons, web application, Y Combinator, zero-sum game

The development of Stack Overflow should be reflective of what Stack Overflow is: an international effort of like-minded — and dare I say totally awesome — programmers. I wish I could hire each and every one of you. OK, maybe I’m a little biased. But to me, that’s how awesome the Stack Overflow community is. I believe remote development represents the future of work. If we have to spend a little time figuring out how this stuff works, and maybe even make some mistakes along the way, it’s worth it. As far as I’m concerned, the future is now. Why wait? * * * Become a Hyperink reader. Get a special surprise. Like the book? Support our author and leave a comment!


pages: 268 words: 64,786

Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away by Julien Saunders, Kiersten Saunders

barriers to entry, basic income, Big Tech, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, blockchain, COVID-19, cryptocurrency, death from overwork, digital divide, diversification, do what you love, Donald Trump, estate planning, financial independence, follow your passion, future of work, gig economy, glass ceiling, global pandemic, index fund, job automation, job-hopping, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, lifestyle creep, Lyft, microaggression, multilevel marketing, non-fungible token, off-the-grid, passive income, passive investing, performance metric, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, Salesforce, side hustle, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, upwardly mobile, Vanguard fund, work culture , young professional

BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 6 Chapter 6 | Whatever You’re Thinking, Think Bigger “Andrew Yang for Mayor of NYC—Forward New York,” Yang for New York, accessed Feb. 4, 2021, www.yangforny.com. BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 1 David Baboolall et al., “Automation and the Future of the African American Workforce,” McKinsey & Company, April 22, 2019, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/automation-and-the-future-of-the-african-american-workforce. BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 2 Andrew Perrin, “One-in-Five Americans Now Listen to Audiobooks,” Pew Research Center, May 30, 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/25/one-in-five-americans-now-listen-to-audiobooks.


pages: 215 words: 69,370

Still Broke: Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism by Rick Wartzman

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, An Inconvenient Truth, basic income, Bernie Sanders, call centre, collective bargaining, coronavirus, COVID-19, cryptocurrency, data science, Donald Trump, employer provided health coverage, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, George Floyd, illegal immigration, immigration reform, income inequality, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, low skilled workers, Marc Benioff, old-boy network, race to the bottom, RAND corporation, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, shareholder value, supply-chain management, TikTok, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, union organizing, universal basic income, War on Poverty, warehouse robotics, We are the 99%, women in the workforce, working poor

“Companies like Walmart… have the means—and the moral imperative—to provide higher hourly hazard pay and raise wages permanently,” she wrote in December 2020. Yet in a former position, when she was raising money directly from Walmart, it would have been trickier to be so outspoken. The study she was leading, which delved into what technological disruption portended for the future of work and workers, was being underwritten by Walmart. “It’s subtle,” Kinder said. “It was not that anyone told me not to do it. I just found myself less willing to say the stuff that I should have been saying.” As for myself, I can simply attest that I went into my examination of Walmart the same way I’ve always sized up a subject: with an open mind and a penchant for discerning the gray in things.


In the Age of the Smart Machine by Shoshana Zuboff

affirmative action, American ideology, blue-collar work, collective bargaining, computer age, Computer Numeric Control, conceptual framework, data acquisition, demand response, deskilling, factory automation, Ford paid five dollars a day, fudge factor, future of work, industrial robot, information retrieval, interchangeable parts, job automation, lateral thinking, linked data, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, old-boy network, optical character recognition, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, pneumatic tube, post-industrial society, radical decentralization, RAND corporation, scientific management, Shoshana Zuboff, social web, systems thinking, tacit knowledge, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, union organizing, vertical integration, work culture , zero-sum game

fi." t ve" o paa e IN THE AGE OF THE SMART MACHINE The Future of Work and Power SHOSHANA ZUBOFF BASIC BOOKS, INC., PUBLISHERS NEW YORK "Home" reprinted by permission; @ 1984 John Witte. Originally in The New Yorker. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zuboff, Shoshana, 1 95 1- In the age of the smart machine. Includes index. 1. Automation-Economic aspects. 2. Automation-Social aspects. 3. Machinery in industry. 4. Organizational effectiveness. I. Title. HD45.2.Z83 1988 338'.06 87-47777 ISBN 0-465-03212-5 Copyright @ 1988 by Basic Books, Inc. Printed in the United States of America 88 89 90 91 HC 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 To Bob, Who hears the world's heart And has taught me much about how to listen.

Do these visions of the future represent the price of economic success or might they signal an industrial legacy that must be overcome if intelligent technology is to yield its full value? Will the new information technology represent an opportunity for the rejuvena- tion of competitiveness, productive vitality, and organizational ingenu- ity? Which aspects of the future of working life can we predict, and which will depend upon the choices we make today? The workers outside the Star Trek Suite knew that the so-called techno- logical choices we face are really much more than that. Their consternation puts us on alert. There is a world to be lost and a world to be gained.


pages: 586 words: 186,548

Architects of Intelligence by Martin Ford

3D printing, agricultural Revolution, AI winter, algorithmic bias, Alignment Problem, AlphaGo, Apple II, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, barriers to entry, basic income, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, Bayesian statistics, Big Tech, bitcoin, Boeing 747, Boston Dynamics, business intelligence, business process, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, cloud computing, cognitive bias, Colonization of Mars, computer vision, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, correlation does not imply causation, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, DARPA: Urban Challenge, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, deskilling, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, Douglas Hofstadter, driverless car, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ernest Rutherford, fake news, Fellow of the Royal Society, Flash crash, future of work, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, gig economy, Google X / Alphabet X, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Hans Moravec, Hans Rosling, hype cycle, ImageNet competition, income inequality, industrial research laboratory, industrial robot, information retrieval, job automation, John von Neumann, Large Hadron Collider, Law of Accelerating Returns, life extension, Loebner Prize, machine translation, Mark Zuckerberg, Mars Rover, means of production, Mitch Kapor, Mustafa Suleyman, natural language processing, new economy, Nick Bostrom, OpenAI, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, optical character recognition, paperclip maximiser, pattern recognition, phenotype, Productivity paradox, radical life extension, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, Robert Gordon, Rodney Brooks, Sam Altman, self-driving car, seminal paper, sensor fusion, sentiment analysis, Silicon Valley, smart cities, social intelligence, sparse data, speech recognition, statistical model, stealth mode startup, stem cell, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Pinker, strong AI, superintelligent machines, synthetic biology, systems thinking, Ted Kaczynski, TED Talk, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, theory of mind, Thomas Bayes, Travis Kalanick, Turing test, universal basic income, Wall-E, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, women in the workforce, working-age population, workplace surveillance , zero-sum game, Zipcar

We can get them to the point where they can imagine anything and make it happen, and they will have the tools to make it happen. More importantly, by the time they finish high school, these students will have the technical skills that will be required in the future, and they will be exposed to a different way of learning that will enable them to help themselves for the future. The final thing I want to say about the future of work is that our attitude toward learning will also have to change. Today, we operate with a sequential model of learning and working. What I mean by this is that most people spend some chunk of their lives studying and at some point, they say, “OK, we’re done studying, now we’re going to start working.”

I think it would be fair to say that most of us who work for a living in the socio-economic bracket that you and I live in, where we’re writers, scientists, or technologists, would find that if we went back thousands of years in human history, they would say “That’s not work, that’s just playing! If you’re not laboring in the fields from dawn till dusk, you’re not actually working.” So, we don’t know what the future of work is going to be like. Just because it might change fundamentally, it doesn’t mean that the idea that you would spend eight hours a day doing something economically valuable goes away. Whether we’re going to have to have some kind of universal basic income, or just see the economy working in a different way, I don’t know about that, and I’m certainly no expert on that, but I think that AI researchers should be part of that conversation.


pages: 652 words: 172,428

Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order by Colin Kahl, Thomas Wright

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 2021 United States Capitol attack, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, biodiversity loss, Black Lives Matter, Boris Johnson, British Empire, Carmen Reinhart, centre right, Charles Lindbergh, circular economy, citizen journalism, clean water, collapse of Lehman Brothers, colonial rule, contact tracing, contact tracing app, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, cuban missile crisis, deglobalization, digital rights, disinformation, Donald Trump, drone strike, eurozone crisis, failed state, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, fear of failure, future of work, George Floyd, German hyperinflation, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, global supply chain, global value chain, income inequality, industrial robot, informal economy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, it's over 9,000, job automation, junk bonds, Kibera, lab leak, liberal world order, lockdown, low interest rates, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, megacity, mobile money, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, one-China policy, open borders, open economy, Paris climate accords, public intellectual, Ronald Reagan, social distancing, South China Sea, spice trade, statistical model, subprime mortgage crisis, W. E. B. Du Bois, World Values Survey, zoonotic diseases

Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey,” December 2020, https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea04.htm; “COVID-19 Is Affecting Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Other People of Color the Most,” COVID-19 Racial Data Tracker, https://covidtracking.com/race, accessed March 13, 2021.   43.  Sven Smit et al., “The Future of Work in Europe: Automation, Workforce Transitions, and the Shifting Geography of Employment,” McKinsey Global Institute, 2020, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/Future%20of%20Organizations/The%20future%20of%20work%20in%20Europe/MGI-The-future-of-work-in-Europe-discussion-paper.pdf.   44.  Khadeeja Safdar, “Nike’s Sales Bounce Back from Coronavirus Slide,” Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/nikes-sales-bounce-back-from-coronavirus-slide-11600809973.   45.  


pages: 300 words: 76,638

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang

3D printing, Airbnb, assortative mating, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bear Stearns, behavioural economics, Ben Horowitz, Bernie Sanders, call centre, corporate governance, cryptocurrency, data science, David Brooks, DeepMind, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, falling living standards, financial deregulation, financial engineering, full employment, future of work, global reserve currency, income inequality, Internet of things, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Khan Academy, labor-force participation, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, megacity, meritocracy, Narrative Science, new economy, passive income, performance metric, post-work, quantitative easing, reserve currency, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, robo advisor, Ronald Reagan, Rutger Bregman, Sam Altman, San Francisco homelessness, self-driving car, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, single-payer health, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, supercomputer in your pocket, tech worker, technoutopianism, telemarketer, The future is already here, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, traumatic brain injury, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, unemployed young men, universal basic income, urban renewal, warehouse robotics, white flight, winner-take-all economy, Y Combinator

One declining Memphis-area mall reported 890 crime incidents…: Hayley Peterson, “Dying Shopping Malls Are Wreaking Havoc on Suburban America,” Business Insider, March 5, 2017. … the plight of towns in upstate New York… offering some unrealistic solutions: Louis Hyman, “The Myth of Main Street,” New York Times, April 8, 2017. On average, sellers’ income from Etsy contributes only 13 percent to their household income…: “Crafting the Future of Work: The Big Impact of Microbusinesses.” 2017 Seller census report. Etsy.com, 2017. McDonald’s just announced an “Experience of the Future” initiative: Tae Kim, “McDonald’s Hits All-Time High as Wall Street Cheers Replacement of Cashiers with Kiosks,” CNBC, June 20, 2017. The former CEO of McDonald’s suggested…: Tim Worstall, “McDonald’s Ex-CEO Is Right When He Says A $15 Minimum Wage Would Lead to Automation,” Forbes, May 26, 2016


pages: 477 words: 75,408

The Economic Singularity: Artificial Intelligence and the Death of Capitalism by Calum Chace

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, agricultural Revolution, AI winter, Airbnb, AlphaGo, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Robotics, Andy Rubin, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, banking crisis, basic income, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, bitcoin, blockchain, Boston Dynamics, bread and circuses, call centre, Chris Urmson, congestion charging, credit crunch, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, digital divide, Douglas Engelbart, Dr. Strangelove, driverless car, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Fairchild Semiconductor, Flynn Effect, full employment, future of work, Future Shock, gender pay gap, Geoffrey Hinton, gig economy, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Hans Moravec, Herman Kahn, hype cycle, ImageNet competition, income inequality, industrial robot, Internet of things, invention of the telephone, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, John von Neumann, Kevin Kelly, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, lifelogging, lump of labour, Lyft, machine translation, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, McJob, means of production, Milgram experiment, Narrative Science, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, new economy, Nick Bostrom, Occupy movement, Oculus Rift, OpenAI, PageRank, pattern recognition, post scarcity, post-industrial society, post-work, precariat, prediction markets, QWERTY keyboard, railway mania, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, RFID, Rodney Brooks, Sam Altman, Satoshi Nakamoto, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Skype, SoftBank, software is eating the world, speech recognition, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, TaskRabbit, technological singularity, TED Talk, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, Thomas Malthus, transaction costs, Two Sigma, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, Vernor Vinge, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, working-age population, Y Combinator, young professional

He illustrated the case by pointing out that machines have been grading multiple choice examinations for years, but they are now moving on to essays and unstructured text. The Millennium Project The Millennium Project was established in 1996 by a coalition of UN organisations and US academic research bodies. Its “2015-16 State of the Future” contained a section on the future of work based on a poll of 300 experts from around the world. Although they mostly thought that technology would impact employment significantly, their collective estimates for long-term unemployment were relatively conservative. They expected global unemployment to reach only 16% in 2030, and just 24% in 2050.


pages: 260 words: 76,223

Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It. by Mitch Joel

3D printing, Amazon Web Services, augmented reality, behavioural economics, call centre, clockwatching, cloud computing, content marketing, digital nomad, do what you love, Firefox, future of work, gamification, ghettoisation, Google Chrome, Google Glasses, Google Hangouts, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, Kodak vs Instagram, Lean Startup, Marc Andreessen, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, Network effects, new economy, Occupy movement, place-making, prediction markets, pre–internet, QR code, recommendation engine, Richard Florida, risk tolerance, Salesforce, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, social graph, social web, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, TechCrunch disrupt, TED Talk, the long tail, Thomas L Friedman, Tim Cook: Apple, Tony Hsieh, vertical integration, white picket fence, WikiLeaks, zero-sum game

We now have physical locations that look very different; a connectivity through mobile devices that allows us to work anywhere and everywhere; and platforms to keep us intimately closer to our team members and the projects that are being worked on and to provide us with an overall bird’s-eye view of what’s happening within the organization. The physical and digital realms begin to gel and morph. THE FUTURE OF WORK AND SPACE. In April 2008, The Economist ran an article titled “The New Oases,” which looked at how our newfound mobility was in the process of redefining and changing our physical work spaces: In the 20th century architecture was about specialized structures—offices for working, cafeterias for eating, and so forth.


pages: 271 words: 77,448

Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will by Geoff Colvin

Ada Lovelace, autonomous vehicles, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, behavioural economics, Black Swan, call centre, capital asset pricing model, commoditize, computer age, corporate governance, creative destruction, deskilling, driverless car, en.wikipedia.org, flying shuttle, Freestyle chess, future of work, Google Glasses, Grace Hopper, Hans Moravec, industrial cluster, industrial robot, interchangeable parts, job automation, knowledge worker, low skilled workers, Marc Andreessen, meta-analysis, Narrative Science, new economy, rising living standards, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, Silicon Valley, Skype, social intelligence, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Steven Pinker, theory of mind, Tim Cook: Apple, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen

Oxford Economics, Global Talent 2021: How the New Geography of Talent Will Transform Human Resource Strategies, 2012, p. 6. The biggest increases by far . . . http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/03/20/149015363/what-america-does-for-work. The McKinsey Global Institute found . . . McKinsey Global Institute, Help Wanted: The Future of Work in Advanced Economies, 2012, p. 2. Harvard professor William H. Bossert, a legendary figure . . . I was a student in Bossert’s class, Natural Sciences 110, and describe it from still-vivid memory. The phenomenon has been explained most persuasively . . . Goldin and Katz, op. cit.(chap. 2, n. 17), p. 2.


pages: 238 words: 73,824

Makers by Chris Anderson

3D printing, Airbnb, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, Apple II, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Buckminster Fuller, Build a better mousetrap, business process, carbon tax, commoditize, company town, Computer Numeric Control, crowdsourcing, dark matter, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deal flow, death of newspapers, dematerialisation, digital capitalism, DIY culture, drop ship, Elon Musk, factory automation, Firefox, Ford Model T, future of work, global supply chain, global village, hockey-stick growth, hype cycle, IKEA effect, industrial robot, interchangeable parts, Internet of things, inventory management, James Hargreaves, James Watt: steam engine, Jeff Bezos, job automation, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, Lean Startup, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, Menlo Park, Neal Stephenson, Network effects, planned obsolescence, private spaceflight, profit maximization, QR code, race to the bottom, Richard Feynman, Ronald Coase, Rubik’s Cube, Scaled Composites, self-driving car, Sheryl Sandberg, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, slashdot, South of Market, San Francisco, SpaceShipOne, spinning jenny, Startup school, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, supply-chain management, the long tail, The Nature of the Firm, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, TikTok, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, trickle-down economics, vertical integration, Virgin Galactic, Whole Earth Catalog, X Prize, Y Combinator

Maryam Alavi, vice-dean of Emery University’s Goizueta Business School, argues that the only way firms can continue to have lower transaction costs than the open market is if they become more complex internally in order to respond to the increasingly complex external market. In the Aspen Institute’s “The Future of Work,” she explained that this was due to the “law of requisite variety” in systems theory, and she argued that a system must be as complex as the environment it is working within: “There are parts of the organization that are going to become more hierarchical because of the uncertainties that they deal with or don’t deal with.


pages: 286 words: 79,305

99%: Mass Impoverishment and How We Can End It by Mark Thomas

"there is no alternative" (TINA), "World Economic Forum" Davos, 2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, additive manufacturing, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, anti-communist, autonomous vehicles, bank run, banks create money, behavioural economics, bitcoin, business cycle, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, central bank independence, circular economy, complexity theory, conceptual framework, creative destruction, credit crunch, CRISPR, declining real wages, distributed ledger, Donald Trump, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, eurozone crisis, fake news, fiat currency, Filter Bubble, full employment, future of work, Gini coefficient, gravity well, income inequality, inflation targeting, Internet of things, invisible hand, ITER tokamak, Jeff Bezos, jimmy wales, job automation, Kickstarter, labour market flexibility, laissez-faire capitalism, Larry Ellison, light touch regulation, Mark Zuckerberg, market clearing, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, Modern Monetary Theory, Money creation, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, Nelson Mandela, Nick Bostrom, North Sea oil, Occupy movement, offshore financial centre, Own Your Own Home, Peter Thiel, Piper Alpha, plutocrats, post-truth, profit maximization, quantitative easing, rent-seeking, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, smart cities, Steve Jobs, The Great Moderation, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tyler Cowen, warehouse automation, wealth creators, working-age population

I am particularly grateful to Facundo Alvaredo, Anthony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez for permission to cite their ground-breaking work on the World Top Incomes Database (now replaced by the World Inequality Database); Nick Balstone for his geographically accurate map of the London tube system; Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Greg Duncan for their painstaking study into the practical impact of poverty on children; the Centre for Research in Social Policy for its calculations on the minimum income required for a normal life; Christopher Chantril for his data on UK public spending; Credit Suisse for their international survey of wealth; Forbes Magazine for their list of the world’s richest; Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne for their pioneering work on the future of work in the face of automation; Amy T. Glasmeier and her team for their minimum income calculator; Ipsos MORI for data on attitudes to climate change around the world; Payscale.com for data on pay by skill set; Thomas Piketty for data showing that returns on capital increase with the size of the initial endowment; Robert C.


pages: 292 words: 76,185

Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One by Jenny Blake

Airbnb, Albert Einstein, Cal Newport, cloud computing, content marketing, data is the new oil, diversified portfolio, do what you love, East Village, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, fear of failure, future of work, high net worth, Jeff Bezos, job-hopping, Kevin Kelly, Khan Academy, knowledge worker, Lao Tzu, Lean Startup, minimum viable product, Nate Silver, passive income, Ralph Waldo Emerson, risk tolerance, Second Machine Age, sharing economy, side hustle, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, Snapchat, software as a service, solopreneur, Startup school, stem cell, TED Talk, too big to fail, Tyler Cowen, white picket fence, young professional, zero-sum game

average tenure drops to three years: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employee Tenure in 2014,” September 18, 2014, www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/tenure.pdf. either “not engaged”: Barry Schwartz, “Rethinking Work,” New York Times, August 28, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/opinion/sunday/rethinking-work.html. project-based economy: Adam Davidson, “What Hollywood Can Teach Us About the Future of Work,” New York Times Magazine, May 15, 2015. defines a business pivot: Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (New York: Crown Business, 2011). program still cited as one of the benefits: (a) Fortune, “25 Best Global Companies to Work For,” Fortune.com, November 14, 2012, http://fortune.com/2012/11/14/25-best-global-companies-to-work-for/.


pages: 240 words: 78,436

Open for Business Harnessing the Power of Platform Ecosystems by Lauren Turner Claire, Laure Claire Reillier, Benoit Reillier

Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Web Services, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, benefit corporation, Blitzscaling, blockchain, carbon footprint, Chuck Templeton: OpenTable:, cloud computing, collaborative consumption, commoditize, crowdsourcing, data science, deep learning, Diane Coyle, Didi Chuxing, disintermediation, distributed ledger, driverless car, fake news, fulfillment center, future of work, George Akerlof, independent contractor, intangible asset, Internet of things, Jean Tirole, Jeff Bezos, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Lean Startup, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, market design, Metcalfe’s law, minimum viable product, multi-sided market, Network effects, Paradox of Choice, Paul Graham, peer-to-peer lending, performance metric, Peter Thiel, platform as a service, price discrimination, price elasticity of demand, profit motive, ride hailing / ride sharing, Sam Altman, search costs, self-driving car, seminal paper, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Skype, smart contracts, Snapchat, software as a service, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, TaskRabbit, the long tail, The Market for Lemons, Tim Cook: Apple, transaction costs, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, universal basic income, Y Combinator

Society will need to apply judgement and common sense to ensure that the potential negative side effects of these innovative business models are minimized. Platforms are likely to change the way people work, are managed, get paid, share and collaborate, interact with others – humans and ‘robots’ – generate insights from data, and organize themselves to deal with world issues. We discuss these changes in turn in this final chapter. The future of work The way people work and interact with one another in an increasingly platform-based economy will be vastly different from the traditional work relationships of the past. In fact, a recent study1 of all drivers of change affecting our economies by the World Economic Forum singles out ‘the changing nature of work and talent platforms’ as the most important trend.2 Platforms provide a unique degree of flexibility, transparency and trust to their participants.


The Smartphone Society by Nicole Aschoff

"Susan Fowler" uber, 4chan, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Airbnb, algorithmic bias, algorithmic management, Amazon Web Services, artificial general intelligence, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, carbon footprint, Carl Icahn, Cass Sunstein, citizen journalism, cloud computing, correlation does not imply causation, crony capitalism, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, degrowth, Demis Hassabis, deplatforming, deskilling, digital capitalism, digital divide, do what you love, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Evgeny Morozov, fake news, feminist movement, Ferguson, Missouri, Filter Bubble, financial independence, future of work, gamification, gig economy, global value chain, Google Chrome, Google Earth, Googley, green new deal, housing crisis, income inequality, independent contractor, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, Jessica Bruder, job automation, John Perry Barlow, knowledge economy, late capitalism, low interest rates, Lyft, M-Pesa, Mark Zuckerberg, minimum wage unemployment, mobile money, moral panic, move fast and break things, Naomi Klein, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, Nomadland, occupational segregation, Occupy movement, off-the-grid, offshore financial centre, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, PageRank, Patri Friedman, peer-to-peer, Peter Thiel, pets.com, planned obsolescence, quantitative easing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, RFID, Richard Stallman, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rodney Brooks, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, Sidewalk Labs, Silicon Valley, single-payer health, Skype, Snapchat, SoftBank, statistical model, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, tech worker, technological determinism, TED Talk, the scientific method, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, TikTok, transcontinental railway, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, upwardly mobile, Vision Fund, W. E. B. Du Bois, wages for housework, warehouse robotics, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, yottabyte

Intervention (except by a small cadre of “disruptors”), or serious reflection and conversation about the underlying contradictions of our smartphone society, are seen as undesirable or impossible. Not an Implacable Force Perhaps in a bid to calm growing hysteria, well-respected scientists—people actively developing algorithms, robots, and artificial intelligence—have become more emphatic of late in tamping down the hype of Silicon Valley futurism, particularly concerning the future of work. Responding to an article in the business press predicting the takeover of work by robots, Rodney Brooks, the emeritus Panasonic Professor of Robotics at MIT, called the claims “ludicrous.”38 Greg Ip, the Wall Street Journal’s chief economics commentator, characterized reports of the wholesale destruction of jobs by automation and algorithms “baffling and misguided.”


pages: 305 words: 79,303

The Four: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Divided and Conquered the World by Scott Galloway

"Susan Fowler" uber, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, additive manufacturing, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, Apple II, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Ben Horowitz, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, big-box store, Bob Noyce, Brewster Kahle, business intelligence, California gold rush, Cambridge Analytica, cloud computing, Comet Ping Pong, commoditize, cuban missile crisis, David Brooks, Didi Chuxing, digital divide, disintermediation, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, fake news, follow your passion, fulfillment center, future of journalism, future of work, global supply chain, Google Earth, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Hacker Conference 1984, Internet Archive, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, Jony Ive, Khan Academy, Kiva Systems, longitudinal study, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, meta-analysis, Network effects, new economy, obamacare, Oculus Rift, offshore financial centre, passive income, Peter Thiel, profit motive, race to the bottom, RAND corporation, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, Robert Mercer, Robert Shiller, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Snapchat, software is eating the world, speech recognition, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, supercomputer in your pocket, Tesla Model S, the long tail, Tim Cook: Apple, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, undersea cable, vertical integration, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Wayback Machine, Whole Earth Catalog, winner-take-all economy, working poor, you are the product, young professional

Because the inside of an Amazon warehouse is upsetting, even disturbing. Unsafe working conditions? Nope. Abuse of employees as per the New York Times article?89 No. What’s disturbing is the absence of abuse, or more specifically, the absence of people. The reason Jeff Bezos is advocating a guaranteed income for Americans is he has seen the future of work and, at least in his vision, it doesn’t involve jobs for human beings. At least not enough of them to sustain the current workforce. Increasingly, robots will perform many of the functions of human employees, almost as well (and sometimes a lot better), without annoying requests to leave early to pick up their kid from karate.


pages: 280 words: 82,355

Extreme Teams: Why Pixar, Netflix, AirBnB, and Other Cutting-Edge Companies Succeed Where Most Fail by Robert Bruce Shaw, James Foster, Brilliance Audio

Airbnb, augmented reality, benefit corporation, Blitzscaling, call centre, cloud computing, data science, deliberate practice, Elon Musk, emotional labour, financial engineering, future of work, holacracy, inventory management, Jeff Bezos, job satisfaction, Jony Ive, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, loose coupling, meta-analysis, nuclear winter, Paul Graham, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer model, performance metric, Peter Thiel, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, social intelligence, SoftBank, Steve Jobs, TED Talk, Tony Fadell, Tony Hsieh, work culture

But as Bill McLawhon, head of leadership development at Facebook, said to me: As a 56-year-old guy, I went through a period where I looked at these young kids and thought, “Wait until you get your butt kicked out in the real world.” But I quickly realized this is the real world. And they’re making it their own. This is the future of work. It doesn’t look much like the world of work where I started. But I’m completely awed by the high-performing individuals I get to coach every day, most of whom are young enough to be my kids.9 Hiring a diversity of age groups is a start. But if you don’t utilize the diverse perspectives of different age groups and instead try to mold them into all of your values, not only will you lose them but you will also lose their insights on what connects with consumers who share values with them.


pages: 307 words: 82,680

A Pelican Introduction: Basic Income by Guy Standing

"World Economic Forum" Davos, anti-fragile, bank run, basic income, behavioural economics, Bernie Sanders, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Black Lives Matter, Black Swan, Boris Johnson, British Empire, carbon tax, centre right, collective bargaining, cryptocurrency, David Graeber, declining real wages, degrowth, deindustrialization, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Fellow of the Royal Society, financial intermediation, full employment, future of work, gig economy, Gunnar Myrdal, housing crisis, hydraulic fracturing, income inequality, independent contractor, intangible asset, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, job satisfaction, Joi Ito, labour market flexibility, land value tax, libertarian paternalism, low skilled workers, lump of labour, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, mass incarceration, moral hazard, Nelson Mandela, nudge theory, offshore financial centre, open economy, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, Paul Samuelson, plutocrats, precariat, quantitative easing, randomized controlled trial, rent control, rent-seeking, Salesforce, Sam Altman, self-driving car, shareholder value, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, Stephen Hawking, The Future of Employment, universal basic income, Wolfgang Streeck, women in the workforce, working poor, Y Combinator, Zipcar

New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 17–38. 3. Those interesting in joining can email: contact@nc4bi.org. 4. A. Stern (2016), Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream. New York: PublicAffairs. 5. N. DuPuis, B. Rainwater and E. Stahl (2016), The Future of Work in Cities. Washington, DC: National League of Cities Center for City Solutions and Applied Research. 6. M. Bittman (2015), ‘Why not Utopia?’, New York Times, Sunday Review, 20 March. 7. H. Koch and J. Quoos (2017), ‘Schwab: “Gewinner müssen mit Verlierern solidarisch sein” ’, Hamburger Abendblatt, 9 January. 8.


pages: 313 words: 84,312

We-Think: Mass Innovation, Not Mass Production by Charles Leadbeater

1960s counterculture, Andrew Keen, barriers to entry, bioinformatics, c2.com, call centre, citizen journalism, clean water, cloud computing, complexity theory, congestion charging, death of newspapers, Debian, digital divide, digital Maoism, disruptive innovation, double helix, Douglas Engelbart, Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse, folksonomy, frictionless, frictionless market, future of work, game design, Garrett Hardin, Google Earth, Google X / Alphabet X, Hacker Ethic, Herbert Marcuse, Hernando de Soto, hive mind, Howard Rheingold, interchangeable parts, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jean Tirole, jimmy wales, Johannes Kepler, John Markoff, John von Neumann, Joi Ito, Kevin Kelly, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, lateral thinking, lone genius, M-Pesa, Mark Shuttleworth, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Menlo Park, microcredit, Mitch Kapor, new economy, Nicholas Carr, online collectivism, Paradox of Choice, planetary scale, post scarcity, public intellectual, Recombinant DNA, Richard Stallman, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, slashdot, social web, software patent, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, supply-chain management, synthetic biology, the Cathedral and the Bazaar, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the long tail, the market place, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Wisdom of Crowds, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, Tragedy of the Commons, Whole Earth Catalog, work culture , Yochai Benkler, Zipcar

Weaving Complexity & Business: Engaging the Soul at Work (New York/London: Texere, 2001) Leydesdorff, Loet, and Peter Van Den Besselaar (Eds), Evolutionary Economics and Chaos Theory: New Directions in Technology Studies (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1994) Loudon, Alexander, Webs of Innovation: The Networked Economy Demands New Ways to Innovate (Harlow: FT.com, 2001) Luthje, Christian, Cornelius Herstatt and Eric von Hippel, ‘The Dominant Role of “Local” Information in User Innovation: The Case of Mountain Biking’, MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper No. 4377–02, July 2002. Available from http://userinnovation.mit.edu/ papers/6.pdf Malone, Thomas W., The Future of Work (Boston, MA: HBS Press, 2004) Markoff, John, What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry (Penguin, 2006) McGonigal, Jane, ‘Why I Love Bees: A Case Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming’, February 2007. Available from http://www.avantgame.com/McGonigal_WhyILoveBees_Feb2007.pdf McKelvey, Maureen, Evolutionary Innovations (Oxford University Press, 2000) Mercer Management Consulting, Audiences with Attitude (Marsh & McLennan Companies) Micklethwait, John, and Adrian Wooldridge, The Company (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003) Miller, Paul, and Paul Skidmore, The Future of Organizations (Demos, 2004) Moody, Glyn, Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution (Penguin, 2002) Moore, Mark H., Creating Public Value (Cambridge, MA/London: Harvard University Press, 1995) Morgan, Gareth, Images of Organization (Sage, 1997) Morris, Dick, Vote.com (Renaissance Books, 1999) Myerson, Jeremy, IDEO: Masters of Innovation (Lawrence King, 2001) Nalebuff, Barry J., and Adam M.


pages: 320 words: 86,372

Mythology of Work: How Capitalism Persists Despite Itself by Peter Fleming

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", 1960s counterculture, anti-work, antiwork, call centre, capitalist realism, carbon tax, clockwatching, commoditize, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, David Graeber, death from overwork, Etonian, future of work, G4S, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, illegal immigration, Kitchen Debate, late capitalism, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, market fundamentalism, means of production, neoliberal agenda, Parkinson's law, post-industrial society, post-work, profit maximization, profit motive, quantitative easing, Results Only Work Environment, scientific management, shareholder value, social intelligence, stock buybacks, The Chicago School, transaction costs, wealth creators, working poor

‘Closed Shop in Elitist Britain, Study Says’. Available at www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/28/closed-shop-deepy-elitist-britain Hamper, B. (1992). Rivethead: Takes from the Assembly Line. New York: Warner Books. Hanlon, G. (2007). ‘HRM Is Redundant? Professions, Immaterial Labor and the Future of Work’. In S.H. Bolton (ed.). Searching for the Human in Human Resource Management: Theory, Practice and Workplace Contexts. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp.263–280. Hardt, M. and Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Hart, A. (2014). ‘Why Everyone’s Started Clockwatching’.


pages: 791 words: 85,159

Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown, Paul Duguid

Alvin Toffler, business process, Charles Babbage, Claude Shannon: information theory, computer age, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, cross-subsidies, disintermediation, double entry bookkeeping, Frank Gehry, frictionless, frictionless market, future of work, George Gilder, George Santayana, global village, Goodhart's law, Howard Rheingold, informal economy, information retrieval, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, junk bonds, Just-in-time delivery, Kenneth Arrow, Kevin Kelly, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, lateral thinking, loose coupling, Marshall McLuhan, medical malpractice, Michael Milken, moral hazard, Network effects, new economy, Productivity paradox, Robert Metcalfe, rolodex, Ronald Coase, scientific management, shareholder value, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs, Superbowl ad, tacit knowledge, Ted Nelson, telepresence, the medium is the message, The Nature of the Firm, the strength of weak ties, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, transaction costs, Turing test, Vannevar Bush, Y2K

Control through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press. Ziman, John M. 1967. Public Knowledge: An Essay Concerning the Social Dimension of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zuboff, Shoshona. 1988. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books. Page 307 Index A A.B. Dick, 159 Aetna, 175 Age of the Smart Machine, 30 Alexa.com, 188 Amazon.com, 148 acquisitions activities of, 25 bot use on, 37, 44, 45, 47 48 American Airlines, 45 American Notes, 195 Anderson, Benedict, 194, 197 AOL, acquisitions activities of, 25, 26 Apple Computer, 70, 87 innovativeness of, 159 160 relations with PARC, 151, 157, 163, 166 structure of, 154 AT&T, 178 downsizing by, 122 reengineering of, 92 relations with Microsoft, 25, 28 Attewell, Paul, 29 Autonomous agents, 36 37 and delegation, 53 54 negotiation and, 48 52 and representation, 54 56 strengths and limitations of, 41 56 unethical use of, 56 59 See also Bots B Babbage, Charles, 86 Barlow, John Perry, 66, 198 Barnard, Chester, 114 Barnes & Noble, 148 Bateson, Gregory, 138 Being Digital, 15 Bell, Alexander Graham, 87 88 Bell, Gordon, 11 Berkeley, University of California at, 228 Bots (autonomous agents), 36 37 and delegation, 53 54 future of, 39 41, 61 62 negotiation and, 48 52 as representative, 54 56 strengths and limitations of, 41 56 unethical use of, 56 59 Page 308 Boyle, Robert, 191 British Telecom, and home office, 98 99 Bruner, Jerome, 128, 135, 138, 153 Burg, Urs von, 166 Bush, Vannevar, 179 180 Business processes formal versus informal, 113 115 improvisation in, 109 111 reengineering of, 91 93, 97 99 C Cameron, Stephen, 223 Cancelbots, 58 Canon, 157 Carlson, Chester, 159, 161 CDNow, bot use on, 37, 44 Champy, James, 92, 107, 111, 144 Chandler, Alfred, 161 Chaparral Steel, 123 Chatterbots, 36 Chaum, David, 60 Chiat, Jay, 71 Chiat/Day, 70 73, 75, 82 Chrysler Financial, technology costs at, 82 Claims processing, 96 Clustering, 161 164 and distance, 167 170 and ecologies of knowledge, 165 167 economic effects of, 164 165 Coase, Ronald, 23 24 Code of code, 249 Cole, Robert, 123 Common Sense, 195 Communities formed around Internet, 189 190 of practice, 141, 142 143, 162 scientific, 191 192 support of knowledge management, 125 127 textual, 190 Competition, changes in, 208 209 Conduit metaphors, 184 Constraints, complexities of, 244 245 Context, 202 Control Data Systems, 212 Copyright law, 248 software issues and, 249 250 Covidea (AT&T), 178 Credentialing, 214 215 bogus, 216 future of, 215 216, 234 235 meaning of, 217 221 Customization, 26 D Daniel, Sir John, 25, 223 Databases, versus documents, 186 Davenport, Tom, 122, 198 David, Paul, 83 de Long, Brad, 46, 52 Decentralization, 29 30 Dee, John, 211 Defoe, Daniel, 139 Degrees.


pages: 291 words: 81,703

Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation by Tyler Cowen

Amazon Mechanical Turk, behavioural economics, Black Swan, brain emulation, Brownian motion, business cycle, Cass Sunstein, Charles Babbage, choice architecture, complexity theory, computer age, computer vision, computerized trading, cosmological constant, crowdsourcing, dark matter, David Brooks, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deliberate practice, driverless car, Drosophila, en.wikipedia.org, endowment effect, epigenetics, Erik Brynjolfsson, eurozone crisis, experimental economics, Flynn Effect, Freestyle chess, full employment, future of work, game design, Higgs boson, income inequality, industrial robot, informal economy, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, John Markoff, Ken Thompson, Khan Academy, labor-force participation, Loebner Prize, low interest rates, low skilled workers, machine readable, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, meta-analysis, microcredit, Myron Scholes, Narrative Science, Netflix Prize, Nicholas Carr, off-the-grid, P = NP, P vs NP, pattern recognition, Peter Thiel, randomized controlled trial, Ray Kurzweil, reshoring, Richard Florida, Richard Thaler, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, Skype, statistical model, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Turing test, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, upwardly mobile, Yogi Berra

What is happening is an increase in the ability of machines to substitute for intelligent human labor, whether we wish to call those machines “AI,” “software,” “smart phones,” “superior hardware and storage,” “better integrated systems,” or any combination of the above. This is the wave that will lift you or that will dump you. The fascination with technology and the future of work has inspired some important writings, including Martin Ford’s classic The Lights in the Tunnel, the more recent and excellent eBook Race Against the Machine by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, and Ray Kurzweil’s futuristic work on how humans will meld with technology. Debates about mechanization periodically resurface, most prominently in the 1930s and in the 1960s but now once again in our new millennium.


pages: 361 words: 81,068

The Internet Is Not the Answer by Andrew Keen

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Airbnb, AltaVista, Andrew Keen, AOL-Time Warner, augmented reality, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Berlin Wall, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Swan, Bob Geldof, Boston Dynamics, Burning Man, Cass Sunstein, Charles Babbage, citizen journalism, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cloud computing, collective bargaining, Colonization of Mars, computer age, connected car, creative destruction, cuban missile crisis, data science, David Brooks, decentralized internet, DeepMind, digital capitalism, disintermediation, disruptive innovation, Donald Davies, Downton Abbey, Dr. Strangelove, driverless car, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, fail fast, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Filter Bubble, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Frank Gehry, Frederick Winslow Taylor, frictionless, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, gentrification, gig economy, global village, Google bus, Google Glasses, Hacker Ethic, happiness index / gross national happiness, holacracy, income inequality, index card, informal economy, information trail, Innovator's Dilemma, Internet of things, Isaac Newton, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Perry Barlow, Joi Ito, Joseph Schumpeter, Julian Assange, Kevin Kelly, Kevin Roose, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, Kodak vs Instagram, Lean Startup, libertarian paternalism, lifelogging, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Martin Wolf, Mary Meeker, Metcalfe’s law, military-industrial complex, move fast and break things, Nate Silver, Neil Armstrong, Nelson Mandela, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, nonsequential writing, Norbert Wiener, Norman Mailer, Occupy movement, packet switching, PageRank, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, Patri Friedman, Paul Graham, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer rental, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, Potemkin village, power law, precariat, pre–internet, printed gun, Project Xanadu, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, reality distortion field, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Metcalfe, Robert Solow, San Francisco homelessness, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley ideology, Skype, smart cities, Snapchat, social web, South of Market, San Francisco, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, subscription business, TaskRabbit, tech bro, tech worker, TechCrunch disrupt, Ted Nelson, telemarketer, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, the long tail, the medium is the message, the new new thing, Thomas L Friedman, Travis Kalanick, Twitter Arab Spring, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Uber for X, uber lyft, urban planning, Vannevar Bush, warehouse robotics, Whole Earth Catalog, WikiLeaks, winner-take-all economy, work culture , working poor, Y Combinator

Harris, “The Airbnb Economy in New York: Lucrative but Often Unlawful,” New York Times, November 4, 2013. 16 Alexia Tsotsis, “TaskRabbit Gets $13M from Founders Fund and Others to ‘Revolutionize the World’s Labor Force,’” TechCrunch, July 23, 2012. 17 Brad Stone, “My Life as a TaskRabbit,” Bloomberg Businessweek, September 13, 2012. 18 Sarah Jaffe, “Silicon Valley’s Gig Economy Is Not the Future of Work—It’s Driving Down Wages,” Guardian, July 23, 2014. 19 Guy Standing, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (Bloomsbury Academic, 2001). 20 Natasha Singer, “In the Sharing Economy, Workers Find Both Freedom and Uncertainty,” New York Times, August 16, 2014. 21 George Packer, “Change the World,” New Yorker, May 27, 2013, newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/27/130527fa_fact_packer.


pages: 308 words: 84,713

The Glass Cage: Automation and Us by Nicholas Carr

Airbnb, Airbus A320, Andy Kessler, Atul Gawande, autonomous vehicles, Bernard Ziegler, business process, call centre, Captain Sullenberger Hudson, Charles Lindbergh, Checklist Manifesto, cloud computing, cognitive load, computerized trading, David Brooks, deep learning, deliberate practice, deskilling, digital map, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, drone strike, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, Flash crash, Frank Gehry, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane: The New Division of Labor, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, gamification, global supply chain, Google Glasses, Google Hangouts, High speed trading, human-factors engineering, indoor plumbing, industrial robot, Internet of things, Ivan Sutherland, Jacquard loom, James Watt: steam engine, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Kevin Kelly, knowledge worker, low interest rates, Lyft, machine readable, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, natural language processing, new economy, Nicholas Carr, Norbert Wiener, Oculus Rift, pattern recognition, Peter Thiel, place-making, plutocrats, profit motive, Ralph Waldo Emerson, RAND corporation, randomized controlled trial, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, robot derives from the Czech word robota Czech, meaning slave, scientific management, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, software is eating the world, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, systems thinking, tacit knowledge, TaskRabbit, technological determinism, technological solutionism, technoutopianism, TED Talk, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, turn-by-turn navigation, Tyler Cowen, US Airways Flight 1549, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, William Langewiesche

., Manufacturing Output, Productivity and Employment Implications (New York: Nova Science, 2005); and Judith Banister and George Cook, “China’s Employment and Compensation Costs in Manufacturing through 2008,” Monthly Labor Review, March 2011. 32.Tyler Cowen, “What Export-Oriented America Means,” American Interest, May/June 2012. 33.Robert Skidelsky, “The Rise of the Robots,” Project Syndicate, February 19, 2013, project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-future-of-work-in-a-world-of-automation-by-robert-skidelsky. 34.Ibid. 35.Chrystia Freeland, “China, Technology and the U.S. Middle Class,” Financial Times, February 15, 2013. 36.Paul Krugman, “Is Growth Over?,” The Conscience of a Liberal (blog), New York Times, December 26, 2012, krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/is-growth-over/. 37.James R.


pages: 291 words: 90,771

Upscale: What It Takes to Scale a Startup. By the People Who've Done It. by James Silver

Airbnb, augmented reality, Ben Horowitz, Big Tech, blockchain, business process, call centre, credit crunch, crowdsourcing, data science, DeepMind, DevOps, family office, flag carrier, fulfillment center, future of work, Google Hangouts, growth hacking, high net worth, hiring and firing, imposter syndrome, Jeff Bezos, Kickstarter, Lean Startup, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, minimum viable product, Network effects, pattern recognition, reality distortion field, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, Silicon Valley, Skype, Snapchat, software as a service, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, WeWork, women in the workforce, Y Combinator

The same applies to communications strategy. Instead of voicing opinions on subjects which are unrelated to your business, ask yourself what the topics are that are most relevant for you. And double down on them. Say you’re a workplace tech company, and you want to talk about a ‘big picture’ area such as the future of work. Spend time figuring out what the major trends are that you want to be associated with in the space - and the more genuinely fresh and interesting you can make your viewpoint, the more traction you will have. As you start to own some of those talking points, you can deploy them, not just on social media but in any earned media coverage, in speeches and at events.


pages: 308 words: 85,880

How to Fix the Future: Staying Human in the Digital Age by Andrew Keen

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 23andMe, Ada Lovelace, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, AlphaGo, Andrew Keen, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Swan, blockchain, Brewster Kahle, British Empire, carbon tax, Charles Babbage, computer age, Cornelius Vanderbilt, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, data is the new oil, death from overwork, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, Didi Chuxing, digital capitalism, digital map, digital rights, disinformation, don't be evil, Donald Trump, driverless car, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, European colonialism, fake news, Filter Bubble, Firefox, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, gig economy, global village, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, Internet Archive, Internet of things, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, jimmy wales, job automation, Joi Ito, Kevin Kelly, knowledge economy, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Menlo Park, Mitch Kapor, move fast and break things, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, Norbert Wiener, OpenAI, Parag Khanna, peer-to-peer, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, post-truth, postindustrial economy, precariat, Ralph Nader, Ray Kurzweil, Recombinant DNA, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rutger Bregman, Salesforce, Sam Altman, Sand Hill Road, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart cities, Snapchat, social graph, software is eating the world, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, subscription business, surveillance capitalism, Susan Wojcicki, tech baron, tech billionaire, tech worker, technological determinism, technoutopianism, The Future of Employment, the High Line, the new new thing, Thomas L Friedman, Tim Cook: Apple, Travis Kalanick, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, Unsafe at Any Speed, Upton Sinclair, urban planning, WikiLeaks, winner-take-all economy, Y Combinator, Yogi Berra, Zipcar

A few days before the “Encrypted and Decentralized” event at the Alte Teppichfabrik, for example, I participated in a lunch discussion in Berlin that was unappetizingly called “Toward a Human-Centered Data Revolution.” The month before, I’d spoken at Oxford about “The True Human,” in Vienna about “Reclaiming Our Humanity,” and in London about why “The Future of Work Is Human.” Klaus Schwab, the Swiss founder of the World Economic Forum, exemplifies this preoccupation with a new humanism. It “all comes down to people and values,” he explains about the impact of digital technology on jobs,22 which is why we need what he calls “a human narrative” to fix its problems.23 To write a human narrative in today’s age of smart machines requires a definition of what it means to be human.


pages: 289 words: 86,165

Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria

"there is no alternative" (TINA), 15-minute city, AlphaGo, An Inconvenient Truth, anti-fragile, Asian financial crisis, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Boris Johnson, butterfly effect, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, car-free, carbon tax, central bank independence, clean water, cloud computing, colonial rule, contact tracing, coronavirus, COVID-19, Credit Default Swap, David Graeber, Day of the Dead, deep learning, DeepMind, deglobalization, Demis Hassabis, Deng Xiaoping, digital divide, Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump, Edward Glaeser, Edward Jenner, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, failed state, financial engineering, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, gentrification, George Floyd, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, global reserve currency, global supply chain, green new deal, hiring and firing, housing crisis, imperial preference, income inequality, Indoor air pollution, invention of the wheel, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Snow's cholera map, junk bonds, lockdown, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, manufacturing employment, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, means of production, megacity, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, middle-income trap, Monroe Doctrine, Nate Silver, Nick Bostrom, oil shock, open borders, out of africa, Parag Khanna, Paris climate accords, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, popular capitalism, Productivity paradox, purchasing power parity, remote working, reserve currency, reshoring, restrictive zoning, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, secular stagnation, Silicon Valley, social distancing, software is eating the world, South China Sea, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steven Pinker, Suez crisis 1956, TED Talk, the built environment, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, Tim Cook: Apple, trade route, UNCLOS, universal basic income, urban planning, Washington Consensus, white flight, Works Progress Administration, zoonotic diseases

All in the stew. Soon enough, most of us would have to think again what our lives were for. Not work. Such prospects seem closer than ever amid the pandemic. (Even McEwan’s prediction about poets is coming true: computer scientists are developing algorithms that can write literature.) Discussions about the “future of work” should recognize that the future is already with us. Philosophers used to theorize about how to keep people afloat once technology replaced a critical mass of jobs. Now, Covid-19 has forced countries to experiment with some kind of near-universal basic income. In the United States, this idea went mainstream in a matter of months—no longer just the quixotic quest of the underdog presidential candidate Andrew Yang but a proposal that, in a temporary form, was passed by Congress to stave off economic disaster.


pages: 627 words: 89,295

The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy by Katherine M. Gehl, Michael E. Porter

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, barriers to entry, business cycle, capital controls, carbon footprint, collective bargaining, coronavirus, COVID-19, David Brooks, deindustrialization, disintermediation, Donald Trump, first-past-the-post, future of work, guest worker program, hiring and firing, Ida Tarbell, illegal immigration, immigration reform, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, Menlo Park, military-industrial complex, Multics, new economy, obamacare, pension reform, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Upton Sinclair, zero-sum game

Just as these changes create possibilities for new companies, they also destabilize communities and companies alike. Industrialization has given way to deindustrialization. Rather than the displacement of farmers and the creation of large-scale national companies by mechanization, automation creates concerns about where jobs will come from and the future of work. As new technology and skills grow in importance, economic gains have disproportionately flowed to the top, again fueling rightful fears of runaway inequality. Many citizens today are left to wonder whether there is a place for them in the economy of tomorrow. Instead of the nationalization of competition that took place during the Gilded Age, we now have globalization.


pages: 295 words: 81,861

Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation by Paris Marx

2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Airbnb, An Inconvenient Truth, autonomous vehicles, back-to-the-land, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, bike sharing, Californian Ideology, car-free, carbon credits, carbon footprint, cashless society, clean tech, cloud computing, colonial exploitation, computer vision, congestion pricing, corporate governance, correlation does not imply causation, COVID-19, DARPA: Urban Challenge, David Graeber, deep learning, degrowth, deindustrialization, deskilling, Didi Chuxing, digital map, digital rights, Donald Shoup, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, Elaine Herzberg, Elon Musk, energy transition, Evgeny Morozov, Extinction Rebellion, extractivism, Fairchild Semiconductor, Ford Model T, frictionless, future of work, General Motors Futurama, gentrification, George Gilder, gig economy, gigafactory, global pandemic, global supply chain, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, green new deal, Greyball, high-speed rail, Hyperloop, independent contractor, Induced demand, intermodal, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, jitney, John Perry Barlow, Kevin Kelly, knowledge worker, late capitalism, Leo Hollis, lockdown, low interest rates, Lyft, Marc Benioff, market fundamentalism, minimum viable product, Mother of all demos, move fast and break things, Murray Bookchin, new economy, oil shock, packet switching, Pacto Ecosocial del Sur, Peter Thiel, pre–internet, price mechanism, private spaceflight, quantitative easing, QWERTY keyboard, Ralph Nader, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, safety bicycle, Salesforce, School Strike for Climate, self-driving car, Sidewalk Labs, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, smart cities, social distancing, Southern State Parkway, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, Stop de Kindermoord, streetcar suburb, tech billionaire, tech worker, techlash, technological determinism, technological solutionism, technoutopianism, the built environment, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, TikTok, transit-oriented development, transportation-network company, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, Unsafe at Any Speed, urban planning, urban renewal, VTOL, walkable city, We are as Gods, We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters, WeWork, Whole Earth Catalog, Whole Earth Review, work culture , Yom Kippur War, young professional

Wired, like Whole Earth before it, attracted a well-off, white customer base. After three years, its readership was overwhelmingly made of up men with jobs in management, averaging twenty-seven years of age with salaries over $120,000 a year.27 Brand’s consulting business, the Global Business Network, was promoted to Wired readers as a model for the future of work. It echoed the tendency in California’s tech industry for workers to frequently take on new jobs and move to new companies, which set it apart from its competing high-tech hub in Massachusetts. From its privileged position, the tech industry’s embrace of right-wing economic policies failed to consider how lower working standards would affect workers who did not share their privilege—the outcomes of which are arguably most visible through the app-based gig work that grew in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession.


pages: 843 words: 223,858

The Rise of the Network Society by Manuel Castells

air traffic controllers' union, Alan Greenspan, Apple II, Asian financial crisis, barriers to entry, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bob Noyce, borderless world, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, classic study, complexity theory, computer age, Computer Lib, computerized trading, content marketing, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, declining real wages, deindustrialization, delayed gratification, dematerialisation, deskilling, digital capitalism, digital divide, disintermediation, double helix, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, edge city, experimental subject, export processing zone, Fairchild Semiconductor, financial deregulation, financial independence, floating exchange rates, future of work, gentrification, global village, Gunnar Myrdal, Hacker Ethic, hiring and firing, Howard Rheingold, illegal immigration, income inequality, independent contractor, Induced demand, industrial robot, informal economy, information retrieval, intermodal, invention of the steam engine, invention of the telephone, inventory management, Ivan Sutherland, James Watt: steam engine, job automation, job-hopping, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, Kanban, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, labor-force participation, laissez-faire capitalism, Leonard Kleinrock, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, Marc Andreessen, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, megacity, Menlo Park, military-industrial complex, moral panic, new economy, New Urbanism, offshore financial centre, oil shock, open economy, packet switching, Pearl River Delta, peer-to-peer, planetary scale, popular capitalism, popular electronics, post-Fordism, post-industrial society, Post-Keynesian economics, postindustrial economy, prediction markets, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, RAND corporation, Recombinant DNA, Robert Gordon, Robert Metcalfe, Robert Solow, seminal paper, Shenzhen special economic zone , Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, social software, South China Sea, South of Market, San Francisco, special economic zone, spinning jenny, statistical model, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Strategic Defense Initiative, tacit knowledge, technological determinism, Ted Nelson, the built environment, the medium is the message, the new new thing, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, total factor productivity, trade liberalization, transaction costs, urban renewal, urban sprawl, vertical integration, work culture , zero-sum game

Adler, Gerald (1999) “Relationships between Israel and Silicon Valley in the software industry”, unpublished masters thesis, Berkeley, CA: University of California. Adler, Glenn and Suarez, Doris (1993) Union Voices: Labor’s Responses to Crisis, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Adler, Paul S. (1992) Technology and the Future of Work, New York: Oxford University Press. Agence de l’Informatique (1986) L’Etat d’informatisation de la France, Paris: Economica. Aglietta, Michel (1976) Régulation et crise du capitalisme: l’expérience des Etats-Unis, Paris: Calmann-Levy. Alarcon, Rafael (1998) “Mexican engineers in Silicon Valley”, unpublished PhD dissertation, Berkeley, CA: University of California.

. ——, Tyson, L. and Zysman, J. (eds) (1989) Politics and Productivity: How Japan’s Development Strategy Works, New York: Harper Business. Johnston, William B. (1991) “Global labor force 2000: the new world labor market”, Harvard Business Review, March–April. Jones, Barry (1982) Sleepers, Wake! Technology and the Future of Work, Melbourne: Oxford University Press (references are to the 1990 rev. edn). Jones, David (1993) “Banks move to cut currency dealing costs”, Financial Technology International Bulletin, 10(6): 1–3. Jones, Eric L. (1981) The European Miracle, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —— (1988) Growth Recurring: Economic Change in World History, Oxford: Clarendon Press.


pages: 255 words: 92,719

All Day Long: A Portrait of Britain at Work by Joanna Biggs

Anton Chekhov, bank run, banking crisis, Bullingdon Club, call centre, Chelsea Manning, credit crunch, David Graeber, Desert Island Discs, Downton Abbey, emotional labour, Erik Brynjolfsson, financial independence, future of work, G4S, glass ceiling, industrial robot, job automation, land reform, low skilled workers, mittelstand, Northern Rock, payday loans, Right to Buy, scientific management, Second Machine Age, Sheryl Sandberg, six sigma, Steve Jobs, trickle-down economics, unpaid internship, wages for housework, Wall-E

and is available online, and the survey of children from 1948 was reported on in the Guardian on 9 November 1950 and reprinted in the ‘From the Archive’. The 1931 unemployment rate is from British Labour Statistics, Historical Abstract 1886–1968 (1971); the 2009 unemployment rate was reported by Ashley Seager of the Guardian on 12 August 2009. Jobs in 2030 have been imagined by the government in a report called ‘The Future of Work: Jobs and Skills in 2030’ from February 2014, as well as in articles by Jessica Winch in the Telegraph of 25 February 2013 by Jacquelyn Smith in Business Insider of 5 May 2014 and Adam Gabbatt in the Guardian of 14 January 2010. I don’t need to say what part of Middlemarch the ‘unhistoric acts’ quote comes from, but convention dictates that I say it’s in the ‘Finale’, which is p. 838 in the Penguin Classics edition by Rosemary Ashton.


pages: 353 words: 91,520

Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era by Tony Wagner, Ted Dintersmith

affirmative action, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, Bernie Sanders, Clayton Christensen, creative destruction, David Brooks, driverless car, en.wikipedia.org, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, immigration reform, income inequality, index card, Jeff Bezos, jimmy wales, Joi Ito, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, language acquisition, low skilled workers, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, new economy, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), pattern recognition, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Ponzi scheme, pre–internet, school choice, Silicon Valley, Skype, Steven Pinker, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, the scientific method, two and twenty, uber lyft, unpaid internship, Y Combinator

A Report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education, by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, April 1983. http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html. 8 Busteed, Brandon. “Why the education economy is the next big thing for the American workforce.” Fast Company, July 29, 2014. http://www.fastcompany.com/3033593/the-future-of-work/why-the-education-economy-is-the-next-big-thing-for-the-american-workforc (accessed August 16, 2014). Chapter 2. The Purpose of Education 1 Laneri, Raquel. “In pictures: America’s best prep schools.” Forbes.com, April 29, 2010. http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/29/best-prep-schools-2010-opinions-private-education_slide_15.html (accessed December 30, 2014). 2 Interview and private communication, Kevin Mattingly, Dean of Faculty, Lawrenceville Academy, December 18, 2014. 3 Quigley, Rachel.


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The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel Iii, John Seely Brown

Albert Einstein, Andrew Keen, barriers to entry, Black Swan, business process, call centre, Clayton Christensen, clean tech, cloud computing, commoditize, corporate governance, creative destruction, disruptive innovation, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, future of work, game design, George Gilder, intangible asset, Isaac Newton, job satisfaction, Joi Ito, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, loose coupling, Louis Pasteur, Malcom McLean invented shipping containers, Marc Benioff, Maui Hawaii, medical residency, Network effects, old-boy network, packet switching, pattern recognition, peer-to-peer, pre–internet, profit motive, recommendation engine, Ronald Coase, Salesforce, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Skype, smart transportation, software as a service, supply-chain management, tacit knowledge, The Nature of the Firm, the new new thing, the strength of weak ties, too big to fail, trade liberalization, transaction costs, TSMC, Yochai Benkler

New York: Vintage Books, 1970. Kauffman, Stuart. Reinventing the Sacred. New York: Basic Books, 2008. Langlois, Richard, and Paul Robertson. Firms, Markets and Economic Change. New York: Routledge, 1995. Loasby, Brian. Knowledge, Institutions and Evolution in Economics. New York: Routledge, 2002. Malone, Thomas W. The Future of Work. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2004. McKelvey, Bill, and Pierpaolo Andriani. “Extremes and Scale-Free Dynamics in Organization Science.” Strategic Organization 3, no. 2 (2005): 219-228. Page, Scott E. The Difference. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007. Perez, Carlota.


pages: 322 words: 87,181

Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy by Dani Rodrik

3D printing, airline deregulation, Asian financial crisis, bank run, barriers to entry, behavioural economics, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, blue-collar work, Bretton Woods, BRICs, business cycle, call centre, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon tax, Carmen Reinhart, carried interest, central bank independence, centre right, collective bargaining, conceptual framework, continuous integration, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, currency manipulation / currency intervention, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, Donald Trump, endogenous growth, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, eurozone crisis, export processing zone, failed state, financial deregulation, financial innovation, financial intermediation, financial repression, floating exchange rates, full employment, future of work, general purpose technology, George Akerlof, global value chain, income inequality, inflation targeting, information asymmetry, investor state dispute settlement, invisible hand, Jean Tirole, Kenneth Rogoff, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market clearing, market fundamentalism, meta-analysis, moral hazard, Nelson Mandela, new economy, offshore financial centre, open borders, open economy, open immigration, Pareto efficiency, postindustrial economy, precautionary principle, price stability, public intellectual, pushing on a string, race to the bottom, randomized controlled trial, regulatory arbitrage, rent control, rent-seeking, Richard Thaler, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, Sam Peltzman, Silicon Valley, Solyndra, special economic zone, spectrum auction, Steven Pinker, tacit knowledge, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, the scientific method, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, too big to fail, total factor productivity, trade liberalization, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen, unorthodox policies, Washington Consensus, World Values Survey, zero-sum game, éminence grise

The trouble is that services, in aggregate, have not experienced nearly as much productivity growth as manufacturing over the course of history; it takes as many waiters to run a restaurant today as it did a century ago. So, it has fallen on industrialization to provide the high incomes and demand for the rest of the economy. What is clear therefore is that policy makers will face an altogether new challenge when they turn to the future of work and human development. More economic growth will have to come from productivity advances in services. This means in turn that the partial, sectoral approaches that worked so well to stimulate export-oriented industrialization during the early stages of rapid growth in Asia and beyond will have to be replaced (or at least complemented) by massive economy-wide investments in human capital and institutions.


pages: 320 words: 90,526

Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America by Alissa Quart

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Alvin Toffler, antiwork, Automated Insights, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, basic income, Bernie Sanders, business intelligence, do what you love, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, East Village, Elon Musk, emotional labour, full employment, future of work, gentrification, gig economy, glass ceiling, haute couture, income inequality, independent contractor, information security, Jaron Lanier, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, late capitalism, Lyft, minimum wage unemployment, moral panic, new economy, nuclear winter, obamacare, peak TV, Ponzi scheme, post-work, precariat, price mechanism, rent control, rent stabilization, ride hailing / ride sharing, school choice, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Skype, Snapchat, stop buying avocado toast, surplus humans, TaskRabbit, tech worker, TED Talk, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, union organizing, universal basic income, upwardly mobile, wages for housework, WeWork, women in the workforce, work culture , working poor

The potential to earn $70,000 per year, with overtime, plus medical coverage, can make truck driving a blue-collar job with white-collar pay. TUG robots and driverless trucks are far from the only encroachments on both the livelihoods of human workers and the human experience of patients and clients. They are part of a broader trend in what is sometimes called “the future of work.” The World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2016 projected a total loss of 7.1 million jobs by 2020, two-thirds of which may be concentrated in office and administrative jobs in health care, advertising, public relations, broadcasting, law, and financial services. (Women’s jobs account for more than five jobs lost due to our automated friends for every job gained.)


pages: 324 words: 89,875

Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy by Alex Moazed, Nicholas L. Johnson

3D printing, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, altcoin, Amazon Web Services, Andy Rubin, barriers to entry, basic income, bitcoin, blockchain, book value, Chuck Templeton: OpenTable:, cloud computing, commoditize, connected car, disintermediation, driverless car, fake it until you make it, future of work, gig economy, hockey-stick growth, if you build it, they will come, information asymmetry, Infrastructure as a Service, intangible asset, Internet of things, invisible hand, jimmy wales, John Gruber, Kickstarter, Lean Startup, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, Metcalfe’s law, money market fund, multi-sided market, Network effects, PalmPilot, patent troll, peer-to-peer lending, Peter Thiel, pets.com, platform as a service, power law, QWERTY keyboard, Ray Kurzweil, ride hailing / ride sharing, road to serfdom, Robert Metcalfe, Ronald Coase, Salesforce, self-driving car, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Skype, Snapchat, social graph, software as a service, software is eating the world, source of truth, Startup school, Steve Jobs, TaskRabbit, technological determinism, the medium is the message, transaction costs, transportation-network company, traveling salesman, Travis Kalanick, two-sided market, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, vertical integration, white flight, winner-take-all economy, Y Combinator

“Smartphone Wars: Why Is Samsung Losing Momentum?,” Bloomberg, September 3, 2015, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/b/be2c2a0b-7b24-4115-8fda-e69df9e388c6. 22. Simon Rothman, tweet, November 13, 2015, https://twitter.com/GreylockVC/status/665212984445296640. Rothman was speaking at the “Next Economy: What’s the Future of Work?” conference. 23. For example, see Lisa Guernsey, “EBay Not Liable for Goods That Are Illegal, Judge Says,” New York Times, November 13, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/13/business/ebay-not-liable-for-goods-that-are-illegal-judge-says.html. 24. Carlos Tejada, “U.S. Warns Alibaba Again about Selling Counterfeit Goods,” Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-warns-alibaba-again-about-selling-counterfeit-goods-1450406612. 25.


pages: 312 words: 92,131

Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning by Tom Vanderbilt

AlphaGo, crowdsourcing, DeepMind, deliberate practice, Downton Abbey, Dunning–Kruger effect, fake it until you make it, functional fixedness, future of work, G4S, global supply chain, IKEA effect, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, lateral thinking, Maui Hawaii, meta-analysis, mirror neurons, performance metric, personalized medicine, quantum entanglement, randomized controlled trial, Rubik’s Cube, self-driving car, side hustle, Silicon Valley, Skype, Socratic dialogue, spaced repetition, Steve Jobs, zero-sum game

“transfer” in the learning of chess: See Sala and Gobet, “Do the Benefits of Chess Instruction Transfer to Academic and Cognitive Skills?” learning becomes a “stress buffer”: See Chen Zhang, Christopher G. Myers, and David Mayer, “To Cope with Stress, Try Learning Something New,” Harvard Business Review, Sept. 4, 2018. students who studied both science and arts: See Carl Gombrich, “Polymathy, New Generalism, and the Future of Work: A Little Theory and Some Practice from UCL’s Arts and Sciences BASc Degree,” in Experiences in Liberal Arts and Science Education from America, Europe, and Asia: A Dialog Across Continents, ed. William C. Kirby and Marijk van der Wende (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 75–89. I was alerted to the research by Robert Twigger’s book Micromastery.


pages: 345 words: 92,063

Power, for All: How It Really Works and Why It's Everyone's Business by Julie Battilana, Tiziana Casciaro

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, Abraham Maslow, affirmative action, agricultural Revolution, Albert Einstein, algorithmic bias, Andy Rubin, Asperger Syndrome, benefit corporation, Big Tech, BIPOC, Black Lives Matter, blood diamond, Boris Johnson, British Empire, call centre, Cass Sunstein, classic study, clean water, cognitive dissonance, collective bargaining, conceptual framework, coronavirus, COVID-19, CRISPR, deep learning, different worldview, digital rights, disinformation, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, fake news, feminist movement, fundamental attribution error, future of work, George Floyd, gig economy, Greta Thunberg, hiring and firing, impact investing, income inequality, informal economy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invention of movable type, Jeff Bezos, job satisfaction, Joshua Gans and Andrew Leigh, Mahatma Gandhi, means of production, mega-rich, meritocracy, meta-analysis, Milgram experiment, moral hazard, Naomi Klein, Nelson Mandela, Occupy movement, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, principal–agent problem, profit maximization, Ralph Waldo Emerson, ride hailing / ride sharing, Salesforce, School Strike for Climate, Second Machine Age, shareholder value, sharing economy, Sheryl Sandberg, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, social distancing, Social Justice Warrior, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Steven Pinker, surveillance capitalism, tacit knowledge, tech worker, the scientific method, The Wisdom of Crowds, TikTok, Tim Cook: Apple, transatlantic slave trade, union organizing, zero-sum game

., “Toward Understanding the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Labor,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no.14 (2019): 6531–9. 77 John Hawksworth, Richard Berriman, and Saloni Goel, Will Robots Really Steal Our Jobs? An International Analysis of the Potential Long-Term Impact of Automation (PwC, February 2018). 78 For key works in the sprawling literature on the future of work, see Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Race Against the Machine (Lexington, MA: Digital Frontier Press, 2011); Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, The Second Machine Age (New York: W. W. Norton, 2014); Kaplan, Humans Need Not Apply (2015); Alec Ross, The Industries of the Future (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016); and Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, The Future of the Professions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). 79 David Autor, David Mindell, and Elisabeth Reynolds, “The Work of the Future: Shaping Technology and Institutions,” MIT Work of the Future, November 17, 2020, https://workofthefuture.mit.edu/research-post/the-work-of-the-future-shaping-technology-and-institutions/. 80 The acronym CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,” which refers to a region of DNA that, with various CRISPR-associated proteins, functions like genetic scissors, enabling a cell or scientist to edit DNA or its messenger RNA very precisely.


pages: 297 words: 88,890

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, American ideology, big-box store, Cal Newport, call centre, cognitive load, collective bargaining, COVID-19, David Brooks, death from overwork, delayed gratification, do what you love, Donald Trump, financial independence, future of work, gamification, gig economy, Gordon Gekko, helicopter parent, imposter syndrome, Inbox Zero, independent contractor, Jeff Bezos, job satisfaction, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, late capitalism, longitudinal study, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, McMansion, Minecraft, move fast and break things, precariat, remote working, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, school choice, sharing economy, side hustle, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Skype, Snapchat, Steve Jobs, TaskRabbit, TikTok, uber lyft, unpaid internship, upwardly mobile, urban planning, Vanguard fund, work culture , working poor, workplace surveillance

Let Me Tell You About Burnout,” Vox, July 15, 2019. 16. “Key Findings from a Survey on Fast Food Worker Safety,” Hart Research Associates, March 16, 2015 (http://www.coshnetwork.org/sites/default/files/FastFood_Workplace_Safety_Poll_Memo.pdf). 17. Sarah Kessler, Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2018), xii. 18. Rosenblat, Uberland, 5; 9. 19. Farhad Manjoo, “The Tech Industry Is Building a Vast Digital Underclass,” New York Times, July 26, 2019. 20. Kessler, Gigged, 9. 21. Ibid., 19. 22. Aaron Smith, “The Gig Economy: Work, Online Selling, and Home Sharing,” Pew Research Center, November 17, 2016. 23.


pages: 869 words: 239,167

The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind by Jan Lucassen

3D printing, 8-hour work day, affirmative action, agricultural Revolution, Albert Einstein, anti-work, antiwork, Asian financial crisis, banking crisis, basic income, Berlin Wall, Black Lives Matter, blue-collar work, bread and circuses, Bretton Woods, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Charles Babbage, collective bargaining, Columbian Exchange, commoditize, computer age, coronavirus, COVID-19, demographic transition, deskilling, discovery of the americas, domestication of the camel, Easter island, European colonialism, factory automation, Fall of the Berlin Wall, fixed income, Ford Model T, founder crops, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, future of work, Great Leap Forward, hiring and firing, income inequality, income per capita, informal economy, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, joint-stock company, knowledge economy, labour mobility, land tenure, long peace, mass immigration, means of production, megastructure, minimum wage unemployment, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, new economy, New Urbanism, out of africa, pension reform, phenotype, post-work, precariat, price stability, public intellectual, reshoring, scientific management, Scramble for Africa, Second Machine Age, stakhanovite, tacit knowledge, Thales of Miletus, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, two and twenty, universal basic income, W. E. B. Du Bois, women in the workforce, working poor

The ultimate ‘Bread and Circuses’ society – Yuval Harari’s ‘Age of Shopping’ or even Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932).13 Having surveyed the whole history of work, then, what can this survey tell us about what to expect of its future? While no single scenario can be clearly argued to hold (or not), we can react to a number of established, even celebrated, projections in relation to the future of work: the ‘end of capitalism’, increased inequality, the role of the ‘free’ market in distributing work and pay, and the consequences of robotization. The inevitable end of ‘capitalism’? Bas van Bavel’s interesting and excellently documented vision of the last thousand years convincingly shows that economic ‘capitalist’ frontrunners, the major market economies – from the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad to the United States of America – inevitably ran into trouble after a few centuries and, consequently, had to surrender the baton again.

Leisure and Class in Victorian England. Rational Recreation and the Contest for Control, 1830–1885 (London/New York: Routledge, 1978). Bailyn, Bernard. The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction (New York: Vintage, 1988). Baldwin, Richard. The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work (Oxford: OUP, 2019). Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999). Bales, Kevin. Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005). Banaji, Jairus. Exploring the Economy of Late Antiquity (Cambridge: CUP, 2016).


Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement by Robert Clyatt

asset allocation, backtesting, buy and hold, currency risk, death from overwork, delayed gratification, diversification, diversified portfolio, do what you love, eat what you kill, employer provided health coverage, estate planning, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, financial independence, fixed income, future of work, independent contractor, index arbitrage, index fund, John Bogle, junk bonds, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, lateral thinking, Mahatma Gandhi, McMansion, merger arbitrage, money market fund, mortgage tax deduction, passive income, rising living standards, risk/return, Silicon Valley, The 4% rule, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, Thorstein Veblen, transaction costs, unpaid internship, upwardly mobile, Vanguard fund, work culture , working poor, zero-sum game

She is also looking into becoming an expert witness for court cases involving pathology questions. Resource Daniel Pink gives a comprehensive look at how tens of millions of Americans, many of them semi-retirees, earn income using the Internet, contacts, specialized knowledge, and pluck in Free Agent Nation: the Future of Working for Yourself (Warner Business Books). Unless you plan to make money in semi-retirement solely as an employee, you’ll probably be self-employed and should consider the right way to organize your company to gain maximum tax and liability advantages. For information on which form of business to use—sole proprietorship, limited liability company (LLC), or another type of corporation—see LLC or Corporation?


pages: 443 words: 98,113

The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay by Guy Standing

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, Amazon Mechanical Turk, anti-fragile, Asian financial crisis, asset-backed security, bank run, banking crisis, basic income, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, Bernie Sanders, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Big Tech, bilateral investment treaty, Bonfire of the Vanities, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, business cycle, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carried interest, cashless society, central bank independence, centre right, Clayton Christensen, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collective bargaining, commons-based peer production, credit crunch, crony capitalism, cross-border payments, crowdsourcing, debt deflation, declining real wages, deindustrialization, disruptive innovation, Doha Development Round, Donald Trump, Double Irish / Dutch Sandwich, ending welfare as we know it, eurozone crisis, Evgeny Morozov, falling living standards, financial deregulation, financial innovation, Firefox, first-past-the-post, future of work, Garrett Hardin, gentrification, gig economy, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, Greenspan put, Growth in a Time of Debt, housing crisis, income inequality, independent contractor, information retrieval, intangible asset, invention of the steam engine, investor state dispute settlement, it's over 9,000, James Watt: steam engine, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, labour market flexibility, light touch regulation, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, lump of labour, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, market clearing, Martin Wolf, means of production, megaproject, mini-job, Money creation, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, mortgage debt, mortgage tax deduction, Neil Kinnock, non-tariff barriers, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, nudge unit, Occupy movement, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, open economy, openstreetmap, patent troll, payday loans, peer-to-peer lending, Phillips curve, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, precariat, quantitative easing, remote working, rent control, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Right to Buy, Robert Gordon, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Sam Altman, savings glut, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Simon Kuznets, SoftBank, sovereign wealth fund, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, structural adjustment programs, TaskRabbit, The Chicago School, The Future of Employment, the payments system, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Thomas Malthus, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, Tragedy of the Commons, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, Y Combinator, zero-sum game, Zipcar

Butler, ‘Employers claw back living wage in cuts to perks, hours and pay’, The Guardian, 16 April 2016. 36 Standing, 2014, op. cit. 37 For example, J. Matthews, ‘The sharing economy boom is about to bust’, Time, 27 June 2014. 38 L. Weber and R. E. Silverman, ‘On-demand workers: “We are not robots”’, Wall Street Journal, 27 January 2015. 39 L. Mishel, ‘Uber is not the future of work’, The Atlantic, 15 November 2015. 40 J. V. Hall and A. B. Krueger, ‘An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners in the United States’, Working Paper 587, Princeton University, Industrial Relations Section, 2015. 41 In the April 2016 proposed settlement, Uber agreed to ‘facilitate and recognize’ drivers’ ‘associations’.


Future Files: A Brief History of the Next 50 Years by Richard Watson

Abraham Maslow, Albert Einstein, bank run, banking crisis, battle of ideas, Black Swan, call centre, carbon credits, carbon footprint, carbon tax, cashless society, citizen journalism, commoditize, computer age, computer vision, congestion charging, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, deglobalization, digital Maoism, digital nomad, disintermediation, driverless car, epigenetics, failed state, financial innovation, Firefox, food miles, Ford Model T, future of work, Future Shock, global pandemic, global supply chain, global village, hive mind, hobby farmer, industrial robot, invention of the telegraph, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, knowledge economy, lateral thinking, linked data, low cost airline, low skilled workers, M-Pesa, mass immigration, Northern Rock, Paradox of Choice, peak oil, pensions crisis, precautionary principle, precision agriculture, prediction markets, Ralph Nader, Ray Kurzweil, rent control, RFID, Richard Florida, self-driving car, speech recognition, synthetic biology, telepresence, the scientific method, The Wisdom of Crowds, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, Turing test, Victor Gruen, Virgin Galactic, white flight, women in the workforce, work culture , Zipcar

Friedman, George (2009) The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, Black. Greenfield, Susan (2004) Tomorrow’s People: How 21st-Century Technology Is Changing the Way We Think and Feel, Penguin. Kusek, David, and Leonhard, Gerd (2005) The Future of Music, Berklee Press. Maddox, John (1998) What Remains to Be Discovered, Papermac. Malone, Thomas W (2004) The Future of Work, Harvard Business School Press. Mercer, David (1998) Future Revolutions, Orion Business Books. Naisbitt, John (2006) Mind Set!, Collins. Penn, Mark (2007) Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s Big Changes, Allen Lane. Seidensticker, Bob (2006) Future Hype: The Myths of Technology Change, Berrett-Koehler.


pages: 289 words: 99,936

Digital Dead End: Fighting for Social Justice in the Information Age by Virginia Eubanks

affirmative action, Alvin Toffler, Berlin Wall, call centre, cognitive dissonance, creative destruction, desegregation, digital divide, Fall of the Berlin Wall, future of work, game design, global village, index card, informal economy, invisible hand, Kevin Kelly, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, low-wage service sector, microcredit, new economy, post-industrial society, race to the bottom, rent control, rent stabilization, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, social contagion, South of Market, San Francisco, tech worker, telemarketer, Thomas L Friedman, trickle-down economics, union organizing, urban planning, web application, white flight, women in the workforce, work culture , working poor

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Yunus, M. 2001. Microcredit and IT for the Poor. New Perspectives Quarterly 18 (1): 25–26. Zimmerman, Andrew D. 1995. Toward a More Democratic Ethic of Technological Governance. Science, Technology & Human Values 20:86–107. Zuboff, Shoshana. 1989. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books. Index Academia, 33 Addams, Jane, 105 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), 158–159 African Americans earnings, 70 education, 57–58, 67 poverty, 61 unemployment, 58, 69 Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), 85–86, 97 Allen, Dorothy, 42, 45, 91, 97, 134, 136 American Graduation Initiative, 153 ARISE (A Regional Initiative Supporting Empowerment), 168 Autonomous Technology, 83 Banta, Martha, 74 Barney, Darrin, 36 Basel hazardous waste ban, 169 Beat the System: Surviving Welfare, 119–125, 215 Benner, Chris, 61 Bernhardt, Annette, 162–163 Borda, Orlando Fals, 106 Bush (George W.) administration, 36 Call centers, 72–73 Campbell, Nancy D., 13, 145, 149–150 Campus architecture, 83–84 Capital Region, 158–159 Caregiving, 65, 75–77, 160–163 Caseworkers, 94–95 Child care, 160–162 Citizenship conceptions of, 30 as contract, 25 and IT, 29–31, 89 and political learning, 85–86 and popular technology, 96–98, 104, 125–127, 131–132, 136 Clinton, Bill, 35 Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace, 84 Cognitive justice, 147–148, 151–152, 163 Collar Laundry Union, 50 Collective process, 18–19 Collingwood, Harris, 53–55 Colorful cards, 133 Community Asset Bank (CAB), 120, 215 Community benefits agreements (CBAs), 167 Community building, 144–146 Community Technology Center Program, 166 Community technology centers (CTCs), 165–166 Community Technology Laboratory, 109–114, 215 260 Index Composite stories, 120, 123, 125 Confidentiality, 92–93 Consensus conferences, 163–164 DuBois, W.


pages: 268 words: 109,447

The Cultural Logic of Computation by David Golumbia

Alan Turing: On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, American ideology, Benoit Mandelbrot, Bletchley Park, borderless world, business process, cellular automata, citizen journalism, Claude Shannon: information theory, computer age, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, corporate governance, creative destruction, digital capitalism, digital divide, en.wikipedia.org, finite state, folksonomy, future of work, Google Earth, Howard Zinn, IBM and the Holocaust, iterative process, Jaron Lanier, jimmy wales, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, late capitalism, Lewis Mumford, machine readable, machine translation, means of production, natural language processing, Norbert Wiener, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), packet switching, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, RFID, Richard Stallman, semantic web, Shoshana Zuboff, Slavoj Žižek, social web, stem cell, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, Stewart Brand, strong AI, supply-chain management, supply-chain management software, technological determinism, Ted Nelson, telemarketer, The Wisdom of Crowds, theory of mind, Turing machine, Turing test, Vannevar Bush, web application, Yochai Benkler

Zittrain, Jonathan. 2008. The Future of the Internet—and How to Stop It. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Žižek, Slavoj. 1997. “Cyberspace, Or, The Unbearable Closure of Being.” In The Plague of Fantasies. New York: Verso, 127–167. Zuboff, Shoshana. 1988. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books. Zuse, Konrad. 1993. The Computer—My Life. New York: Springer-Verlag. Acknowledgments he friendship and support of Suzanne Daly, Shaun Fletcher, Sonali Perera, Elliott Trice, Chandan Reddy, Jen Leibhart, Lisa Henderson, Peter Mahnke, and Jodi Melamed were indispensible for writing this book; so was the inspiration offered by many people in the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania, especially James F.


pages: 336 words: 95,773

The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials' Economic Future by Joseph C. Sternberg

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, American Legislative Exchange Council, Asian financial crisis, banking crisis, Basel III, Bear Stearns, Bernie Sanders, blue-collar work, centre right, corporate raider, Detroit bankruptcy, Donald Trump, Edward Glaeser, employer provided health coverage, Erik Brynjolfsson, eurozone crisis, financial engineering, future of work, gig economy, Gordon Gekko, hiring and firing, Home mortgage interest deduction, housing crisis, independent contractor, job satisfaction, job-hopping, labor-force participation, low interest rates, low skilled workers, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, minimum wage unemployment, mortgage debt, mortgage tax deduction, Nate Silver, new economy, obamacare, oil shock, payday loans, pension reform, quantitative easing, Richard Florida, Ronald Reagan, Saturday Night Live, Second Machine Age, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, Steve Bannon, stop buying avocado toast, TaskRabbit, total factor productivity, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, uber lyft, unpaid internship, women in the workforce

More recently, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee’s influential 2014 book The Second Machine Age argued that the American economy inevitably will be characterized by a “bounty” of fabulous economic gains for workers and entrepreneurs with the right skills, but also a widening “spread” between those winners and the growing army of losers whose jobs will disappear under a tidal wave of technological change.32 That book won approving reviews or front-cover blurbs from public figures many Millennials have grown up respecting, such as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, and someone whose job title is “chief maverick” at Wired magazine. Millennials to the Right end of the political spectrum who distrust those figures could instead turn to books like Average Is Over by free-market blogger and professor Tyler Cowen, who in 2013 presented a similar argument about the future of work, with a somewhat more dystopian twist: “I imagine a world where, say, 10 to 15 percent of the citizenry is extremely wealthy and has fantastically comfortable and stimulating lives, the equivalent of current-day millionaires, albeit with better health care. Much of the rest of the country will have stagnant or maybe even falling wages in dollar terms but a lot more opportunities for cheap fun and also cheap education.”33 The one thing both Left and Right seem to be able to agree on is that there won’t be any jobs for Millennials (and Gen Zers after us) in the vast middle of the skills and aptitude—and wages—spectrum.


pages: 349 words: 98,309

Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy by Alexandrea J. Ravenelle

active transport: walking or cycling, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, Amazon Mechanical Turk, barriers to entry, basic income, Broken windows theory, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, cashless society, Clayton Christensen, clean water, collaborative consumption, collective bargaining, company town, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, digital divide, disruptive innovation, Downton Abbey, East Village, Erik Brynjolfsson, full employment, future of work, gentrification, gig economy, Howard Zinn, income inequality, independent contractor, informal economy, job automation, John Zimmer (Lyft cofounder), low skilled workers, Lyft, minimum wage unemployment, Mitch Kapor, Network effects, new economy, New Urbanism, obamacare, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, passive income, peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer model, performance metric, precariat, rent control, rent stabilization, ride hailing / ride sharing, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, sharing economy, side hustle, Silicon Valley, strikebreaker, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, telemarketer, the payments system, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, Tim Cook: Apple, transaction costs, Travis Kalanick, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, ubercab, universal basic income, Upton Sinclair, urban planning, vertical integration, very high income, white flight, working poor, Zipcar

Are they entrepreneurs or idealistic “sharers,” or is this simply “unemployment lite”? Why are they investing their time and personal financial resources in work that is entirely out of their hands? What types of challenges and dangers—emotional, physical, or financial—do they experience? What does this mean for the future of work? And what does this mean for our society? My book is the first—and perhaps still the only one—to build on firsthand accounts from nearly eighty workers and to place their stories in the context of larger social structures and trends in American society. It’s also the only one to focus on four very different services—Airbnb, Uber, TaskRabbit, and Kitchensurfing—that illustrate the larger issues of skill and capital in the gig economy.


The Pirate's Dilemma by Matt Mason

Albert Einstein, augmented reality, barriers to entry, blood diamond, citizen journalism, creative destruction, digital divide, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, East Village, Firefox, Free Software Foundation, future of work, glass ceiling, global village, Hacker Ethic, haute couture, Howard Rheingold, Internet of things, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, jimmy wales, job satisfaction, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, Lao Tzu, Marshall McLuhan, means of production, Naomi Klein, new economy, New Urbanism, patent troll, peer-to-peer, prisoner's dilemma, public intellectual, RAND corporation, RFID, Richard Florida, Richard Stallman, SETI@home, side hustle, Silicon Valley, South China Sea, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, the long tail, Tim Cook: Apple, urban sprawl, Whole Earth Catalog

Doing it yourself has never been easier. Jobs are radically changing because of this shift in the way the labor force is operating, and the idea of the work/life balance is being replaced by a new discussion on what work and life as separate entities actually means. A 2004 study for the U.S. Department of Labor on the future of work predicted, “Employees will work in more decentralized, specialized firms, and employer-employee relationships will become less standardized and more individualized. . . . We can expect a shift away from more permanent, lifetime jobs toward less permanent, even nonstandard employment relationships (e.g., self-employment).”


pages: 346 words: 97,890

The Road to Conscious Machines by Michael Wooldridge

Ada Lovelace, AI winter, algorithmic bias, AlphaGo, Andrew Wiles, Anthropocene, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, basic income, Bletchley Park, Boeing 747, British Empire, call centre, Charles Babbage, combinatorial explosion, computer vision, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, DARPA: Urban Challenge, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, don't be evil, Donald Trump, driverless car, Elaine Herzberg, Elon Musk, Eratosthenes, factory automation, fake news, future of work, gamification, general purpose technology, Geoffrey Hinton, gig economy, Google Glasses, intangible asset, James Watt: steam engine, job automation, John von Neumann, Loebner Prize, Minecraft, Mustafa Suleyman, Nash equilibrium, Nick Bostrom, Norbert Wiener, NP-complete, P = NP, P vs NP, paperclip maximiser, pattern recognition, Philippa Foot, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, Rodney Brooks, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, strong AI, technological singularity, telemarketer, Tesla Model S, The Coming Technological Singularity, The Future of Employment, the scientific method, theory of mind, Thomas Bayes, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, traveling salesman, trolley problem, Turing machine, Turing test, universal basic income, Von Neumann architecture, warehouse robotics

We’ll then consider the emergence of algorithmic bias, and the issues surrounding lack of diversity in AI, as well as the phenomena of fake news and fake AI. Employment and Unemployment ‘Robots will take our jobs. We’d better plan now, before it’s too late.’ –– Guardian, 2018 After the Terminator narrative, probably the most widely discussed and widely feared aspect of AI is how it will affect the future of work and, in particular, the potential it has to put people out of work. Computers don’t get tired, don’t turn up to work hungover or late, don’t argue, don’t complain, don’t require unions and, perhaps more importantly, they don’t need to be paid. It is easy to see why employers are interested, and employees are nervous.


pages: 367 words: 97,136

Beyond Diversification: What Every Investor Needs to Know About Asset Allocation by Sebastien Page

Andrei Shleifer, asset allocation, backtesting, Bernie Madoff, bitcoin, Black Swan, Bob Litterman, book value, business cycle, buy and hold, Cal Newport, capital asset pricing model, commodity super cycle, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, cryptocurrency, currency risk, discounted cash flows, diversification, diversified portfolio, en.wikipedia.org, equity risk premium, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, fixed income, future of work, Future Shock, G4S, global macro, implied volatility, index fund, information asymmetry, iterative process, loss aversion, low interest rates, market friction, mental accounting, merger arbitrage, oil shock, passive investing, prediction markets, publication bias, quantitative easing, quantitative trading / quantitative finance, random walk, reserve currency, Richard Feynman, Richard Thaler, risk free rate, risk tolerance, risk-adjusted returns, risk/return, Robert Shiller, robo advisor, seminal paper, shareholder value, Sharpe ratio, sovereign wealth fund, stochastic process, stochastic volatility, stocks for the long run, systematic bias, systematic trading, tail risk, transaction costs, TSMC, value at risk, yield curve, zero-coupon bond, zero-sum game

Scopus compiled the 204 citations for this paper, http://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus. 2. https://www.researchaffiliates.com/en_us/publications/articles/645-cape-fear-why-cape-naysayers-are-wrong.html; https://www.aqr.com/Insights/Research/White-Papers/An-Old-Friend-The-Stock-Markets-Shiller-PE. 3. http://fortune.com/2018/01/16/why-wall-street-is-ignoring-cape-fear/. 4. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-10/global-debt-jumped -to-record-237-trillion-last-year. 5. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/worlds-older-population-grows-dramatically. 6. https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/future-of-organizations-and-work/what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages. 7. Based on quarterly data from Bloomberg Finance L.P. for the time period December 31, 1970 to March 31, 2018. Data field is Dvd 12M Yld. I compare current dividend yield (current price divided by dividends over the next year) with the same measure a year later.


pages: 328 words: 96,678

MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them by Nouriel Roubini

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 2021 United States Capitol attack, 3D printing, 9 dash line, AI winter, AlphaGo, artificial general intelligence, asset allocation, assortative mating, autonomous vehicles, bank run, banking crisis, basic income, Bear Stearns, Big Tech, bitcoin, Bletchley Park, blockchain, Boston Dynamics, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, business process, call centre, carbon tax, Carmen Reinhart, cashless society, central bank independence, collateralized debt obligation, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, credit crunch, crony capitalism, cryptocurrency, currency manipulation / currency intervention, currency peg, data is the new oil, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, debt deflation, decarbonisation, deep learning, DeepMind, deglobalization, Demis Hassabis, democratizing finance, Deng Xiaoping, disintermediation, Dogecoin, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, energy security, energy transition, Erik Brynjolfsson, Ethereum, ethereum blockchain, eurozone crisis, failed state, fake news, family office, fiat currency, financial deregulation, financial innovation, financial repression, fixed income, floating exchange rates, forward guidance, Fractional reserve banking, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, future of work, game design, geopolitical risk, George Santayana, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, global reserve currency, global supply chain, GPS: selective availability, green transition, Greensill Capital, Greenspan put, Herbert Marcuse, high-speed rail, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, inflation targeting, initial coin offering, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, invention of movable type, Isaac Newton, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, junk bonds, Kenneth Rogoff, knowledge worker, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, low skilled workers, low-wage service sector, M-Pesa, margin call, market bubble, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, means of production, meme stock, Michael Milken, middle-income trap, Mikhail Gorbachev, Minsky moment, Modern Monetary Theory, money market fund, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, moral hazard, mortgage debt, Mustafa Suleyman, Nash equilibrium, natural language processing, negative equity, Nick Bostrom, non-fungible token, non-tariff barriers, ocean acidification, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, paradox of thrift, pets.com, Phillips curve, planetary scale, Ponzi scheme, precariat, price mechanism, price stability, public intellectual, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, Ralph Waldo Emerson, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, regulatory arbitrage, reserve currency, reshoring, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, Satoshi Nakamoto, Savings and loan crisis, Second Machine Age, short selling, Silicon Valley, smart contracts, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, Stephen Hawking, TED Talk, The Great Moderation, the payments system, Thomas L Friedman, TikTok, too big to fail, Turing test, universal basic income, War on Poverty, warehouse robotics, Washington Consensus, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, working-age population, Yogi Berra, Yom Kippur War, zero-sum game, zoonotic diseases

Artificial intelligence can handle desirable jobs better and faster than human brains can handle them. There will be jobs for people, but who will want them? “The problem is not the number of jobs but the quality and accessibility of those jobs,” says MIT economist David Autor, a prominent expert on the future of work. He reminds a TED audience that automated teller machines (ATMs) slashed the need for bank tellers.39 The result? Banks built more branches and put would-be tellers to more productive use. Authors Daniel Susskind and Martin Ford embrace dystopian views in their respective books. They expect AI and robots to fill most jobs.


pages: 385 words: 111,113

Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane by Brett King

23andMe, 3D printing, additive manufacturing, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, agricultural Revolution, Airbnb, Albert Einstein, Amazon Web Services, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, Apollo 11, Apollo Guidance Computer, Apple II, artificial general intelligence, asset allocation, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, bitcoin, Bletchley Park, blockchain, Boston Dynamics, business intelligence, business process, call centre, chief data officer, Chris Urmson, Clayton Christensen, clean water, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, congestion charging, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, deskilling, different worldview, disruptive innovation, distributed generation, distributed ledger, double helix, drone strike, electricity market, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Fellow of the Royal Society, fiat currency, financial exclusion, Flash crash, Flynn Effect, Ford Model T, future of work, gamification, Geoffrey Hinton, gig economy, gigafactory, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Hans Lippershey, high-speed rail, Hyperloop, income inequality, industrial robot, information asymmetry, Internet of things, invention of movable type, invention of the printing press, invention of the telephone, invention of the wheel, James Dyson, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job-hopping, John Markoff, John von Neumann, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kiva Systems, Kodak vs Instagram, Leonard Kleinrock, lifelogging, low earth orbit, low skilled workers, Lyft, M-Pesa, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, megacity, Metcalfe’s law, Minecraft, mobile money, money market fund, more computing power than Apollo, Neal Stephenson, Neil Armstrong, Network effects, new economy, Nick Bostrom, obamacare, Occupy movement, Oculus Rift, off grid, off-the-grid, packet switching, pattern recognition, peer-to-peer, Ray Kurzweil, retail therapy, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Metcalfe, Salesforce, Satoshi Nakamoto, Second Machine Age, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), self-driving car, sharing economy, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart cities, smart grid, smart transportation, Snapchat, Snow Crash, social graph, software as a service, speech recognition, statistical model, stem cell, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, strong AI, synthetic biology, systems thinking, TaskRabbit, technological singularity, TED Talk, telemarketer, telepresence, telepresence robot, Tesla Model S, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, Tim Cook: Apple, trade route, Travis Kalanick, TSMC, Turing complete, Turing test, Twitter Arab Spring, uber lyft, undersea cable, urban sprawl, V2 rocket, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, white picket fence, WikiLeaks, yottabyte

Our educational system is not adequately preparing us for work of the future, and our political and economic institutions are poorly equipped to handle these hard choices. So the major disconnect seems to be whether you believe that these new technologies will augment our abilities or replace them. Harvard social scientist Shoshana Zuboff examined how companies used technology in her 1989 book In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. She looked at how some employers used technology to “automate”, or take power away from, the employee while some used technology to “informate”, or empower, the employee. Obviously, our thesis is that the latter is far more preferable! If we look at the last 30 years of software-based automation using customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), we generally find that implementing the technology is the easy part.


pages: 378 words: 110,518

Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason

air traffic controllers' union, Alan Greenspan, Alfred Russel Wallace, bank run, banking crisis, banks create money, Basel III, basic income, Bernie Madoff, Bill Gates: Altair 8800, bitcoin, Bletchley Park, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, BRICs, British Empire, business cycle, business process, butterfly effect, call centre, capital controls, carbon tax, Cesare Marchetti: Marchetti’s constant, Claude Shannon: information theory, collaborative economy, collective bargaining, commons-based peer production, Corn Laws, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, credit crunch, currency manipulation / currency intervention, currency peg, David Graeber, deglobalization, deindustrialization, deskilling, discovery of the americas, disinformation, Downton Abbey, drone strike, en.wikipedia.org, energy security, eurozone crisis, factory automation, false flag, financial engineering, financial repression, Firefox, Fractional reserve banking, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, game design, Glass-Steagall Act, green new deal, guns versus butter model, Herbert Marcuse, income inequality, inflation targeting, informal economy, information asymmetry, intangible asset, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Perry Barlow, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, late capitalism, low interest rates, low skilled workers, market clearing, means of production, Metcalfe's law, microservices, middle-income trap, Money creation, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, mortgage debt, Network effects, new economy, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, Norbert Wiener, Occupy movement, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, Paul Samuelson, payday loans, Pearl River Delta, post-industrial society, power law, precariat, precautionary principle, price mechanism, profit motive, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, RAND corporation, rent-seeking, reserve currency, RFID, Richard Stallman, Robert Gordon, Robert Metcalfe, scientific management, secular stagnation, sharing economy, Stewart Brand, structural adjustment programs, supply-chain management, technological determinism, The Future of Employment, the scientific method, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Transnistria, Twitter Arab Spring, union organizing, universal basic income, urban decay, urban planning, vertical integration, Vilfredo Pareto, wages for housework, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, Yochai Benkler

It was a material change, but wholly containable within working-class culture. But automation triggered a long-term psychological change. If work seemed ‘absurd, ridiculous and boring’ to the Fiat workers Alquati interviewed in the early 1960s, there was a deeper reason. The automation levels of the time were crude, but advanced enough to illustrate what the future of work would be like. Though the actuality of a factory run by computer was decades away, and robotization even further, workers understood that these things were no longer science fiction but distinct possibilities. There would come a time when manual work was no longer necessary. Subtly, the sense of what it meant to be ‘a worker’ changed.


The Deep Learning Revolution (The MIT Press) by Terrence J. Sejnowski

AI winter, Albert Einstein, algorithmic bias, algorithmic trading, AlphaGo, Amazon Web Services, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, behavioural economics, bioinformatics, cellular automata, Claude Shannon: information theory, cloud computing, complexity theory, computer vision, conceptual framework, constrained optimization, Conway's Game of Life, correlation does not imply causation, crowdsourcing, Danny Hillis, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, delayed gratification, Demis Hassabis, Dennis Ritchie, discovery of DNA, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, Drosophila, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, epigenetics, Flynn Effect, Frank Gehry, future of work, Geoffrey Hinton, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, Guggenheim Bilbao, Gödel, Escher, Bach, haute couture, Henri Poincaré, I think there is a world market for maybe five computers, industrial robot, informal economy, Internet of things, Isaac Newton, Jim Simons, John Conway, John Markoff, John von Neumann, language acquisition, Large Hadron Collider, machine readable, Mark Zuckerberg, Minecraft, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, Netflix Prize, Norbert Wiener, OpenAI, orbital mechanics / astrodynamics, PageRank, pattern recognition, pneumatic tube, prediction markets, randomized controlled trial, Recombinant DNA, recommendation engine, Renaissance Technologies, Rodney Brooks, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Socratic dialogue, speech recognition, statistical model, Stephen Hawking, Stuart Kauffman, theory of mind, Thomas Bayes, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, traveling salesman, Turing machine, Von Neumann architecture, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, world market for maybe five computers, X Prize, Yogi Berra

Flynn, “Massive IQ Gains in 14 Nations: What IQ Tests Really Measure,” Psychological Bulletin 101, no. 2 (1987):171–191. Notes 289 39. S. Quartz and T. J. Sejnowski, Liars, Lovers, and Heroes: What the New Brain Science Reveals About How We Become Who We Are (New York: Harper Collins, 2002). 40. Douglas C. Engelbart, Augmented Intelligence: Smart Systems and the Future of Work and Learning, SRI Summary Report AFOSR-3223 (Washington, DC: Doug Engelbart Institute, October 1962). http://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment -3906.html. 41. M. Young, “Machine Learning Astronomy,” Sky and Telescope, December (2017): 20–27. 42. “Are ATMs Stealing Jobs?“ The Economist, June 15, 2011. https://www.economist .com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/06/technology-and-unemployment/. 43.


pages: 375 words: 105,586

A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth by Chris Smaje

agricultural Revolution, Airbnb, Alfred Russel Wallace, back-to-the-land, barriers to entry, biodiversity loss, Black Lives Matter, Boris Johnson, carbon footprint, circular economy, clean water, climate change refugee, collaborative consumption, Corn Laws, COVID-19, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, decarbonisation, degrowth, deindustrialization, dematerialisation, demographic transition, Deng Xiaoping, Donald Trump, energy transition, European colonialism, Extinction Rebellion, failed state, fake news, financial deregulation, financial independence, Food sovereignty, Ford Model T, future of work, Gail Bradbrook, garden city movement, Garrett Hardin, gentrification, global pandemic, Great Leap Forward, green new deal, Hans Rosling, hive mind, intentional community, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, Jevons paradox, land reform, mass immigration, megacity, middle-income trap, Murray Bookchin, Naomi Klein, Peace of Westphalia, peak oil, post-industrial society, precariat, profit maximization, profit motive, rent-seeking, rewilding, Rutger Bregman, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Steven Pinker, Stewart Brand, Ted Nordhaus, the scientific method, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, vertical integration, Washington Consensus, Wolfgang Streeck, zero-sum game

The Politics of Actually Existing Unsustainability: Human Flourishing in a Climate-Changed, Carbon-Constrained World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bastani, Aaron. 2019. Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto. London: Verso. Bello, Walden. 2009. The Food Wars. London: Verso. Benanav, Aaron. 2019. ‘Automation and the Future of Work – 2,’ New Left Review 120:117–46. Berners-Lee, Mike, and Duncan Clark. 2013. The Burning Question. London: Profile. Bernstein, Henry. 2009. ‘Agrarian Questions from Transition to Globalization,’ in Peasants and Globalization, edited by Haroon Akram-Lodhi and Cristóbal Kay. London: Routledge, 239–61. _______. 2016.


pages: 368 words: 106,185

A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-Or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine by Gregory Zuckerman

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Albert Einstein, blockchain, Boris Johnson, contact tracing, coronavirus, COVID-19, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, double helix, Edward Jenner, future of work, Recombinant DNA, ride hailing / ride sharing, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, stealth mode startup, stem cell, Steve Jobs, TikTok, Travis Kalanick, WeWork

Shit, this will be 1918, Bancel thought. On January 23, the third day of the forum, Chinese leaders locked down Wuhan and three other cities, in the biggest quarantine in history. The Chinese must know it’s bad and they’re not telling anyone, Bancel concluded. He looked around—heated discussions were under way about the future of work, blockchain traceability, and inclusivity. A tsunami was just beyond the horizon, yet everyone was frolicking on the beach. On Saturday morning, January 25, Bancel woke up scared. A pandemic was coming but his company wasn’t ready. The NIH planned to test Moderna’s vaccine but he didn’t know if the government agency could move quickly enough or if it was as frightened of the new virus as he had become.


pages: 864 words: 272,918

Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcolm Harris

2021 United States Capitol attack, Aaron Swartz, affirmative action, air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Amazon Web Services, Apple II, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, back-to-the-land, bank run, Bear Stearns, Big Tech, Bill Gates: Altair 8800, Black Lives Matter, Bob Noyce, book scanning, British Empire, business climate, California gold rush, Cambridge Analytica, capital controls, Charles Lindbergh, classic study, cloud computing, collective bargaining, colonial exploitation, colonial rule, Colonization of Mars, commoditize, company town, computer age, conceptual framework, coronavirus, corporate personhood, COVID-19, cuban missile crisis, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, desegregation, deskilling, digital map, double helix, Douglas Engelbart, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Erlich Bachman, estate planning, European colonialism, Fairchild Semiconductor, financial engineering, financial innovation, fixed income, Frederick Winslow Taylor, fulfillment center, future of work, Garrett Hardin, gentrification, George Floyd, ghettoisation, global value chain, Golden Gate Park, Google bus, Google Glasses, greed is good, hiring and firing, housing crisis, hydraulic fracturing, if you build it, they will come, illegal immigration, immigration reform, invisible hand, It's morning again in America, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, Joan Didion, John Markoff, joint-stock company, Jony Ive, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, land reform, Larry Ellison, Lean Startup, legacy carrier, life extension, longitudinal study, low-wage service sector, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Marc Andreessen, Marc Benioff, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Max Levchin, means of production, Menlo Park, Metcalfe’s law, microdosing, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Monroe Doctrine, Mont Pelerin Society, moral panic, mortgage tax deduction, Mother of all demos, move fast and break things, mutually assured destruction, new economy, Oculus Rift, off grid, oil shale / tar sands, PageRank, PalmPilot, passive income, Paul Graham, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, pets.com, phenotype, pill mill, platform as a service, Ponzi scheme, popular electronics, power law, profit motive, race to the bottom, radical life extension, RAND corporation, Recombinant DNA, refrigerator car, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, rising living standards, risk tolerance, Robert Bork, Robert Mercer, Robert Metcalfe, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, San Francisco homelessness, Sand Hill Road, scientific management, semantic web, sexual politics, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, social web, SoftBank, software as a service, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Stanford prison experiment, stem cell, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, stock buybacks, strikebreaker, Suez canal 1869, super pumped, TaskRabbit, tech worker, Teledyne, telemarketer, the long tail, the new new thing, thinkpad, Thorstein Veblen, Tim Cook: Apple, Tony Fadell, too big to fail, Toyota Production System, Tragedy of the Commons, transcontinental railway, traumatic brain injury, Travis Kalanick, TSMC, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, ubercab, union organizing, Upton Sinclair, upwardly mobile, urban decay, urban renewal, value engineering, Vannevar Bush, vertical integration, Vision Fund, W. E. B. Du Bois, War on Poverty, warehouse robotics, Wargames Reagan, Washington Consensus, white picket fence, William Shockley: the traitorous eight, women in the workforce, Y Combinator, Y2K, Yogi Berra, éminence grise

Amazon’s owners are allergic to sharing power, and its stock was a bet on capitalists not having to do that rather than on any particular technology. It’s the same bet that has drawn investment capital to the West Coast for a long time, and it has continued to pay off into what was supposed to be the future. Once upon a time, the world’s most valuable company was a similar bet, one against the future of working-class power in American manufacturing. It wasn’t Steve Jobs’s “think different” vision or even Steve Wozniak’s circuit-design brilliance that drew Xerox into the partnership that gave Apple that influential look at PARC’s Alto; it was the secret network of Peninsula kitchens and basements where immigrant families assembled Apple’s electronics.

Janko Roettgers, “Whatever Happened to Red Swoosh?” GigaOm, May 3, 2008; David Meyer, “eBay Sells StumbleUpon back to founders,” ZDNet, April 14, 2009. 12. Emma G. Fitzsimmons, “Why Are Taxi Drivers in New York Killing Themselves?” New York Times, December 2, 2018. 13. Aaron Benanav, Automation and the Future of Work (New York: Verso Books, 2020), 60. 14. Brad Stone, The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World (New York: Little, Brown, 2017), 329. 15. Rowland Manthorpe, “Forget Uber vs Lyft, the Real Funding Battle Is between Saudi Princes and Canadian Teachers,” Wired UK, October 20, 2017. 16.


pages: 414 words: 119,116

The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World by Michael Marmot

active measures, active transport: walking or cycling, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Atul Gawande, Bonfire of the Vanities, Broken windows theory, cakes and ale, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, Celtic Tiger, centre right, clean water, cognitive load, congestion charging, correlation does not imply causation, Doha Development Round, epigenetics, financial independence, future of work, Gini coefficient, Growth in a Time of Debt, illegal immigration, income inequality, Indoor air pollution, Kenneth Rogoff, Kibera, labour market flexibility, longitudinal study, lump of labour, Mahatma Gandhi, Mahbub ul Haq, meta-analysis, microcredit, move 37, New Urbanism, obamacare, paradox of thrift, race to the bottom, Rana Plaza, RAND corporation, road to serfdom, Simon Kuznets, Socratic dialogue, structural adjustment programs, the built environment, The Spirit Level, trickle-down economics, twin studies, urban planning, Washington Consensus, Winter of Discontent, working poor

It is planned and requires certain general societal conditions: low unionisation – or else working conditions would be better; lack of alternative employment – people would go elsewhere; relentless attention to the profit margin; and tolerance, or even fostering, by the society of this type of employment. If work and employment can be a cause of ill-health, we need, as elsewhere, to look at the causes of the causes – why work and employment are the way they are. Is Alan’s work a grim predictor of the future of work, divided into high-paid, high-skilled work at the top, drone-like work at the bottom, and a diminishing middle? We will examine the evidence on work and health in a moment, but first . . . IF YOU THINK ALAN HAD IT BAD . . . Lalta was a human scavenger. Her occupation, and that of a million or so others like her in India, was to clean human excrement out of dry latrines by hand, pile it in a reed basket, carry it on her head to a dumping place and deposit it.


pages: 464 words: 116,945

Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism by David Harvey

accounting loophole / creative accounting, Alvin Toffler, bitcoin, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, BRICs, British Empire, business climate, California gold rush, call centre, central bank independence, Charles Babbage, classic study, clean water, cloud computing, collapse of Lehman Brothers, colonial rule, company town, cotton gin, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, death from overwork, deindustrialization, demographic dividend, Deng Xiaoping, deskilling, drone strike, end world poverty, falling living standards, fiat currency, first square of the chessboard, first square of the chessboard / second half of the chessboard, Food sovereignty, Frank Gehry, future of work, gentrification, global reserve currency, Great Leap Forward, Guggenheim Bilbao, Gunnar Myrdal, Herbert Marcuse, income inequality, informal economy, invention of the steam engine, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Jane Jacobs, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Joseph Schumpeter, Just-in-time delivery, knowledge worker, low skilled workers, Mahatma Gandhi, market clearing, Martin Wolf, means of production, microcredit, military-industrial complex, Money creation, Murray Bookchin, new economy, New Urbanism, Occupy movement, peak oil, phenotype, planned obsolescence, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, quantitative easing, rent-seeking, reserve currency, road to serfdom, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, Savings and loan crisis, scientific management, short selling, Silicon Valley, special economic zone, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Thorstein Veblen, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, wages for housework, Wall-E, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population

Where three thousand years ago we could say with confidence that the technologies used a hundred years hence would resemble those currently in place, now we can barely predict the shape of technology fifty years ahead.8 So where, in this process of ‘combinatorial evolution’, lies the contradiction or contradictions that might threaten profitability and endless capital accumulation? There are, I want to suggest, two contradictions of huge import for the future prospects of capital. The first concerns technology’s dynamic relation to nature. This will be the subject of Contradiction 16. The second concerns the relationship between technological change, the future of work and the role of labour in relation to capital. This is the contradiction we will examine here. Control over the labour process and the labourer has always been central to capital’s ability to sustain profitability and capital accumulation. Throughout its history, capital has invented, innovated and adopted technological forms whose dominant aim has been to enhance capital’s control over labour in both the labour process and the labour market.


pages: 354 words: 118,970

Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, Abraham Maslow, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, airline deregulation, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, augmented reality, basic income, Bear Stearns, behavioural economics, Bernie Sanders, Black-Scholes formula, Blitzscaling, buy and hold, capital controls, Carl Icahn, computerized trading, Cornelius Vanderbilt, corporate governance, cryptocurrency, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, data science, deal flow, dematerialisation, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, Fairchild Semiconductor, financial deregulation, financial innovation, fixed income, future of work, George Akerlof, gig economy, Glass-Steagall Act, Henry Ford's grandson gave labor union leader Walter Reuther a tour of the company’s new, automated factory…, Ida Tarbell, index fund, information asymmetry, invisible hand, Irwin Jacobs, Joi Ito, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, Kenneth Arrow, Kickstarter, life extension, Long Term Capital Management, Mark Zuckerberg, Mary Meeker, mass immigration, means of production, Metcalfe’s law, Michael Milken, money market fund, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, Myron Scholes, Neal Stephenson, new economy, Norman Mailer, obamacare, PalmPilot, Paul Samuelson, Performance of Mutual Funds in the Period, Peter Thiel, price mechanism, principal–agent problem, profit maximization, proprietary trading, prudent man rule, public intellectual, quantitative trading / quantitative finance, Ralph Nader, Richard Thaler, road to serfdom, Robert Bork, Robert Metcalfe, rolodex, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Sand Hill Road, Savings and loan crisis, shareholder value, short selling, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, Snow Crash, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Steve Jobs, TaskRabbit, TED Talk, The Nature of the Firm, the payments system, the strength of weak ties, Thomas Kuhn: the structure of scientific revolutions, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, transaction costs, universal basic income, War on Poverty, white flight, working poor

That would be the way you found your next job or, if you were hiring somebody, your next employee (LinkedIn had a higher-priced service that gave employers access to its users’ information). Hoffman liked to say that your LinkedIn page is an autobiography, not a biography; another of his books is called The Start-Up of You. One of LinkedIn’s first moves was to ban résumés, because they would make it seem too conventional, too impersonal, insufficiently visionary about the future of work. Hoffman, in his ceaseless proselytizing for LinkedIn, presented it not as an online version of the want ads in a newspaper—that is, a database matching employees and employers—but as a true social network where each user created and managed a personal list of hundreds or even thousands of contacts with other members of LinkedIn.


pages: 521 words: 110,286

Them and Us: How Immigrants and Locals Can Thrive Together by Philippe Legrain

affirmative action, Albert Einstein, AlphaGo, autonomous vehicles, Berlin Wall, Black Lives Matter, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, British Empire, call centre, centre right, Chelsea Manning, clean tech, coronavirus, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, creative destruction, crowdsourcing, data science, David Attenborough, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, demographic dividend, digital divide, discovery of DNA, Donald Trump, double helix, Edward Glaeser, en.wikipedia.org, eurozone crisis, failed state, Fall of the Berlin Wall, future of work, illegal immigration, immigration reform, informal economy, Jane Jacobs, job automation, Jony Ive, labour market flexibility, lockdown, low cost airline, low interest rates, low skilled workers, lump of labour, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, Mary Meeker, mass immigration, moral hazard, Mustafa Suleyman, Network effects, new economy, offshore financial centre, open borders, open immigration, postnationalism / post nation state, purchasing power parity, remote working, Richard Florida, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rishi Sunak, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, Skype, SoftBank, Steve Jobs, tech worker, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, Tim Cook: Apple, Tyler Cowen, urban sprawl, WeWork, Winter of Discontent, women in the workforce, working-age population

, The Economist, 27 June 2019. https://www.economist.com/business/2019/06/27/will-a-robot-really-take-your-job 7 Melanie Arntz, Terry Gregory and Ulrich Zierahn, ‘The risk of automation for jobs in OECD countries: A comparative analysis’, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Paper 189, May 2016. https://doi.org/10.1787/5jlz9h56dvq7-en 8 For instance, consultants at McKinsey estimate that AI will both displace and create around 300,000 jobs a year in the 2020s in Europe’s ‘digital front-runners’. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/europe/shaping%20the%20future%20of%20work%20in%20europes%20nine%20digital%20front%20runner%20countries/shaping-the-future-of-work-in-europes-digital-front-runners.ashx 9 Richard Baldwin, The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization, Harvard, 2016. 10 See kwiziq.com 11 Richard Baldwin, The Great Convergence. 12 UNHCR, ‘Global Trends 2019’. https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2019/ 13 Cristina Cattaneo and Giovanni Peri, ‘The Migration Response to Increasing Temperatures’, NBER Working Paper 21622, October 2015. https://www.nber.org/papers/w21622.pdf 14 Jonathan Blitzer, ‘How Climate Change is Fuelling the US Border Crisis’, New Yorker, 3 April 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/how-climate-change-is-fuelling-the-us-border-crisis 15 UK Government Office for Science, ‘Foresight: Migration and Global Environmental Change’, 2011. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287722/11-1115-migration-and-global-environmental-change-summary.pdf 16 Guy J.


pages: 423 words: 126,096

Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity by Edward Tenner

A. Roger Ekirch, Apple Newton, Bonfire of the Vanities, card file, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Frederick Winslow Taylor, future of work, indoor plumbing, informal economy, invention of the telephone, invisible hand, Johannes Kepler, John Markoff, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Lewis Mumford, Multics, multilevel marketing, Network effects, optical character recognition, PalmPilot, QWERTY keyboard, safety bicycle, scientific management, Shoshana Zuboff, Stewart Brand, tacit knowledge, women in the workforce

Donald A. Norman’s The Psychology of Everyday Things (New York: Basic Books, 1988), now reprinted as The Design of Everyday Things, emphasizes the mental side of physical objects. The most important recent study of the body in today’s workplace is Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988). For the history of the visionary side of technology, mind, and body, there is Thierry Bardini’s Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000). In cyborg anthropology, the starting point is Donna Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991).


pages: 436 words: 141,321

Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness by Frederic Laloux, Ken Wilber

Abraham Maslow, Albert Einstein, augmented reality, blue-collar work, Boeing 747, Buckminster Fuller, call centre, carbon footprint, conceptual framework, corporate social responsibility, crowdsourcing, different worldview, driverless car, Easter island, failed state, fulfillment center, future of work, hiring and firing, holacracy, index card, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, job satisfaction, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kenneth Rogoff, meta-analysis, ocean acidification, pattern recognition, post-industrial society, quantitative trading / quantitative finance, radical decentralization, randomized controlled trial, selection bias, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, systems thinking, the market place, the scientific method, Tony Hsieh, warehouse automation, zero-sum game

This is not a theoretical model, not a utopian idea, but a very concrete way to run organizations from a higher stage of consciousness. If we accept that there is a direction to human evolution, then we hold here something rather extraordinary: the blueprint of the future of organizations, the blueprint to the future of work itself. I write this with full awareness that we are in the early days of this emerging phenomenon. I don’t mean to suggest that this book offers a definitive, fixed description of this upcoming organizational model. As more companies start to innovate in this field, as more researchers look at them from different angles, and as society as a whole evolves, more richness and texture will certainly be added to the picture.


Adam Smith: Father of Economics by Jesse Norman

active measures, Alan Greenspan, Andrei Shleifer, balance sheet recession, bank run, banking crisis, Basel III, Bear Stearns, behavioural economics, Berlin Wall, Black Swan, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, British Empire, Broken windows theory, business cycle, business process, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, centre right, cognitive dissonance, collateralized debt obligation, colonial exploitation, Corn Laws, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, crony capitalism, David Brooks, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, electricity market, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, experimental economics, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Fellow of the Royal Society, financial engineering, financial intermediation, frictionless, frictionless market, future of work, George Akerlof, Glass-Steagall Act, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, incomplete markets, information asymmetry, intangible asset, invention of the telescope, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Jean Tirole, John Nash: game theory, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, Kenneth Rogoff, lateral thinking, loss aversion, low interest rates, market bubble, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, means of production, mirror neurons, money market fund, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, moral panic, Naomi Klein, negative equity, Network effects, new economy, non-tariff barriers, Northern Rock, Pareto efficiency, Paul Samuelson, Peter Thiel, Philip Mirowski, price mechanism, principal–agent problem, profit maximization, public intellectual, purchasing power parity, random walk, rent-seeking, Richard Thaler, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, Ronald Coase, scientific worldview, seigniorage, Socratic dialogue, South Sea Bubble, special economic zone, speech recognition, Steven Pinker, The Chicago School, The Myth of the Rational Market, The Nature of the Firm, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Wisdom of Crowds, theory of mind, Thomas Malthus, Thorstein Veblen, time value of money, transaction costs, transfer pricing, Veblen good, Vilfredo Pareto, Washington Consensus, working poor, zero-sum game

For the Obama White House’s critique of market power, see ‘Benefits of Competition and Indicators of Market Power’, US Council of Economic Advisers Issue Brief, May 2016; Jan de Loecker and Jan Eeckhout, ‘The Rise of Market Power and the Macroeconomic Implications’, NBER Working Paper 23687, August 2017. On the erosion of real wages and the loss of trust within firms, see Robert Solow, ‘The Future of Work: Why Wages Aren’t Keeping Up’, Pacific Standard, 11 August 2015 Scalability of technology platforms: this is just one aspect of the economic effects of investment in intangible assets, which now outstrips investment in tangible assets in the US and UK. For a pioneering analysis see Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake, Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy, Princeton University Press 2017 ‘Competition is for losers’: Peter Thiel, Wall Street Journal, 12 September 2014 Effects of information and choice overload, especially on the poor: see Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, Scarcity: The True Cost of Not Having Enough, Allen Lane 2013 Consumer detriment from UK retail electricity market: UK Competition and Markets Authority, Energy Market Investigation: Final Report, 24 June 2016 Volkswagen scandal: see Frank Dohmen and Dieter Hawranek, ‘Collusion between Germany’s Biggest Carmakers’, Der Spiegel, 27 July 2017, and Jack Ewing, Faster, Higher, Farther: The Inside Story of the Volkswagen Scandal, Bantam Press 2017 Limits of competition policy: recent arguments, and disparate US and EU views, are explored by John Vickers in ‘Competition Policy and Property Rights’, Economic Journal, 120.544, 2010 Hidden costs of price comparison websites: see e.g.


pages: 459 words: 138,689

Slowdown: The End of the Great Acceleration―and Why It’s Good for the Planet, the Economy, and Our Lives by Danny Dorling, Kirsten McClure

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Anthropocene, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Boeing 747, Boris Johnson, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, carbon tax, clean water, creative destruction, credit crunch, Donald Trump, drone strike, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Extinction Rebellion, fake news, Flynn Effect, Ford Model T, full employment, future of work, gender pay gap, global supply chain, Google Glasses, Great Leap Forward, Greta Thunberg, Henri Poincaré, illegal immigration, immigration reform, income inequality, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, Isaac Newton, It's morning again in America, James Dyson, Jeremy Corbyn, jimmy wales, John Harrison: Longitude, Kickstarter, low earth orbit, Mark Zuckerberg, market clearing, Martin Wolf, mass immigration, means of production, megacity, meta-analysis, military-industrial complex, mortgage debt, negative emissions, nuclear winter, ocean acidification, Overton Window, pattern recognition, Ponzi scheme, price stability, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, QWERTY keyboard, random walk, rent control, rising living standards, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, School Strike for Climate, Scramble for Africa, sexual politics, Skype, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, structural adjustment programs, Suez crisis 1956, the built environment, Tim Cook: Apple, time dilation, transatlantic slave trade, trickle-down economics, very high income, wealth creators, wikimedia commons, working poor

Alain Badiou, The True Life, trans. Susan Spitzer (Cambridge: Polity, 2017), 41. 8. Stefan Kühn et al., World Employment and Social Outlook (Geneva: ILO, 2018), https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_615590/lang—en/index.htm. 9. Cyril Ramaphosa and Stefan Löfven, Global Commission on the Future of Work (Geneva: ILO, 2019), https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_663006/lang—en/index.htm. 10. Steven Kapsos (head of the ILO’s Data Production and Analysis Unit), Just 10 Per Cent of Workers Receive Nearly Half of Global Pay (Geneva: ILO, 2019), https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_712234/lang—en/index.htm. 11.


pages: 505 words: 138,917

Open: The Story of Human Progress by Johan Norberg

Abraham Maslow, additive manufacturing, affirmative action, Albert Einstein, anti-globalists, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, Bletchley Park, Brexit referendum, British Empire, business cycle, business process, California gold rush, carbon tax, citizen journalism, classic study, Clayton Christensen, clean water, cognitive dissonance, collective bargaining, Corn Laws, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, crony capitalism, decarbonisation, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, digital map, Donald Trump, Edward Jenner, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, falling living standards, Filter Bubble, financial innovation, flying shuttle, Flynn Effect, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, Galaxy Zoo, George Gilder, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, global supply chain, global village, green new deal, humanitarian revolution, illegal immigration, income per capita, Indoor air pollution, indoor plumbing, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Islamic Golden Age, James Watt: steam engine, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John von Neumann, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, labour mobility, Lao Tzu, liberal capitalism, manufacturing employment, mass immigration, negative emissions, Network effects, open borders, open economy, Pax Mongolica, place-making, profit motive, RAND corporation, regulatory arbitrage, rent control, Republic of Letters, road to serfdom, Ronald Reagan, Schrödinger's Cat, sharing economy, side project, Silicon Valley, Solyndra, spice trade, stem cell, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Pinker, tacit knowledge, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, too big to fail, trade liberalization, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, Tyler Cowen, Uber for X, ultimatum game, universal basic income, World Values Survey, Xiaogang Anhui farmers, zero-sum game

Krugman, ‘Why most economists’ predictions are wrong’, The Red Herring, June 1998. 42 Edstrom and Eller, 1998, p. 10. 43 Ibid, p. 200. 44 ‘Some believe computers can have evil effects’, Daytona Beach Morning Journal, 15 December 1962. 45 J. Bessen, ‘The automation paradox’, The Atlantic, January 2016. 46 ‘Technology, jobs, and the future of work’, McKinsey Global Institute, briefing note, February 2017. 47 Postrel, 1998, p. 19. T. Murphy, ‘Your daily newt: A $40 billion entitlement for laptops’, Mother Jones, 20 December 2011, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/your-daily-newt-nutty-idea-im-just-tossing-out/(accessed 9 March 2020). 48 C.


pages: 420 words: 135,569

Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything―Even Things That Seem Impossible Today by Jane McGonigal

2021 United States Capitol attack, Airbnb, airport security, Alvin Toffler, augmented reality, autism spectrum disorder, autonomous vehicles, availability heuristic, basic income, biodiversity loss, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, blockchain, circular economy, clean water, climate change refugee, cognitive bias, cognitive dissonance, Community Supported Agriculture, coronavirus, COVID-19, CRISPR, cryptocurrency, data science, decarbonisation, digital divide, disinformation, Donald Trump, drone strike, Elon Musk, fake news, fiat currency, future of work, Future Shock, game design, George Floyd, global pandemic, global supply chain, Greta Thunberg, income inequality, index card, Internet of things, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, Kickstarter, labor-force participation, lockdown, longitudinal study, Mason jar, mass immigration, meta-analysis, microbiome, Minecraft, moral hazard, open borders, pattern recognition, place-making, plant based meat, post-truth, QAnon, QR code, remote working, RFID, risk tolerance, School Strike for Climate, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Snapchat, social distancing, stem cell, TED Talk, telepresence, telepresence robot, The future is already here, TikTok, traumatic brain injury, universal basic income, women in the workforce, work culture , Y Combinator

I’ll explain my design process and give you all the information you need to create and run your own social simulation, about any future topic you want. Along the way, I will be giving you many forecasts for the next decade of unthinkable change, covering everything from the future of learning and the future of work to the future of food and the future of money; from the future of social media and the future of health care to the future of climate action and government—all so you have a better idea of the risks, opportunities, and dilemmas ahead. These ten-year forecasts will help you become more resilient to future shocks.


pages: 458 words: 132,912

The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America by Victor Davis Hanson

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 2021 United States Capitol attack, 23andMe, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, airport security, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, Boeing 737 MAX, borderless world, bread and circuses, British Empire, business climate, business cycle, carbon footprint, centre right, clean water, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, currency manipulation / currency intervention, defund the police, deindustrialization, deplatforming, disinformation, Donald Trump, Dr. Strangelove, drone strike, El Camino Real, fake news, Ferguson, Missouri, fixed income, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, George Floyd, Gini coefficient, global pandemic, Herbert Marcuse, high-speed rail, Honoré de Balzac, illegal immigration, immigration reform, income inequality, Jeff Bezos, Joseph Schumpeter, laissez-faire capitalism, lockdown, Mark Zuckerberg, mass immigration, mass incarceration, Menlo Park, microaggression, military-industrial complex, mortgage debt, Nate Silver, new economy, New Urbanism, obamacare, old-boy network, Paris climate accords, Parler "social media", peak oil, Potemkin village, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Mercer, Ronald Reagan, school choice, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Skype, social distancing, Social Justice Warrior, tech worker, Thomas L Friedman, transcontinental railway, upwardly mobile, vertical integration, WikiLeaks, working poor, Yom Kippur War, zero-sum game

Seventy-five years ago, during World War II, did the Franklin Roosevelt administration outsource the production of B-24 bombers to cheaper labor sites in Mexico, because the making of one larger bomber per hour at Willow Run, Michigan, was deemed too slow or too expensive?29 Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman, shortly after the 2016 election, similarly laughed at the idea that America would ever again need widescale manufacturing or assembly labor: “Nothing policy can do will bring back those lost jobs. The service sector is the future of work; but nobody wants to hear it.” No one wanted “to hear it” because implicit in Krugman’s bleak prognosis was the notion that “service jobs” pay far less with far fewer benefits than the lost industrial and manufacturing work. Krugman, like many liberal and conservative economists, at once largely discounted any notion that there might be disadvantages to importing vast quantities of Chinese-made foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals.


AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee, Chen Qiufan

3D printing, Abraham Maslow, active measures, airport security, Albert Einstein, AlphaGo, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, artificial general intelligence, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, basic income, bitcoin, blockchain, blue-collar work, Cambridge Analytica, carbon footprint, Charles Babbage, computer vision, contact tracing, coronavirus, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, COVID-19, CRISPR, cryptocurrency, DALL-E, data science, deep learning, deepfake, DeepMind, delayed gratification, dematerialisation, digital map, digital rights, digital twin, Elon Musk, fake news, fault tolerance, future of work, Future Shock, game design, general purpose technology, global pandemic, Google Glasses, Google X / Alphabet X, GPT-3, happiness index / gross national happiness, hedonic treadmill, hiring and firing, Hyperloop, information security, Internet of things, iterative process, job automation, language acquisition, low earth orbit, Lyft, Maslow's hierarchy, mass immigration, mirror neurons, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, mutually assured destruction, natural language processing, Neil Armstrong, Nelson Mandela, OpenAI, optical character recognition, pattern recognition, plutocrats, post scarcity, profit motive, QR code, quantitative easing, Richard Feynman, ride hailing / ride sharing, robotic process automation, Satoshi Nakamoto, self-driving car, seminal paper, Silicon Valley, smart cities, smart contracts, smart transportation, Snapchat, social distancing, speech recognition, Stephen Hawking, synthetic biology, telemarketer, Tesla Model S, The future is already here, trolley problem, Turing test, uber lyft, universal basic income, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, zero-sum game

This transformation of how work gets done will not only result in severe unemployment, but potentially ignite a host of social problems, including depression, suicide, substance abuse, widening inequality, and social unrest. So where does that leave us? What can individuals, companies, and government do to mitigate potentially catastrophic consequences? What are the jobs that AI can and cannot displace? What is the future of work? Do we need a new social contract to redefine humans’ fundamental expectations around employment? If long hours of work for economic output are no longer a necessary feature of human life, how will we spend our time? The jobs most at risk of automation by AI tend to be routine and entry-level jobs.


pages: 636 words: 140,406

The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money by Bryan Caplan

affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, assortative mating, behavioural economics, conceptual framework, correlation does not imply causation, deliberate practice, deskilling, disruptive innovation, do what you love, driverless car, en.wikipedia.org, endogenous growth, experimental subject, fear of failure, Flynn Effect, future of work, George Akerlof, ghettoisation, hive mind, job satisfaction, Kenneth Arrow, Khan Academy, labor-force participation, longitudinal study, low interest rates, low skilled workers, market bubble, mass incarceration, meta-analysis, Peter Thiel, price discrimination, profit maximization, publication bias, risk tolerance, Robert Gordon, Ronald Coase, school choice, selection bias, Silicon Valley, statistical model, Steven Pinker, The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, the scientific method, The Wisdom of Crowds, trickle-down economics, twin studies, Tyler Cowen, unpaid internship, upwardly mobile, women in the workforce, yield curve, zero-sum game

What’s the point of prepping students for the economy of 2015, when they’ll be employed in the economy of 2025 or 2050? Fair enough, but this is no argument for old-school academics. Ignorance of the future is no excuse for preparing students for occupations they almost surely won’t have. And if we know anything about the future of work, we know that demand for authors, historians, political scientists, translators, physicists, and mathematicians will stay low. The crowd-pleasing objection to vocationalism, though, is not epistemic, but egalitarian. Placing everyone on the academic track seems more equal than sorting children by “aptitude” and assigning them to “suitable” training.


pages: 519 words: 155,332

Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall--And Those Fighting to Reverse It by Steven Brill

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, 2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, airport security, American Society of Civil Engineers: Report Card, asset allocation, behavioural economics, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Sanders, Blythe Masters, Bretton Woods, business process, call centre, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon tax, Carl Icahn, carried interest, clean water, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collective bargaining, computerized trading, corporate governance, corporate raider, corporate social responsibility, Credit Default Swap, currency manipulation / currency intervention, deal flow, Donald Trump, electricity market, ending welfare as we know it, failed state, fake news, financial deregulation, financial engineering, financial innovation, future of work, ghettoisation, Glass-Steagall Act, Gordon Gekko, hiring and firing, Home mortgage interest deduction, immigration reform, income inequality, invention of radio, job automation, junk bonds, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, labor-force participation, laissez-faire capitalism, low interest rates, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Milken, military-industrial complex, mortgage tax deduction, Neil Armstrong, new economy, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, obamacare, old-boy network, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, paper trading, Paris climate accords, performance metric, post-work, Potemkin village, Powell Memorandum, proprietary trading, quantitative hedge fund, Ralph Nader, ride hailing / ride sharing, Robert Bork, Robert Gordon, Robert Mercer, Ronald Reagan, Rutger Bregman, Salesforce, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, stock buybacks, Tax Reform Act of 1986, tech worker, telemarketer, too big to fail, trade liberalization, union organizing, Unsafe at Any Speed, War on Poverty, women in the workforce, working poor

In 2016 the average: Ibid. quantitative hedge funds: Gregory Zuckerman and Bradley Hope, “The Quants Run Wall Street Now,” Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/​articles/​the-quants-run-wall-street-now-1495389108?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosfutureofwork&stream=future-of-work. estimated to account for roughly half: Ryan Vlastelica, “High-Frequency Trading Has Reshaped Wall Street in Its Image,” Marketwatch, March 17, 2017, http://www.marketwatch.com/​story/​high-frequency-trading-has-reshaped-wall-street-in-its-image-2017-03-15?mg=prod/​accounts-mw. Joseph Flom: I wrote about Flom extensively, beginning in 1976, and got to know him well.


pages: 688 words: 147,571

Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence by Jacob Turner

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Ada Lovelace, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, AI winter, algorithmic bias, algorithmic trading, AlphaGo, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, Basel III, bitcoin, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, blockchain, brain emulation, Brexit referendum, Cambridge Analytica, Charles Babbage, Clapham omnibus, cognitive dissonance, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, correlation does not imply causation, crowdsourcing, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, distributed ledger, don't be evil, Donald Trump, driverless car, easy for humans, difficult for computers, effective altruism, Elon Musk, financial exclusion, financial innovation, friendly fire, future of work, hallucination problem, hive mind, Internet of things, iterative process, job automation, John Markoff, John von Neumann, Loebner Prize, machine readable, machine translation, medical malpractice, Nate Silver, natural language processing, Nick Bostrom, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, nudge unit, obamacare, off grid, OpenAI, paperclip maximiser, pattern recognition, Peace of Westphalia, Philippa Foot, race to the bottom, Ray Kurzweil, Recombinant DNA, Rodney Brooks, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, Stanislav Petrov, Stephen Hawking, Steve Wozniak, strong AI, technological singularity, Tesla Model S, The Coming Technological Singularity, The Future of Employment, The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver, trolley problem, Turing test, Vernor Vinge

The GDPR by contrast was not aimed specifically at AI, but its provisions seem likely to have some fairly drastic effects on the industry—potentially even beyond what its drafters might have intended.71 Taking forward the European Parliament’s call to bring forward binding legislation, in March 2018 the European Commission issued a call for a high-level expert group on artificial intelligence, which according to the Commission “will serve as the steering group for the European AI Alliance’s work, interact with other initiatives, help stimulate a multi-stakeholder dialogue, gather participants’ views and reflect them in its analysis and reports”.72 The work of the high-level expert group will include to “[p]ropose to the Commission AI ethics guidelines, covering issues such as fairness, safety, transparency, the future of work, democracy and more broadly the impact on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including privacy and personal data protection, dignity, consumer protection and non-discrimination”. In April 2018, 25 EU countries signed a joint declaration of cooperation on AI, the terms of which included a commitment to: “[e]xchange views on ethical and legal frameworks related to AI in order to ensure responsible AI deployment”.73 Despite these encouraging signs and worthy intentions, the EU’s regulatory agenda remains at an incipient stage. 4.4 USA In its final months, the Obama administration produced a major report on the Future of Artificial Intelligence, along with an accompanying strategy document.74 Though these focussed primarily on the economic impact of AI, they also covered (briefly) topics such as “AI and Regulation”, and “Fairness, Safety and Governance in AI”.75 In late 2016, a large group of US Universities, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, published “A Roadmap for US Robotics: From Internet to Robotics”, a 109-page document edited by Ryan Calo.76 This included calls for further work on AI ethics, safety and liability.


pages: 339 words: 57,031

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 1960s counterculture, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Alan Greenspan, Alvin Toffler, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, back-to-the-land, Bill Atkinson, bioinformatics, Biosphere 2, book value, Buckminster Fuller, business cycle, Californian Ideology, classic study, Claude Shannon: information theory, complexity theory, computer age, Computer Lib, conceptual framework, Danny Hillis, dematerialisation, distributed generation, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Dr. Strangelove, Dynabook, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Fairchild Semiconductor, Ford Model T, From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death, future of work, Future Shock, game design, George Gilder, global village, Golden Gate Park, Hacker Conference 1984, Hacker Ethic, Haight Ashbury, Herbert Marcuse, Herman Kahn, hive mind, Howard Rheingold, informal economy, intentional community, invisible hand, Ivan Sutherland, Jaron Lanier, John Gilmore, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, John von Neumann, Kevin Kelly, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, Lewis Mumford, market bubble, Marshall McLuhan, mass immigration, means of production, Menlo Park, military-industrial complex, Mitch Kapor, Mondo 2000, Mother of all demos, new economy, Norbert Wiener, peer-to-peer, post-industrial society, postindustrial economy, Productivity paradox, QWERTY keyboard, Ralph Waldo Emerson, RAND corporation, reality distortion field, Richard Stallman, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, South of Market, San Francisco, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, systems thinking, technoutopianism, Ted Nelson, Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Hackers Conference, the strength of weak ties, theory of mind, urban renewal, Vannevar Bush, We are as Gods, Whole Earth Catalog, Whole Earth Review, Yom Kippur War

Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the Shaping of Collective Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Zicklin, Gilbert. Countercultural Communes: A Sociological Perspective. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Zuboff, Shoshana. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Index abstract expressionism, 46, 47 “Access Mobile,” 71 Acid Tests, 65, 66 Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 108, 213 Albrecht, Bob, 70, 101, 113, 114, 133 Alinsky, Saul, Rules for Radicals, 98 Allison, Dennis, 252 Alloy, 96 –97, 273n54 Alpert, Richard (Baba Ram Dass), 61 Altair, 114, 274n1 alternative energy, 233 Alto, 111 American Indian Movement, 97 America Online, 161 analog computers, 20 Andreesen, Marc, 213 Ant Farm art and design collective, 86, 272n36 anti-aircraft predictor, 21, 25, 26, 95, 178 anti-automationists, 29 antiwar protests, 64, 74, 118, 209 AOL, 217 Apple Computer, 106, 116, 129, 139, 198, 247 Architecture Machine Group, 163, 177–78 Arcosanti, 81 ARPA community, 116 ARPANET, 28, 109, 117, 213 artificial intelligence, 177 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory, 116, 133, 134, 177 Artificial Life Conference, 198 –99 artificial-life movement, 203 Ashby, Ross, 26, 178 “Aspen Summit: Cyberspace and the American Dream II,” 230 Association for Computing Machinery / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ACM/IEEE), 110 AT&T, 182, 193 Atari, 134, 163 Atkinson, Bill, 137 Atlas missile system, 19 atomic bomb, 18 atomic era, 17, 30 –31, 243 atomic forecasting, 187 Aufderheide, Patricia, 230 Augmentation Research Center (ARC), 61, 106, 107– 8, 109, 110 Autodesk, 163 automaton, 21 Baba, Meher, 75 back-to-the-land movement, 73, 76, 244, 245 Baer, Steve, 81, 95, 96, 97, 109; Dome Cookbook, 94 Baldwin, Jay, 94 Barayón, Ramón Sender, 65, 146 Barbrook, Richard, 208, 259, 279n43 Bardini, Thierry, 105, 274n1 Barlow, John Perry: and Aspen conference, 223; and computational metaphor, 16; conference on bionomics, 224; contributions to Wired, 217, 218; “Crime and Puzzlement,” 171, 172 –74, 195; “Declaration of [ 313 ] [ 314 ] Index Barlow, John Perry (continued) the Independence of Cyberspace,” 13 –14; and Electronic Frontier Foundation, 172, 218, 220; experiences with mysticism and LSD, 165; forum on hacking on the WELL, 168 –70; and Grateful Dead, 166; and Kapor, 172; linked hacking and free speech as central components of “cyberspace,” 171; linking of virtual reality to LSD, 163, 165; longing to return to an egalitarian world, 248; notion of cyberspace as an electronic frontier, 162, 172 –74; shift from agricultural work to information work, 166; and the WELL, 3, 142, 155, 167; and the Whole Earth network, 7 Barnett, Steve, 191 Basch, Reva, 154, 155 BASIC programming language, 113, 114 Bateson, Gregory, 121–25; attacked mechanistic visions of the social and natural worlds, 126; bridged high technology and communitarian idealism, 124; Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry, 53; on ecological crisis, 276n42; intellectual influence on CQ, 124; and Macy Conferences, 26; rejection of transcendence, 123; and second-generation cybernetics, 123, 148; Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 123, 124, 165; theory of immanent mind, 123 –24; and “the pattern that connects,” 243; transformed cybernetic principles into communication-based theories of alcoholism, schizophrenia, and learning, 123; vision of material world as information system, 104 Bateson, Mary Catherine, 182, 189, 191 Battelle, John, 209, 216 Baxter, Richard, 171 Bay area computer programmers, 103 Beach, Scott, 102 Beat movement, 62 “Behavior, Purpose, and Teleology” (Rosenblueth, Wiener, and Bigelow), 22 “be-in,” 51–52, 269n20 Bell, Daniel, 32, 228, 245; The Coming of PostIndustrial Society, 241– 42 Berkeley Barb (magazine), 80, 114 Berners-Lee, Tim, 213 Berry, Wendell, 126 –27 Bertalanffy, Ludwig von, 265n43 Best, Eric, 221 Bevirt, Ron, 81 Big Brother & the Holding Company, 66 Bigelow, Alice, 226 Bigelow, Julian, 20, 21, 22, 122, 226 Big Rock Candy Mountain publishers, 70 Biondi, Frank, 208 bionomics, 224, 225 Biosphere, 176, 182, 190 Black Mountain College, 47 Black Panthers, 97 Black Power, 34 Blanchard, Chuck, 172 Boczkowski, Pablo, 271n7 Bolt, Baranek, and Newman, 134 Bonestell, Chesley, The Conquest of Space, 42 Bonner, Jay, 99 Borsook, Paulina, 226 “boundary object,” 72 Bourdieu, Pierre, 157 Bowker, Geoffrey, 25 –26, 84 Brand, Lois, 71, 74, 76, 113 Brand, Stewart, 3, 223; aimed to imitate the goals and tactics of American research culture, 78; at Alloy, 97; America Needs Indians, 66, 69, 270n49; analytical framework drawn from ecology and evolutionary biology, 44 – 45; argument that personal computer revolution and Internet grew out of counterculture, 103; and “Aspen Summit,” 231; association of cybernetics with alternative forms of communal organization, 43; authority across technological, economic, and cultural eras, 250 –51; brought together representatives of the technical world and former New Communalists, 109 –10, 116, 132, 216, 246, 247, 250, 255; buttons, 69; celebrated as a socio-technical visionary, 101; and coevolution, 121; coverage of Alloy, 96; crossing of disciplinary and professional boundaries, 249; cybernetic notion of organization-as-organism, 90; cybernetics as social and rhetorical resources for entrepreneurship, 5; definition of purpose of Catalog, 82 – 83; “Demise Party,” 101–2; depicted Media Lab as living demonstration of an alternative society, 179 – 81; description of Whole Earth as a “research organization,” 96; drew on systems theory to design the Catalog, 78; on Dyson, 227; editorial tactics, 79, 273n43; Index and Electronic Frontier Foundation, 172, 218; enthusiasm for computer-conferencing, 130; on faculty of School of Management and Strategic Studies, 129 –30; fear of living in a hyperrationalized world, 42 – 43; fear of Soviet attack in 1950s, 41– 42; first experience with LSD, 61; forum on hacking on the WELL, 168 –70; and Global Business Network, 176, 184, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193; and Hackers’ Conference, 139 – 40, 254; helped computers to be seen as “personal” technology, 105, 238; and Herman Kahn, 186; How Buildings Learn, 205; idealized vision of Native Americans, 59; idea that information-based products embodied an economic paradox, 136; imagined world as a series of overlapping information systems, 250; influence of Fuller on, 57; influence of Kesey on, 60; integration of ideas and people of Whole Earth into world of networked computing, 132; interview with Newsweek in 1980, 128 –29; introduction to Signal, 196; issues facing hackers to the themes of countercultural work and the Whole Earth group, 139; Kesey as role model, 65; and Learning Conferences, 181– 83; linking of information technologies to New Communalist politics, 216; Long Now Foundation, 206, 285n67; as a manager, 79, 89 –90; The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT, 178 – 81; and the Merry Pranksters, 61– 62; military service, 46; mirror logic of cybernetics, 259; at MIT’s Media Lab, 177; modeled the synthesis of counterculture and research culture, 253; multimedia pieces, 270n49; networked cultural entrepreneurship, 251– 55; network forums, 239, 249 –50; “New Games Tournament,” 120; in New York art scene, 46; on outer space, 127; Point Foundation, 120; at Portola Institute, 70; portrayal of Nicholas Negroponte, 179 – 80; principle of juxtaposition, 84; private online conference for software reviewers, 131; reaction to the libertarianism of the mid-1990s, 287n49; reconfigured the cultural status of information and information technologies, 8, 238 –39, 249; repudiated the Catalog’s New Communalist origins, 121; response to criticism of Catalog’s poli- [ 315 ] tics, 99 –100; return to the Whole Earth Catalog, 120; search for individual freedom, 45; search for new, flexible modes of living, 59; and Software Catalog, 130 –31; “Spacewar: Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death among the Computer Bums,” 116 –18; “Sticking Your Head in Cyberspace,” 195; “Transcendental planning,” 90 –91; transcript of the Hacker Ethic forum, 138; travels after discharge from the army, 48; and Trips Festival, 65 – 68; turn back toward the computer industry, 104; visit to Drop City, 74; and the WELL, 141, 142 – 43, 145 – 46; work with USCO, 49, 51; writing for Wired, 217; and Xerox PARC, 246 – 47 Branwyn, Gareth, 81 Brautigan, Richard, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” 38 –39 Breines, Wini, 267n80 Briarpatch Society, 70 Brilliant, Larry, 141, 142 Britton, Lois, 273n44 Brockman, John, 129, 130, 290n24 Broderbund Software Inc., 135 Bronson, Po, 225 Brown, Jerry, 186 Browning, Page, 61 Budge, Bill, 135 bulletin board system (BBS), 144, 247 Burnham, Jack, 268n13 Burroughs, William, 62 Burstein, Daniel, 287n37 Burt, Ronald, 5, 135 Bush, Vannevar, 17, 20, 24, 229; “As We May Think,” 106 –7 Business 2.0 (magazine), 207 butterfly ecology, 43 Byte (magazine), 137 Cage, John, 43, 46 – 47, 67; Theatre Piece No. 1, 47– 48 “Californian Ideology,” 208, 285n4 Callahan, Michael, 48, 51, 66 Callon, Michelle, 277n71 Calvert, Greg, 35 Calvin, William, 191 Cameron, Andy, 208, 259 Carlston, Doug, 135 Carpenter, Edmund, 53 Carroll, Jon, 143, 155 [ 316 ] Index Castañeda, Carlos, 92 Castells, Manuel, 149, 242, 278n23 Center for Linear Studies, 198 Centre Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), 213 Ceruzzi, Paul, 105 – 6, 129 “Cheerful Robot,” 29 Christian right, 215 CIA, MK-ULTRA program, 60 Citibank/Citicorp, 198 Citizens’ Band radio, 144 civil rights movement, 31, 34, 35 Clinton, Bill, 215 closed informational system, 17 Club of Rome, The Limits to Growth, 120 Coate, John, 146 – 47, 148, 155, 159 “coevolution,” 121 CoEvolution Quarterly, 97, 120 –22, 131, 132, 176, 186, 194 cold war era: artistic process, 47; engagement of universities with, 12; mechanistic world, 62.


pages: 530 words: 147,851

Small Men on the Wrong Side of History: The Decline, Fall and Unlikely Return of Conservatism by Ed West

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, anti-communist, assortative mating, battle of ideas, Beeching cuts, Berlin Wall, Black Lives Matter, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, British Empire, Broken windows theory, Bullingdon Club, centre right, clean water, cognitive dissonance, Corn Laws, David Attenborough, David Brooks, deindustrialization, delayed gratification, desegregation, different worldview, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, Etonian, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Ferguson, Missouri, future of work, gender pay gap, George Santayana, Herbert Marcuse, illegal immigration, Jeremy Corbyn, labor-force participation, laissez-faire capitalism, lump of labour, mass immigration, means of production, megacity, meta-analysis, moral hazard, moral panic, Neil Kinnock, Nelson Mandela, Norman Mailer, obamacare, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Overton Window, pattern recognition, Ralph Nader, replication crisis, rising living standards, Ronald Reagan, Scientific racism, Social Justice Warrior, Stephen Fry, Steve Bannon, Steven Pinker, TED Talk, Thomas Malthus, Tragedy of the Commons, Turing test, twin studies, urban decay, War on Poverty, Winter of Discontent, zero-sum game

In 2007 total student debt in the US was $545 billion; in 2017 it was $1.5 trillion. Some 40 per cent will default. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/reports/2019/06/12/470893/addressing-1-5-trillion-federal-student-loan-debt/. 14 http://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/dismissed-by-degrees.pdf. 15 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/08/the-church-of-trump/567425/. 16 https://www.voterstudygroup.org/publications/2018-voter-survey/religious-trump-voters. 17 https://unherd.com/2018/09/catholics-bring-merkel/. 18 https://unherd.com/2018/09/worships-church-trump/. 19 Kirk, The Conservative Mind. 20 The blogger Spotted Toad came up with this theory, https://twitter.com/toad_spotted/status/1055864889019895808. 21 https://psyarxiv.com/ak642/. 22 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/today-programme-loses-65-000-listeners-as-audience-tunes-out-lc67xxsw7?


pages: 569 words: 156,139

Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone

activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, air freight, Airbnb, Amazon Picking Challenge, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Web Services, autonomous vehicles, Bernie Sanders, big data - Walmart - Pop Tarts, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, business climate, call centre, carbon footprint, Clayton Christensen, cloud computing, Colonization of Mars, commoditize, company town, computer vision, contact tracing, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, crowdsourcing, data science, deep learning, disinformation, disintermediation, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Elon Musk, fake news, fulfillment center, future of work, gentrification, George Floyd, gigafactory, global pandemic, Greta Thunberg, income inequality, independent contractor, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, John Markoff, Kiva Systems, Larry Ellison, lockdown, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Zuckerberg, Masayoshi Son, mass immigration, minimum viable product, move fast and break things, Neal Stephenson, NSO Group, Paris climate accords, Peter Thiel, Ponzi scheme, Potemkin village, private spaceflight, quantitative hedge fund, remote working, rent stabilization, RFID, Robert Bork, Ronald Reagan, search inside the book, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Snapchat, social distancing, SoftBank, SpaceX Starlink, speech recognition, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, tech billionaire, tech bro, techlash, TED Talk, Tim Cook: Apple, Tony Hsieh, too big to fail, Tragedy of the Commons, two-pizza team, Uber for X, union organizing, warehouse robotics, WeWork

Tucson, Arizona (2019 population: 545,000), tried to send a twenty-one-foot saguaro cactus to the company, which donated it to a museum. And on and on. Many city officials said they had no choice but to show their constituents they were vying for such a lucrative prize. “In my personal opinion, the future of work is all about technology and if you are not a participant in some way, your economy will be completely left behind,” said Ryan Smith, a director in the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, who worked on Las Vegas’s futile bid. The applications were routed to a small team of about half a dozen HR, PR, public policy, and economic development executives in Amazon’s Seattle and Washington, D.C., offices.


pages: 655 words: 156,367

The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era by Gary Gerstle

2021 United States Capitol attack, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Alvin Toffler, anti-communist, AOL-Time Warner, Bear Stearns, behavioural economics, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, blue-collar work, borderless world, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, British Empire, Broken windows theory, business cycle, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Cass Sunstein, collective bargaining, Cornelius Vanderbilt, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative destruction, crony capitalism, cuban missile crisis, David Brooks, David Graeber, death from overwork, defund the police, deindustrialization, democratizing finance, Deng Xiaoping, desegregation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Donald Trump, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, European colonialism, Ferguson, Missouri, financial deregulation, financial engineering, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, future of work, Future Shock, George Floyd, George Gilder, gig economy, Glass-Steagall Act, global supply chain, green new deal, Greenspan put, guns versus butter model, Haight Ashbury, Henry Ford's grandson gave labor union leader Walter Reuther a tour of the company’s new, automated factory…, Ida Tarbell, immigration reform, informal economy, invention of the printing press, invisible hand, It's morning again in America, Jeff Bezos, John Perry Barlow, Kevin Kelly, Kitchen Debate, low interest rates, Lyft, manufacturing employment, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, mass incarceration, Menlo Park, microaggression, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, millennium bug, Modern Monetary Theory, money market fund, Mont Pelerin Society, mortgage debt, mutually assured destruction, Naomi Klein, neoliberal agenda, new economy, New Journalism, Northern Rock, obamacare, Occupy movement, oil shock, open borders, Peter Thiel, Philip Mirowski, Powell Memorandum, precariat, price stability, public intellectual, Ralph Nader, Robert Bork, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Seymour Hersh, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Silicon Valley startup, social distancing, Steve Bannon, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, Strategic Defense Initiative, super pumped, technoutopianism, Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Chicago School, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, too big to fail, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, urban decay, urban renewal, War on Poverty, Washington Consensus, We are all Keynesians now, We are the 99%, white flight, Whole Earth Catalog, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, Works Progress Administration, Y2K, Yom Kippur War

For more on race, neoliberalism, and prisons, see Marie Gottschalk, Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of America’s Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015); Ruth Gilmore Wilson, Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007); Heather Ann Thompson, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (New York: Pantheon, 2016); Elizabeth Hinton, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016); Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, Getting Tough: Welfare and Imprisonment in 1970s America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017). Irwin, Miller, and Sanger-Katz, America’s Racial Divide: Charted. 22.On the new gig economy, see Sarah Kessler, Gigged: The Economy, the End of the Job and the Future of Work (London: Random House Business, 2019); Jia Tolentino, “The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death,” New Yorker, March 22, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/the-gig-economy-celebrates-working-yourself-to-death, accessed June 28, 2021; Nathan Heller, “Is the Gig Economy Working?”


pages: 596 words: 163,682

The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind by Raghuram Rajan

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, air traffic controllers' union, airline deregulation, Albert Einstein, Andrei Shleifer, banking crisis, barriers to entry, basic income, battle of ideas, Bernie Sanders, blockchain, borderless world, Bretton Woods, British Empire, Build a better mousetrap, business cycle, business process, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carl Icahn, central bank independence, computer vision, conceptual framework, corporate governance, corporate raider, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, crony capitalism, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, currency manipulation / currency intervention, data acquisition, David Brooks, Deng Xiaoping, desegregation, deskilling, disinformation, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, facts on the ground, financial innovation, financial repression, full employment, future of work, Glass-Steagall Act, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, high net worth, household responsibility system, housing crisis, Ida Tarbell, illegal immigration, income inequality, industrial cluster, intangible asset, invention of the steam engine, invisible hand, Jaron Lanier, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, labor-force participation, Les Trente Glorieuses, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, means of production, Money creation, moral hazard, Network effects, new economy, Nicholas Carr, obamacare, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, race to the bottom, Richard Thaler, Robert Bork, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, Sam Peltzman, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, social distancing, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, SoftBank, South China Sea, South Sea Bubble, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Steve Jobs, superstar cities, The Future of Employment, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade liberalization, trade route, transaction costs, transfer pricing, Travis Kalanick, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, universal basic income, Upton Sinclair, Walter Mischel, War on Poverty, women in the workforce, working-age population, World Values Survey, Yom Kippur War, zero-sum game

Also see Scribner, Fight for Local Control, 175–76. 28. Joseph Fuller, Manjari Raman et al., “Dismissed by Degrees: How Degree Inflation is Undermining US Competitiveness and Hurting America’s Middle Class,” published by Accenture, Grads of Life, Harvard Business School, October 2017, https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/dismissed-by-degrees.pdf. 29. Zoe Baird and Rework America, America’s Moment: Creating Opportunity in the Connected Age (New York: Norton, 2015), 192. 30. “PISA 2015, Results in Focus.” OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-in-focus.pdf 31.


pages: 526 words: 160,601

A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America by Bruce Cannon Gibney

1960s counterculture, 2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, affirmative action, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Alan Greenspan, AlphaGo, American Society of Civil Engineers: Report Card, Bear Stearns, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter, bond market vigilante , book value, Boston Dynamics, Bretton Woods, business cycle, buy and hold, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Charles Lindbergh, classic study, cognitive dissonance, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collateralized debt obligation, corporate personhood, Corrections Corporation of America, currency manipulation / currency intervention, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, dark matter, DeepMind, Deng Xiaoping, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, ending welfare as we know it, equal pay for equal work, failed state, financial deregulation, financial engineering, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, future of work, gender pay gap, gig economy, Glass-Steagall Act, Haight Ashbury, Higgs boson, high-speed rail, Home mortgage interest deduction, Hyperloop, illegal immigration, impulse control, income inequality, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, James Carville said: "I would like to be reincarnated as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.", Jane Jacobs, junk bonds, Kitchen Debate, labor-force participation, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, Lyft, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, mass immigration, mass incarceration, McMansion, medical bankruptcy, Menlo Park, Michael Milken, military-industrial complex, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, mortgage debt, mortgage tax deduction, Neil Armstrong, neoliberal agenda, Network effects, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, obamacare, offshore financial centre, oil shock, operation paperclip, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, price stability, prosperity theology / prosperity gospel / gospel of success, quantitative easing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, RAND corporation, rent control, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, Rubik’s Cube, Savings and loan crisis, school choice, secular stagnation, self-driving car, shareholder value, short selling, side project, Silicon Valley, smart grid, Snapchat, source of truth, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, stock buybacks, survivorship bias, TaskRabbit, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tim Cook: Apple, too big to fail, War on Poverty, warehouse robotics, We are all Keynesians now, white picket fence, Whole Earth Catalog, women in the workforce, Y2K, Yom Kippur War, zero-sum game

* For most purposes, people in prisons don’t count toward the unemployment rate, though they are basically unemployed, and were US incarceration rates at developed world norms, unemployment would be about half a point higher. * Another disclosure: I have invested in several gig companies, like TaskRabbit and Lyft, because a few years ago I began to suspect that gigs were the future of work. * One of which apparently went to the most recent Madame Trump, a skilled… model. A special class of H-1B visas exists for just these exceptional people. * Judge (sic) Kimba Wood’s nanny appears to have been properly hired under prior applicable laws; her sin was failing to respond forthrightly to the White House’s specific questions about nannies


pages: 603 words: 182,781

Aerotropolis by John D. Kasarda, Greg Lindsay

3D printing, air freight, airline deregulation, airport security, Akira Okazaki, Alvin Toffler, An Inconvenient Truth, Asian financial crisis, back-to-the-land, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, Berlin Wall, big-box store, blood diamond, Boeing 747, book value, borderless world, Boris Johnson, British Empire, business cycle, call centre, carbon footprint, Cesare Marchetti: Marchetti’s constant, Charles Lindbergh, Clayton Christensen, clean tech, cognitive dissonance, commoditize, company town, conceptual framework, credit crunch, David Brooks, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, Deng Xiaoping, deskilling, digital map, disruptive innovation, Dr. Strangelove, Dutch auction, Easter island, edge city, Edward Glaeser, Eyjafjallajökull, failed state, financial engineering, flag carrier, flying shuttle, food miles, Ford Model T, Ford paid five dollars a day, Frank Gehry, fudge factor, fulfillment center, full employment, future of work, Future Shock, General Motors Futurama, gentleman farmer, gentrification, Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute, George Gilder, global supply chain, global village, gravity well, Great Leap Forward, Haber-Bosch Process, Hernando de Soto, high-speed rail, hive mind, if you build it, they will come, illegal immigration, inflight wifi, intangible asset, interchangeable parts, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), intermodal, invention of the telephone, inventory management, invisible hand, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, Jevons paradox, Joan Didion, Kangaroo Route, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, kremlinology, land bank, Lewis Mumford, low cost airline, Marchetti’s constant, Marshall McLuhan, Masdar, mass immigration, McMansion, megacity, megaproject, Menlo Park, microcredit, military-industrial complex, Network effects, New Economic Geography, new economy, New Urbanism, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), peak oil, Pearl River Delta, Peter Calthorpe, Peter Thiel, pets.com, pink-collar, planned obsolescence, pre–internet, RFID, Richard Florida, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Rubik’s Cube, savings glut, Seaside, Florida, Shenzhen special economic zone , Shenzhen was a fishing village, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, SimCity, Skype, smart cities, smart grid, South China Sea, South Sea Bubble, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, spice trade, spinning jenny, starchitect, stem cell, Steve Jobs, Suez canal 1869, sunk-cost fallacy, supply-chain management, sustainable-tourism, tech worker, telepresence, the built environment, The Chicago School, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the long tail, The Nature of the Firm, thinkpad, Thomas L Friedman, Thomas Malthus, Tony Hsieh, trade route, transcontinental railway, transit-oriented development, traveling salesman, trickle-down economics, upwardly mobile, urban planning, urban renewal, urban sprawl, vertical integration, Virgin Galactic, walkable city, warehouse robotics, white flight, white picket fence, Yogi Berra, zero-sum game

Mesa del Sol is an aerotropolis in the mold of the “no-collar workplace” imagined by Richard Florida: the twilight zone of multitasking knowledge workers drifting between home, cafés, the airport, and clients’ conferences and back. Like Florida—who once switched academic posts to be closer to Dulles—the Ratner clan believes the future of work belongs to those of us who do it wherever we want, whenever we want, so long as we do it longer and harder than anyone else. They aim to give us the city we deserve, a hub enabling our dispersal. No one can work from home forever—Kasarda’s Law still applies—but we can try. Forty percent of IBM’s employees don’t have an office, working either from home or at the client.


pages: 677 words: 206,548

Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It by Marc Goodman

23andMe, 3D printing, active measures, additive manufacturing, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Airbnb, airport security, Albert Einstein, algorithmic trading, Alvin Toffler, Apollo 11, Apollo 13, artificial general intelligence, Asilomar, Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, Baxter: Rethink Robotics, Bill Joy: nanobots, bitcoin, Black Swan, blockchain, borderless world, Boston Dynamics, Brian Krebs, business process, butterfly effect, call centre, Charles Lindbergh, Chelsea Manning, Citizen Lab, cloud computing, Cody Wilson, cognitive dissonance, computer vision, connected car, corporate governance, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, data acquisition, data is the new oil, data science, Dean Kamen, deep learning, DeepMind, digital rights, disinformation, disintermediation, Dogecoin, don't be evil, double helix, Downton Abbey, driverless car, drone strike, Edward Snowden, Elon Musk, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, Filter Bubble, Firefox, Flash crash, Free Software Foundation, future of work, game design, gamification, global pandemic, Google Chrome, Google Earth, Google Glasses, Gordon Gekko, Hacker News, high net worth, High speed trading, hive mind, Howard Rheingold, hypertext link, illegal immigration, impulse control, industrial robot, information security, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Harrison: Longitude, John Markoff, Joi Ito, Jony Ive, Julian Assange, Kevin Kelly, Khan Academy, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, knowledge worker, Kuwabatake Sanjuro: assassination market, Large Hadron Collider, Larry Ellison, Laura Poitras, Law of Accelerating Returns, Lean Startup, license plate recognition, lifelogging, litecoin, low earth orbit, M-Pesa, machine translation, Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall McLuhan, Menlo Park, Metcalfe’s law, MITM: man-in-the-middle, mobile money, more computing power than Apollo, move fast and break things, Nate Silver, national security letter, natural language processing, Nick Bostrom, obamacare, Occupy movement, Oculus Rift, off grid, off-the-grid, offshore financial centre, operational security, optical character recognition, Parag Khanna, pattern recognition, peer-to-peer, personalized medicine, Peter H. Diamandis: Planetary Resources, Peter Thiel, pre–internet, printed gun, RAND corporation, ransomware, Ray Kurzweil, Recombinant DNA, refrigerator car, RFID, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rodney Brooks, Ross Ulbricht, Russell Brand, Salesforce, Satoshi Nakamoto, Second Machine Age, security theater, self-driving car, shareholder value, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, SimCity, Skype, smart cities, smart grid, smart meter, Snapchat, social graph, SoftBank, software as a service, speech recognition, stealth mode startup, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, strong AI, Stuxnet, subscription business, supply-chain management, synthetic biology, tech worker, technological singularity, TED Talk, telepresence, telepresence robot, Tesla Model S, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, the long tail, The Wisdom of Crowds, Tim Cook: Apple, trade route, uranium enrichment, Virgin Galactic, Wall-E, warehouse robotics, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, Wave and Pay, We are Anonymous. We are Legion, web application, Westphalian system, WikiLeaks, Y Combinator, you are the product, zero day

They can find their ways to any guest’s room and deliver that toothbrush you forgot or the room service you ordered, freeing up staff to work on other tasks. Momentum Machines’ burger bot can crank out 360 perfectly cooked-to-order hamburgers per hour, each with the precise toppings (lettuce, ketchup, onions) requested by the customer. A 2013 study by Oxford University on the future of work conducted a detailed analysis of over seven hundred occupations and concluded that 47 percent of U.S. employees are at high risk of losing their jobs to robotic automation as soon as 2023. Those working in the transportation field (taxi drivers, bus drivers, long-haul truck drivers, FedEx drivers, pizza delivery drivers) face particular risk, with up to a 90 percent certainty that their jobs will be replaced by autonomous vehicles.


pages: 935 words: 197,338

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby

"Susan Fowler" uber, 23andMe, 90 percent rule, Adam Neumann (WeWork), adjacent possible, Airbnb, Apple II, barriers to entry, Ben Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, Big Tech, bike sharing, Black Lives Matter, Blitzscaling, Bob Noyce, book value, business process, charter city, Chuck Templeton: OpenTable:, Clayton Christensen, clean tech, cloud computing, cognitive bias, collapse of Lehman Brothers, Colonization of Mars, computer vision, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, cryptocurrency, deal flow, Didi Chuxing, digital map, discounted cash flows, disruptive innovation, Donald Trump, Douglas Engelbart, driverless car, Dutch auction, Dynabook, Elon Musk, Fairchild Semiconductor, fake news, family office, financial engineering, future of work, game design, George Gilder, Greyball, guns versus butter model, Hacker Ethic, Henry Singleton, hiring and firing, Hyperloop, income inequality, industrial cluster, intangible asset, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, John Markoff, junk bonds, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, lateral thinking, liberal capitalism, Louis Pasteur, low interest rates, Lyft, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, Marshall McLuhan, Mary Meeker, Masayoshi Son, Max Levchin, Metcalfe’s law, Michael Milken, microdosing, military-industrial complex, Mitch Kapor, mortgage debt, move fast and break things, Network effects, oil shock, PalmPilot, pattern recognition, Paul Graham, paypal mafia, Peter Thiel, plant based meat, plutocrats, power law, pre–internet, price mechanism, price stability, proprietary trading, prudent man rule, quantitative easing, radical decentralization, Recombinant DNA, remote working, ride hailing / ride sharing, risk tolerance, risk/return, Robert Metcalfe, ROLM, rolodex, Ronald Coase, Salesforce, Sam Altman, Sand Hill Road, self-driving car, shareholder value, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart grid, SoftBank, software is eating the world, sovereign wealth fund, Startup school, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, super pumped, superconnector, survivorship bias, tech worker, Teledyne, the long tail, the new new thing, the strength of weak ties, TikTok, Travis Kalanick, two and twenty, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, urban decay, UUNET, vertical integration, Vilfredo Pareto, Vision Fund, wealth creators, WeWork, William Shockley: the traitorous eight, Y Combinator, Zenefits

Benchmark had first invested in WeWork in 2012, mainly because of its mesmerizing co-founder Adam Neumann, a six-foot-five-inch former Israeli naval officer with hair like Tarzan. WeWork’s rather humdrum business was to rent out short-term office space, enlivened with perks such as fruit water, free espresso, and the occasional ice-cream party. But Neumann had a way of elevating his mission. He claimed to be selling “the future of work,” or possibly a “capitalist kibbutz,” or maybe a “physical social network.” At the time of Benchmark’s investment, Neumann’s inspired marketing was filling his glassed-off cubicles with a buzzy clientele, and his grandiloquent ambition was catnip to power-law investors. At one point during his negotiations with Benchmark, Neumann asked for a preposterously high valuation.


pages: 669 words: 210,153

Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss

Abraham Maslow, Adam Curtis, Airbnb, Alexander Shulgin, Alvin Toffler, An Inconvenient Truth, artificial general intelligence, asset allocation, Atul Gawande, augmented reality, back-to-the-land, Ben Horowitz, Bernie Madoff, Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness, Beryl Markham, billion-dollar mistake, Black Swan, Blue Bottle Coffee, Blue Ocean Strategy, blue-collar work, book value, Boris Johnson, Buckminster Fuller, business process, Cal Newport, call centre, caloric restriction, caloric restriction, Carl Icahn, Charles Lindbergh, Checklist Manifesto, cognitive bias, cognitive dissonance, Colonization of Mars, Columbine, commoditize, correlation does not imply causation, CRISPR, David Brooks, David Graeber, deal flow, digital rights, diversification, diversified portfolio, do what you love, Donald Trump, effective altruism, Elon Musk, fail fast, fake it until you make it, fault tolerance, fear of failure, Firefox, follow your passion, fulfillment center, future of work, Future Shock, Girl Boss, Google X / Alphabet X, growth hacking, Howard Zinn, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jeff Bezos, job satisfaction, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Markoff, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, Lao Tzu, lateral thinking, life extension, lifelogging, Mahatma Gandhi, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Mason jar, Menlo Park, microdosing, Mikhail Gorbachev, MITM: man-in-the-middle, Neal Stephenson, Nelson Mandela, Nicholas Carr, Nick Bostrom, off-the-grid, optical character recognition, PageRank, Paradox of Choice, passive income, pattern recognition, Paul Graham, peer-to-peer, Peter H. Diamandis: Planetary Resources, Peter Singer: altruism, Peter Thiel, phenotype, PIHKAL and TIHKAL, post scarcity, post-work, power law, premature optimization, private spaceflight, QWERTY keyboard, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ray Kurzweil, recommendation engine, rent-seeking, Richard Feynman, risk tolerance, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, selection bias, sharing economy, side project, Silicon Valley, skunkworks, Skype, Snapchat, Snow Crash, social graph, software as a service, software is eating the world, stem cell, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, Stewart Brand, superintelligent machines, TED Talk, Tesla Model S, The future is already here, the long tail, The Wisdom of Crowds, Thomas L Friedman, traumatic brain injury, trolley problem, vertical integration, Wall-E, Washington Consensus, We are as Gods, Whole Earth Catalog, Y Combinator, zero-sum game

Covey), The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande) McGonigal, Jane: Finite and Infinite Games (James Carse), Suffering Is Optional (Cheri Huber), The Willpower Instinct (Kelly McGonigal), The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia (Bernard Suits) Miller, BJ: Any picture book of Mark Rothko art. Moynihan, Brendan: Money Game (Adam Smith), Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (John Brooks), The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (Gustave Le Bon) Mullenweg, Matt: The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work (Scott Berkun), How Proust Can Change Your Life (Alain de Botton), A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Rebecca Solnit), The Effective Executive; Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Peter Drucker), Words that Work (Frank Luntz), Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things (George Lakoff), History of the Peloponnesian War (Thucydides), Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Haruki Murakami), The Magus (John Fowles), The Everything Store (Brad Stone), The Halo Effect: . . . and the Eight Other Business Delusions that Deceive Managers (Phil Rosenzweig), Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott), On Writing Well (William Zinsser), Ernest Hemingway on Writing (Larry W.