Rise of the robots: technology and the threat of a jobless future

A blossoming debate on the effects of robotization upon both employment and inequality is now emerging among scholars in the Economics discipline. But it is markedly taking place among organizations, institutions, and policy advisors as well. Should we expect a new age of medieval techno-feudalism governed by a plutocracy who own machines and robots, helping them to enjoy even higher standards of living and possibly arrayed against the majority population deprived of the technology’s benefits? And relatedly, which kind of potential alternative policies and instru- ments can societies conceive in order to stem the threat of both massive unemployment and surging inequality? These questions are among the core issues discussed in Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future by the software developer and futurist Martin Ford.