WTF (What’s the Future?)

Americans fixate on job loss as the outcome of new technology. Society must broaden the narrative to acknowledge that tech allows companies “to do more,” which is why they succeed. Thus, society should be asking what technology will make possible. Already, artificial intelligence has permeated all industries, not just blue-collar work. Yet don’t blame tech for job loss; the blame lands squarely on human shoulders. “Robots are fundamentally stupid,” meaning they do only what people design them to do. Thus far, humans have largely used automation to replace jobs, a cost-cutting measure that makes the rich richer at workers’ expense. This is a dangerous trend: A workforce with no income would topple the economy. ...