Amidst the bickering over the debt ceiling debate over the past couple of weeks, one of the pundits claimed that we were headed for a major “structural change” as technology advancement drives improved efficiency and thus reduces the need for workers. In other words, the computers and robots are taking jobs away from humans and we had better expect that we will see higher unemployment . . . especially as computers become more sophisticated.
Its an interesting argument. But is it true? (Spoiler alert: I have no idea.) In fact, a few hours of research this weekend showed that this is a pretty hotly debated topic on blogs and even academic papers. But frankly, after reading much of this material, I was left with the distinct opinion that nobody really knows.
So, what say you? Are the computers taking our jobs?