Rise of the Robots

Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

By: Martin Ford

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

In a world of self-driving cars and big data, smart algorithms and Siri, we know that artificial intelligence is getting smarter every day. Though all these nifty devices and programs might make our lives easier, they're also well on their way to making "good" jobs obsolete. A computer winning Jeopardy might seem like a trivial, if impressive, feat, but the same technology is making paralegals redundant as it undertakes electronic discovery, and is soon to do the same for radiologists. And that, no doubt, will only be the beginning.

In Silicon Valley the phrase "disruptive technology" is tossed around on a casual basis. No one doubts that technology has the power to devastate entire industries and upend various sectors of the job market. But Rise of the Robots asks a bigger question: can accelerating technology disrupt our entire economic system to the point where a fundamental restructuring is required? Companies like Facebook and YouTube may only need a handful of employees to achieve enormous valuations, but what will be the fate of those of us not lucky or smart enough to have gotten into the great shift from human labor to computation?

The more Pollyannaish, or just simply uninformed, might imagine that this industrial revolution will unfold like the last: even as some jobs are eliminated, more will be created to deal with the new devices of a new era. In Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford argues that is absolutely not the case. Increasingly, machines will be able to take care of themselves, and fewer jobs will be necessary. The effects of this transition could be shattering. Unless we begin to radically reassess the fundamentals of how our economy works, we could have both an enormous population of the unemployed-the truck drivers, warehouse workers, cooks, lawyers, doctors, teachers, programmers, and many, many more, whose labors have been rendered superfluous by automated and intelligent machines.

©2015 Martin Ford (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

A very insightful look to the future but then the author goes socialistic

This book will really make you think about trends now taking place behind the scenes.

I couldn't believe the social babble the author then fabricated at the end of this book. The naïveté that you can give entire groups of people a salary and not have an offsetting inflationary cost and lack of overall motivation is very naïve. I don't see this author as an economist more of a technologist.

Knows Robotics ... Doesn't Understand Economics

The first few chapters of this book are interesting. However, the author than goes on a rant about his bent on income inequality and tax policy. Unfortunately, the author delves into an area of personal philosophy in which he simply opines rather than providing useful information.

Great read

interesting suggestions on how to deal with loss of jobs due to automation. I would suggest to anyone

Apocalyptic Words; Salvageable Solution

His perspective is pointing out the continuing decline of living wage jobs and how automation is fueling the departure of more higher wage jobs simply due to the fact of their repetition. He tries to explain a solution but does not really allow a large enough gap to try to harness other alternative solutions(at least from what I grasped of it). Overall his book was backed with evidence that does show his argument so I did appreciate the book very much. :)

Fact filled and hought provoking.

Fact filled thought provoking excellent read. Narration perfect. I flew through this book hanging onto every word.

A little off base, but worth the time

Hours of reading lead through the dangerous future we will as humans if we get this wrong.

A interesting forshadowing of the Economic future

It is Interesting to find that some predictions have started becoming reality. Truly a must listen.

very presumptuous

the first six chapters are very interesting but after that the author become increasingly political, offering advice for future policy rather than examining history. many of the suggestions are heavily polarized in today's society. I would have liked more than a narrative.

Previous reviewer is wrong

Any additional comments?

There is a reviewer above who thinks that he knows something about economics. He thinks cheaper t-shirts is important, while massive global poverty and climate destruction, the result of global capitalism are not important to mention. As if it's all been uphill, and no one has been left out. The fact that near slaves make those cheap t-shirts doesn't occur to him. It all works out in the wash, if you're completely ignorant of the entire world.

Greater automation, especially robots, while in the hands of an owner class, will only create massive economic inequality, because the owner class will now own slaves, only slaves that never die, never complain, never strike, never ask for wages, and will work for you forever. To think that won't have an effect on a system that relies on people selling their bodies on the open market for wages competing against indestructible, programmable slaves is a level of ignorance that shocks me. He goes on and on complaining about the authors flawed perception of economics, when he clearly doesn't know the very very very basic simple facts about supply and demand. Alternatively, if ownership wasn't limited to the capitalist class, robots would usher in a new era of human leisure and personal development, because the fruits of automaton labor would not be merely the benefit of a tiny ruling class, but the entire human race instead.

Thorough and sober analysis

Thorough and sober analysis. A must read for anyone interested in jobs and the future