Will Humans Go the Way of Horses – Brynjolfsson & McAfee

Question 1

Will Humans Go the Way of Horses – Brynjolfsson & McAfee

what is the paper about (intro)?

Answer 1

• as engines found their way into automobiles & tractors, horses became largely irrelevant
• each new burst of technological progress has brought wave of concern about possible displacement of labour
   people (in contrast to horses) can choose to prevent becoming economically irrelevant

Question 2

Will Humans Go the Way of Horses – Brynjolfsson & McAfee

WHAT DO HUMANS WANT?

Answer 2

• biggest barrier to fully automated economy + strongest reason that human labour won’t disappear: human and social interaction in services = not wanting to be served exclusively by robots and artificial intelligence (teachers, therapists, coaches etc)  rather than focusing on quantity of human needs, focusing on quality of human needs

Question 3

Will Humans Go the Way of Horses – Brynjolfsson & McAfee

What mental/Physical advantages have humans over technology?

Answer 3

human physical advantages over technology:
more dexterous & nimble; comparatively lightweight and energy efficient; human senses provide fast & multidimensional feedback that allows precise movement and control

human mental advantages over technology:
better common sense; able to formulate goals and then work out how to achieve them; better at coming up with useful ideas in most domains
* tough question: will there be enough demand for those two types of human labour (that which must be done by people & that which can’t be done by technology yet)

Question 4

Will Humans Go the Way of Horses – Brynjolfsson & McAfee

how can humans BATTLE THE ROBOTS?

Answer 4

• people own all non-governmental wealth in capitalist societies  can choose to redistribute capital in order to replace income lost to robots
• challenge: capital ownership has always been highly uneven & has become highly skewed
• risk of even greater concentration of wealth: automation and digitisation are less likely to replace all forms of labour than to rearrange the rewards for skills, talent & luck
• people can influence economic outcomes: through democratic process  directly (votes on amendments and referendums) & indirectly (elected representatives)

Question 5

Will Humans Go the Way of Horses – Brynjolfsson & McAfee

A LABOUR-LIGHT ECONOMY: What is the best way to help workers in today society?

Answer 5

best way to help workers in today’s climate:
equip them with valuable skills & to encourage overall economic growth
 governments should: pass education & immigration reform; enact policies to stimulate entrepreneurship; increase investment in infrastructure and basic research + potentially use rewards and incentives to encourage technology innovators to develop solutions that support human labour rather than substituting it
* important to start discussing what kind of society will be formed around the labour-light economy