Every few years, we experience a wave of concern over the rise of robots and its effect on jobs. Automation, we hear, will rid the economy of human labor, replacing the inefficient flesh-and-blood employee with amazingly powerful computers. Yet the robot takeover has so far not occurred — human workers seem to be surviving and even thriving alongside all the machines.
Another one of these surges of concern is upon us, fueled by books such as Tyler Cowen’s Average Is Over and Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots, as well as a spate of articles arguing that this time, the computer revolution really is different. And when we wade through the headlines, this time actually does look different.
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