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Photograph We have all heard the warnings that invading armies of robots are going to steal our jobs. Few industries are safe; legal clerks and translators are as vulnerable as supermarket cashiers and long-haul truckers. We have been told that mass technological unemployment will necessitate a universal basic income. We have also heard the opposing view: that humans have absorbed waves of automation before, and that we have used the time liberated Striding into this middle ground is Kevin Roose, a technology columnist at the New York Times<\/em>. He describes himself as a \u201csuboptimist\u201d about AI. On a 10-point scale, with 1 being not at all fussed and 10 being convinced of a coming AI-driven apocalypse, he stands at \u201ca 2 or a 3\u201d about the technology, but \u201can 8.5 or a 9\u201d on the people behind it. For the past three years, Roose has handed out Good Tech Awards to people and organizations that have harnessed the power of technology to tackle major problems. Winners include an atmospheric scientist, Christa Hasenkopf, who founded an open-source platform that records air-quality around the world, and the owners of Visabot, a Facebook messenger chatbot that helps immigrants through the visa application and extension process. However, he believes that his award winners are outnumbered and overshadowed The first half of the book contains some revealing insights. Roose thinks it is wrong to expect AI to eliminate whole categories of jobs. Almost every role contains tasks that tech could do better than people and requirements that are very human. In journalism, robots could be taught to summarize an earnings report for a newswire, but not conduct an investigation into public-sector corruption. AI can scan X-rays for abnormalities, but it can\u2019t reassure worried parents about their child\u2019s prognosis. We should also challenge our assumptions about what robots are capable of. Designers are struggling to replicate the actions of a human hand, which makes shelf-stacking hard to automate. But designing clothes, a more creative endeavor, is well within their grasp. \u201cThe fallout from automation probably won\u2019t be as tidy as watching some occupations go extinct while others survive without a scratch,\u201d Roose writes.<\/p>\n Nor will automation look the way we expect it to. An invading army of seven-foot Terminators is not going to appear on the horizon. But we already are surrounded We already are surrounded Roose is also critical of automation that just isn\u2019t very good. Firms have saved money So what do humans have going for them in their battle against technology? Three main abilities: to cope with changing circumstances, to meet the emotional needs of others, and to possess unusual talents. The second half of the book consists of steps we can take to make the most of these attributes. They fall into two rough categories: reasserting our control over the tech we use and slowing down.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pushing back against technology is hard. Roose\u2019s chapter on his attempt to break his phone addiction will make you squirm in uncomfortable recognition. But limiting the dopamine drip from social media apps \u201cis what will allow us to create the mental space and clarity of thought we\u2019ll need in order to do the kinds of work the future demands of us.\u201d He invites us to think of AI as a \u201cchimp army,\u201d with the implication that installing untested algorithms into your workplace is akin to inviting a troop of monkeys to run an office. He cites several examples of businesses duly trashed <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is also easy to accept Roose\u2019s second batch of recommendations, centered on slowing down to enhance creativity. He recommends that we reject hustle culture, work close to others, and put friction back into our lives by varying routines and making conscious choices in our free time. Yet there is also a nagging sense that this advice is given by the privileged and delivered to the fortunate. For the majority of workers, automation reduces the control that they have over their lives. It is great to eschew the hustle, if, like Roose, you are compelled to do it by a self-perpetuated fear of becoming obsolete. But for many, side-hustling is necessary to pay the rent. Likewise, walking an indirect route to work assumes the gift of time to meander. It is worth reading Futureproof<\/em> alongside a study such as James Bloodworth\u2019s Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain<\/a><\/em> for a more complete picture of how automation is changing working lives. But for those able to put limits on how technology is altering their humanity, Roose\u2019s ideas merit some thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photograph We have all heard the warnings that invading armies of robots are going to steal our jobs. Few industries are safe; legal clerks and translators are as vulnerable as supermarket cashiers and long-haul truckers. We have been told that mass technological unemployment will necessitate a universal basic income. We have also heard the opposing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}