Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

The New York Times-bestselling guide to how automation is changing the economy, undermining work, and reshaping our lives
"Lucid, comprehensive, and unafraid...;an indispensable contribution to a long-running argument."--Los Angeles Times
Winner of the 2015 FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
Top Business Book of 2015 at Forbes
One of NBCNews.com 12 Notable Science and Technology Books of 2015

What are the jobs of the future? How many will there be? And who will have them? As technology continues to accelerate and machines begin taking care of themselves, fewer people will be necessary. Artificial intelligence is already well on its way to making "good jobs" obsolete: many paralegals, journalists, office workers, and even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by robots and smart software. As progress continues, blue and white collar jobs alike will evaporate, squeezing working- and middle-class families ever further. At the same time, households are under assault from exploding costs, especially from the two major industries-education and health care-that, so far, have not been transformed by information technology. The result could well be massive unemployment and inequality as well as the implosion of the consumer economy itself.
The past solutions to technological disruption, especially more training and education, aren't going to work. We must decide, now, whether the future will see broad-based prosperity or catastrophic levels of inequality and economic insecurity. Rise of the Robots is essential reading to understand what accelerating technology means for our economic prospects-not to mention those of our children-as well as for society as a whole.

• The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
• All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan
• The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation
• The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are (Still) Going Broke
• The Industries of the Future
• The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
• The Vestigial Heart (MIT Press): A Novel of the Robot Age (The MIT Press)
• Architects of Intelligence: The truth about AI from the people building it
• The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future
• The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts