Automation

The pandemic has dominated all aspects of debate and one feature is that they say it will increase the momentum towards a robot-world.

This article discusses automation with a mixed perspective

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/11/16/the-automated-path-to-social-and-ecological-destruction/

At their best, new technologies work in synergy with humans, freeing us from drudgery and bolstering our mental capabilities. At their worst, they force us to behave more like machines in order to compete with them and keep our jobs…the way our economies are currently structured, the fruits of automated labour have largely gone to multinational corporations, their shareholders and top executives – the feudal class of the information age…

It is a testament to the genius of the proponents of new technologies that the worsening economic reality and prospects of ordinary people have triggered far more xenophobia than technophobia, with people blaming migrants and foreign workers rather than machines and computer programs, for the disappearance of jobs…Socially, the destruction caused by automation has started to outweigh its constructive potential. The widening gap between the productivity of capital and labour, along with deregulation and tax avoidance by the super-rich, have led to a devastating chasm between the haves and have-nots, fomenting popular unrest and social conflict…

To gain the maximum benefit for humanity from technological progress, we must move beyond the narrow focus on economics and profit maximisation and look at the wider social and environmental picture…It is high time that our societies overcame this dread and that we collectively strive to enjoy our unprecedented material abundance through the pursuit of happiness for the many rather than the pursuit of unfathomable wealth for the few.