The Second Wave of Automation

by Demetrios.C.Orton.Hatzis on May 16, 2017 - 10:52pm

Abstract:

The second wave of automation has the capacity to reshape to working world, and for that reason a good amount of fear has circulated about its potential to create a massively unequal society, in terms of income, which would see an even wider gap than currently. This essay examines the reasoning behind the automation backlash in an attempt to uncover a way to change paths, and use the second wave of automation to create a more income equal society. While curing the unemployment epidemic that could follow the second wave of automation remains difficult, by instating a universal basic income and thus insuring that the fall into poverty never happens, society could side-step the worst potential outcome of automation, the hoarding of money and resources by the wealthy, facilitated by a monopoly over the robotic workforce.