What Kind Of Jobs Is Technology Rapidly Replacing?

Published: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 - 4:15pm
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"Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age" by Edward Hess and Katherine Ludwig.

It might still sound like science fiction to most of us, but we’re not so far from a world in which robots have taken over a large portion of our jobs.  

We’re talking about artificial intelligence, the internet of things, virtual reality, robotics, nanotechnology, and I spoke with one researcher who says all of that technology means that smart machines are able to tackle both the cognitive and manual tasks that humans do now.

According to Katherine Ludwig with the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, as many as 50 percent of the jobs that Americans do now could be automated today with technology that already exists.  

So what does that mean for the rest of us non-robots?

Well, that’s what Ludwig and co-author Ed Hess tackle in their new book, "Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age."



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