SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES & MCKINSEY 2020 BUSINESS BOOK OF
THE YEAR
One of Fortune Best Books of the Year
One of Inc. Best Business Books of the Year
One of The Times (UK) Best Business Books of the Year
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
From an Oxford economist, a visionary account of how technology will
transform the world of work, and what we should do about it
From mechanical looms to the combustion engine to the first computers,
new technologies have always provoked panic about workers being replaced
by machines. For centuries, such fears have been misplaced, and many
economists maintain that they remain so today. But as Daniel Susskind
demonstrates, this time really is different. Breakthroughs in artificial
intelligence mean that all kinds of jobs are increasingly at risk.
Drawing on almost a decade of research in the field, Susskind argues
that machines no longer need to think like us in order to outperform us,
as was once widely believed. As a result, more and more tasks that used
to be far beyond the capability of computers - from diagnosing illnesses
to drafting legal contracts, from writing news reports to composing
music - are coming within their reach. The threat of technological
unemployment is now real.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, Susskind emphasizes. Technological
progress could bring about unprecedented prosperity, solving one of
humanity's oldest problems: how to make sure that everyone has enough to
live on. The challenges will be to distribute this prosperity fairly, to
constrain the burgeoning power of Big Tech, and to provide meaning in a
world where work is no longer the center of our lives. Perceptive,
pragmatic, and ultimately hopeful, A World Without Work shows the way.
