The 4th Industrial Revolution. Mike and Klaus welcome LeAnn Rimel, a technology evangelist, to discuss the consequences of automation and the wide range of ways that technology will affect our lives – both positively and negatively.
The greatest challenge, according to Rimel, is creating new jobs to replace those eliminated by automation and getting more people prepared to work in sectors that are growing. Not only are jobs disappearing faster than they can be replaced. There is a cascading effect. For example, she notes that in the coming years, 2-3 million truck drivers will lose their jobs to self-driving vehicles. That will also impact the small-town truck stops, hotels, and cafes that cater to truckers. And it’s not just laborers who will be affected. Rimel states that many other industries, even medicine, will be impacted by automation. In fact, some studies predict that as many as 30-40 percent of existing jobs will disappear.
Despite the job losses, Rimel claims that automation can have really positive implications as long as we make appropriate changes to public policy.
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