Automation, and the rise of robots with superior A.I. promises to bring about a new era of industry and civilization... [T]he fear is that advancements in automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics will destroy millions — if not hundreds of millions — of livelihoods... MIT Review has an ongoing chart of all the studies which have predicted how many jobs automation will destroy. Their conclusion is that "we have no idea how many jobs will actually be lost to the march of technological progress."

... Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and coauthor Andrew McAfee have dug into these statistics over the years and come to the conclusion that advances in computer technology are behind the sluggish employment growth rates we've seen since the turn of the century... "There's no economic law ensuring that as technological progress makes the pie bigger, it benefits everyone equally. Digital technologies can replicate valuable ideas, processes, and innovations at very low cost. This creates abundance for society and wealth for innovators, but it diminishes the demand for some kinds of labor." [McAfee stated]