Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future by Martin FordMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book purports to be about robots, and given the cover, with a blurry picture of a human, I assumed it would be about humanoid robots. That is but a small part of this book. In my work I always have to talk about the “march of technology”. What that means is that the solution you create today should be better than what you had yesterday, but it won’t be the best given the changes we’ll see by tomorrow. This is the idea behind this book, that technology is automating more work, in more ways, with more intelligence as time goes on. “Robots” is really a code word for “automation”, and that makes this a relatively familiar book. There have been many books about automation. For instance, “The World is Flat” illustrates the use of automated workflow processes to better do work. I would consider “Rise of the Robots” a follow-on to that book, updated, and with a broader target.
Once I understood this was more about automation using technology than purely about humanoid robots, I enjoyed the book. The book was divided into two main topics. The first described that march of technology, including stories about “traditional” robots, but also process automation tools like “robotic process automation” and workflow, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the like. Technology is getting better and can handle more processes, and no end to progress is in sight. The second topic was employment. Employment statistics and trends were used to show the increasing impact of automation on jobs. Overall, I found this an interesting survey showing where we are in the ongoing automation of jobs, as well as what this continuing march of technology means to jobs for people now and in the near future.
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