Recent discussion about the effect of technology on employment reminded me of Marshall Brain‘s prescient essays of almost 20 years ago. (“Robotic Nation,” “Robots in 2015,” and “Robotic Freedom“) Here is a summary of the main theses in each essay Continue reading Summary of Marshall Brain’s “Robotic Nation”
Category Archives: Economics
Robots and the Economy
A recent post briefly mentioned the computer scientist Marshall Brain’s thoughts on robotics and the future of the economy. Brain penned these prescient thoughts more than ten years ago Continue reading Robots and the Economy
Aristotle, Robots, and a New Economic System
My post of March 31, 2014, discussed the role that technology plays in both eliminating jobs and increasing income inequality. Continue reading Aristotle, Robots, and a New Economic System
Do We Need a New Economic System?
Kaczynski after his capture in 1996
Thinking about the future of economic systems got me to wondering about the sinister view articulated by the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.3 He argued that if machines do all the work in the future, as they inevitably will, then we can: Continue reading Do We Need a New Economic System?
Is It Moral to Invest in the Stock Market?
Suppose someone offered you the following proposition: Invest a dollar in the slave trade and you will make a million dollars in a week. Continue reading Is It Moral to Invest in the Stock Market?