Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Luddites and doomsdayers have consistently predicted the inevitable clash between technology and the need for workers. And this tension has only intensified with the advent of faster and faster microprocessors, ever cheaper to manufacture. Are robots taking over entire industries? Is a string of programming code now able to construct a legal brief better than a human?

Oxford-based Daniel Susskind has written a provocative book, A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond, which explores how “technological unemployment” is creating polarized labour markets: highly paid high-skilled labour on one side and lowly paid low-skilled labour on the other - with fewer opportunities in the middle. This clearly has significant economic impact with far-reaching consequences. But what can be done to use technology to make employment better and more equitable for everyone?

Released in a pre-Covid-19 world, the author will discuss with Vass Bednar some of the effects of the pandemic on labour markets vis-à-vis technology, and new ways to think about the future of labour and workers.

About these events guests:
Daniel Susskind
Vass Bednar

Daniel Susskind: A World Without Work