Automation TED Talk: Will Human Labor Become Redundant?

Automation is the use of various control systems for operating equipment; this includes machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications and vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention. The biggest benefit of automation is that it saves labor; however, it is also used to save energy and materials and to improve quality, accuracy and precision. Will automation replace human labor?

The Surprising Balance Between Automation and Human Labor

Despite a century of creating machines doing our work for us, the proportion of adults in the US with a job has consistently gone up for the past 125 years. We need to understand why human labor has not become redundant and our skills obsolete. Economist David Autor addresses the question of why there are still so many jobs and comes up with a surprising, hopeful answer.

Watch this enlightening TED Talk: