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Gregory C. Mason

Research and teaching in public-policy

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The economy of useless things

April 10, 2017 by Gregory Mason

The robots are coming! The robots are coming! Many social commentators raise alarms about impending technology induced job losses. The vision is dire — professional jobs in accountancy, law and medicine are all on the chopping block in the face of technical change that threatens to turn humanity into couch potatoes on minimum income, binge watching streaming TV.

This dystopian view is unlikely. Two changes will rescue us: the economy of useless things and how we define work.

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Filed Under: Op Ed