Is That the Right Response?

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In an environment of overcapacity and low growth rates, firms and countries are kind of competing to get more of that manufacturing share. And we see that the countries that use a lot of robots, germany, japan, ad south korea, are able to retain a higher share of manufacturing employment than those who don't. So one response to this, naturally, that i think it's becoming more common, is it would seem that throwing up new economic trade barriers will bring back good jobs. Why is that an incorrect way to look at what we're seeing? Globaly? That's, i think, a reallyy interesting question. I think on the world scale, it's

Paris Marx is joined by Aaron Benanav to discuss why jobs are getting worse because the economy’s slowing down, not because technology is speeding up, and why that requires a vision of post-scarcity centered around human relationships instead of technological change.

Aaron Benanav is an economic historian and social theorist. He is a post-doctoral researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin and author of “Automation and the Future of Work.” Follow Aaron on Twitter as @abenanav.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network and follow it on Twitter as @harbingertweets.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Prop 22 passed in California, stopping gig workers from becoming employees
Paris explains the limits of a basic income, how Aaron’s book helps us think about the future, and the problems with luxury communism
Aaron explains why automation isn’t wiping out jobs
Aaron’s science fiction reading list: “The Dispossessed,” “The Word for World is Forest,” and “Always Coming Home” by Ursula K. Le Guin; “Red Star” by Alexander Bogdanov; “Hard to be a God” and “Noon: 22nd Century” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky; “News from Nowhere” by William Morris; “Looking Backward” by Edward Bellamy; “The Conquest of Bread” by Peter Kropotkin; “Trouble on Triton” by Samuel R. Delaney; “Star Maker” by Olaf Stapledon; and “Utopia” by Thomas Moore.

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