UK’s poorest to fare worst in age of automation, thinktank warns
By: Richard Partington December 28, 2017 The rise of the machine economy risks social disruption by widening the gap between rich and poor in Britain, as automation threatens jobs generating £290bn in wages. Jobs accounting for a third of annual pay in the UK risk being automated, according to the study by the IPPR thinktank. […]
The Robots Are Coming, and Sweden Is Fine
By: New York Times December 27, 2017 GARPENBERG, Sweden — From inside the control room carved into the rock more than half a mile underground, Mika Persson can see the robots on the march, supposedly coming for his job here at the New Boliden mine. He’s fine with it. Sweden’s famously generous social welfare system […]
What the Tax Bill Fails to Address: Technology’s Tsunami
By: Farhad Manjoo March 28, 2017 Let’s pretend you have just been picked to run a small island nation. Congratulations! But don’t settle in to your throne quite yet. A potential catastrophe looms on the horizon. A huge tsunami is coming your way. Fortunately, there’s hope. Yours is a wealthy island. You can’t prevent the […]
A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America
By: The Guardian December 15, 2017 “You got a choice to make, man. You could go straight on to heaven. Or you could turn right, into that.” We are in Los Angeles, in the heart of one of America’s wealthiest cities, and General Dogon, dressed in black, is our tour guide. Alongside him strolls another […]
As corporate goliaths grow ever larger, Britain looks increasingly exposed
By: The Guardian December 10, 2017 We live in a world of corporate goliaths and the trend to gigantism is accelerating. The new era of hi-tech data capitalism has an embedded proclivity to monopoly. The bigger the network, whether Facebook or Google, the more valuable it is to be connected. Big is good in the […]
Autumn Budget 2017: UK gov pledges cash for 5G, AI and driverless cars
By: CNet November 22, 2017 MANBAG OWNER Philip Hammond on Wednesday delivered the government’s Autumn Budget, and while there is a clear focus on Brexit, there are some interesting announcements around technology. Much of the Chancellor’s announcements centred on emerging technologies that’ll impact our lives over the next few years. In particular, there’s a focus […]
Myths of the 1 Percent: What Puts People at the Top
By: New York Times November 17, 2017 Income inequality inspires fierce debate around the world, and no shortage of proposed solutions. As global billionaires bid up the price of a da Vinci painting on Wednesday, to $450.3 million, Congress debated tax reforms that many analysts said would give the largest benefits to the richest 1 […]
Deutsche Bank CEO Cryan hints robots could replace thousands of people at the bank
By: Will Martin November 7, 2017 Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan has hinted that the lender could cut thousands more jobs as it continues to adjust to expectations of substantially lower future revenues. “We employ 97,000 people,” Cryan said in an interview with the Financial Times. “Most big peers have more like half that number.” […]
End of the checkout line: the looming crisis for American cashiers
By: Julia Carrie Wong August 16, 2017 he day before a fully automated grocery store opened its doors in 1939, the inventor Clarence Saunders took out a full page advertisement in the Memphis Press-Scimitar warning “old duds” with “cobwebby brains” to keep away. The Keedoozle, with its glass cases of merchandise and high-tech system of […]