Book review: The Technology Trap

I particularly enjoyed the first component, because until now I’ve read much less about the industrial revolution than I should have. That also means that I’m not qualified to evaluate the book’s accuracy. However, it had interesting discussions of:In its latter role, however, the book seems a little incomplete. From around 1770 to 1840, productivity rose while worker incomes stagnated, with the increased wealth primarily going to industrialists - a period known as “Engels’ pause”. Frey argues that today, as the incomes of Western workers stagnate, we’ve reached an analogous situation. Engels’ pause gave rise to Luddite riots and the growth of the communist movement. Similarly, the modern working class will be tempted to campaign against automation - a “technology trap” which we will need to overcome to reach the level of technology which makes prosperity more widespread.Certainly the thesis is initially plausible, but at the end of the book I was left with quite a few unanswered questions. Four particularly important ones:Frey finishes with a set of prescriptions for how to close the gap between the winners and losers from automation, most of which are standard and sensible - e.g. cutting back on occupational licensing, encouraging relocation, investing in high-speed rail, and reforming housing markets. A more novel proposal is wage insurance, which compensates people when they are forced into lower-paying jobs. It seems like a good idea for individuals, but if implemented by the government as Frey suggests, I worry that it’ll become yet another piece of clutter in an already overcomplicated and inefficient welfare system.I want to end this review with a theme of the book that I particularly liked: the rehabilitation of the Luddites. Frey emphasises that, despite having become a byword for ignorant destructiveness, the Luddites were actually campaigning against a major threat to their livelihoods and communities, and we should sympathise with them. The parallels with our modern era are obvious - and the more we can rise above pejorative descriptions of our political opponents, the better.* There’s also the complication that incomes in the tech sector have been rising rapidly. Was there an analogous group of skilled workers who benefited from Engels’ pause? I suppose that the job of building the machines must have been a lucrative one, but I really don’t know.

Source: Lesswrong.com

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Keywords:

Technology • Industrial Revolution • Productivity • Workforce • Wealth • Friedrich Engels • Glenn Frey • Western world • Workforce • Friedrich Engels • Luddite • Communism • Modernity • Working class • Automation • Technology • Technology • Occupational licensing • High-speed rail • Market (economics) • Wage insurance • Employment • Bruno Frey • Luddite • Bruno Frey • Luddite • Pejorative • Politics • Technology • Friedrich Engels • Job •