Book Mailing: Unsigned paperback copies of A World Without Work will be shipped to paid registrants after the livestream.
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Book Synopsis: Shortlisted for the 2020 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the year.
From an Oxford economist, a visionary account of how technology will transform the world of work, and what we should do about it.
From mechanical looms to the combustion engine to the first computers, new technologies have always provoked panic about workers being replaced by machines. For centuries, such fears have been misplaced, and many economists maintain that they remain so today. But as Daniel Susskind demonstrates, this time really is different. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence mean that all kinds of jobs are increasingly at risk.
Drawing on almost a decade of research in the field, Susskind argues that machines no longer need to think like us in order to outperform us, as was once widely believed. As a result, more and more tasks that used to be far beyond the capability of computers – from diagnosing illnesses to drafting legal contracts, from writing news reports to composing music – are coming within their reach. The threat of technological unemployment is now real.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, Susskind emphasizes. Technological progress could bring about unprecedented prosperity, solving one of humanity’s oldest problems: how to make sure that everyone has enough to live on. The challenges will be to distribute this prosperity fairly, to constrain the burgeoning power of Big Tech, and to provide meaning in a world where work is no longer the center of our lives. Perceptive, pragmatic, and ultimately hopeful, A World Without Work shows the way.
About Our Speaker: Dr. Daniel Susskind explores the impact of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, on work and society. He is a Fellow in Economics at Oxford University, and a Visiting Professor at King’s College London. He is the co-author of the best-selling book, The Future of the Professions, and the author of A World Without Work (January 2020), described by The New York Times as "required reading for any potential presidential candidate thinking about the economy of the future”. His TED Talk, on the future of work, has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
Previously he worked in various roles in the British Government – in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and in the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.
Session Co-Host:
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Questions: events@rotman.utoronto.ca, Megan Murphy