Machines won't put us out of work

The evidence of our displacement by machines is sketchy, and we should be able to adjust to the new technological era if we put our minds to it. OPINION: It is now widely accepted that technological advances, especially ones that make machines more like humans - such as robotisation or artificial intelligence - are putting people out of work and will only destroy more jobs in the future. The wealth will accrue to those who own the machines, not to what's known as the middle class today. There's some good news for humans, though: The evidence of our displacement by machines is sketchy, and we should be able to adjust to the new technological era if we put our minds to it. Eric Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology labelled this "the great decoupling": according to them, advances in productivity, mainly driven by the development of digital technology, and the resulting economic growth, no longer cause employment and workers' incomes to rise.