Missing in the future of jobs debate: the elasticity of human needs FactorDaily

There is a lot of debate on whether Industry 4.0 with a strong underpinning of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning is going to result in large-scale unemployment. This seems a bit odd because neither technology nor automation is a 21st-century phenomenon! They are as old as humanity itself, and if this appears an exaggeration, then they are at least as old as the industrial revolution at least. The battle between man and machines goes back centuries. At one point of time, the worry was what would happen if spinning machines replaced weavers and if steam engines took the place of horse carriages.