That the modern world is a complex place will not have escaped your notice. We are all dimly, unsettlingly aware that our lives are enmeshed in systems we can't fully comprehend. The last meal you ate probably contained produce grown in another country that was harvested, processed, packaged, shipped, then sold to you. The phone in your hand is the end-product of an even more convoluted chain; one that relies on human labor from mines in Africa, assembly lines in China, and standing desks in San Francisco. Explaining how these systems connect and the effect they have on the world is not an easy task.

Robots are coming for our jobs--but not all of our jobs. In other words, blue-collar jobs traditionally done by men. This is why automation is so much more than an economic problem. It is a cultural problem, an identity problem, and--critically--a gender problem. Millions of men around the world are staring into the lacquered teeth of obsolescence, terrified of losing not only their security but also their source of meaning and dignity in a world that tells them that if they're not rich, they'd better be doing something quintessentially manly for money.