The threat of technological unemployment
It&#x27;s not just the existence of technological unemployment, it&#x27;s the pace of it. Over the past two centuries, we&#x27;ve shifted from an economy where virtually everyone is a farmer to an economy where hardly anyone is a farmer. We&#x27;ve mostly automated food production and distribution. But it took generations to do it.<p>Today, people embark on careers in their 20s that disappear in their 40s and 50s. Such a pace of change is distressing. Consider how many people drive trucks for a living. In another generation, that job will be 90% wiped out. It&#x27;ll be local short hauls only, places where there&#x27;s a lot of human interaction and judgment calls. Long haul semis will be entirely automated. It&#x27;ll save money and it will save lives, and it will be a huge boon to everyone in society - except professional long haul truckers, who will lose their livelihoods. They won&#x27;t take it well.<p>Given an opportunity and a mechanism to retrain or switch careers, people can do that. But what if it takes a year or more to retrain? How will they pay the mortgage? How will they feed the kids? People who can&#x27;t care for themselves and their families feel weak, vulnerable, and ashamed. They&#x27;ll be angry and act out. They&#x27;ll listen to political demagogues who tell them what they want to hear and give them scapegoats to blame. Such a sudden social change is politically dangerous.