“As many as half a million accountants, supermarket cashiers, secretaries, typists and bank tellers in what are largely white-collar jobs are threatened by automation, Department of Industry modelling shows,” said a report in the Australian Financial Review today.
It’s true. In the first industrial revolution, the physical movement of atoms went from being done by animals, including humans, to being done by machines. In the second industrial revolution, the same thing has been happening for the movement and manipulation of information.
I spoke about some of these things just now with Jamie Burnett on ABC 720 Perth.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.3MB)
If you want some further reading, try The onrushing wave at The Economist.
The audio is of course ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.