• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

West Haven Voice

West Haven’s only independent news source - By and For West Haven

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Archive
  • Advertise With Us!
  • Classified
  • Announcements
  • Contact Us
  • Web Exclusive
    • Kids Activity Pages

Embrace the robots, people

June 7, 2017 By whvoice

By Rich Lowry

Syndicated Columnist

We have seen the enemy, and it is the robot.

A wave of fear over automation is driving dire predictions about robots rendering swaths of Americans unemployable and has created a vogue for outlandishly stupid policy proposals. A popular idea in Silicon Valley is for a so-called universal basic income — the government would write everyone a monthly check — to cushion the unemployment effect of automation (never mind that such a policy would itself have an unemployment effect). Bill Gates wants to tax robots, which makes about as much sense as taxing personal computers back in 1991.

The rising tide of hysteria about our technological future has to count as one of the most pernicious features of the current intellectual climate. The only way to raise our standard of living is to increase productivity, which is impossible without innovation. This process always destroys some jobs but, by raising wages and cutting prices, makes it possible for new jobs to spring up in their place.This, in a nutshell, is the story of the American economy, as Robert Atkinson and John Wu describe in a new study for the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. It’s not a tale of stasis but of gales of technological change constantly making the economic landscape anew. It’s hard to see how anyone would want it any other way.

Do we really want to recover the tens of thousands of pinsetter jobs that used to be filled by boys and young men at bowling alleys prior to the adoption of the automatic pinsetting machine in the 1940s? Or return to 1950, when there were more than 100,000 elevator operators, an occupation that essentially disappeared after the widespread adoption of self-service elevators? Or rekindle the glory days of motion-picture projectionists, who numbered more than 30,000 in 1940 and now, in the age of multiplexes, fewer than 5,000?

This sort of occupational churn is inevitable when an economy is becoming more productive, and indeed, the average American worker — equipped with once-unimaginable technological tools — now produces in an hour what his predecessor 100 years ago produced in a day.

The key finding in the Atkinson and Wu study is that, despite the alarm about automation, the American labor market in recent decades has had its lowest rate of occupational churn since 1850. Instead of being overrun by robots, the American economy is lagging in terms of a technological change.

Tellingly, productivity growth has increased at just a 1.2 percent annual rate from 2008 to 2015, a sharp drop from the 2.8 percent annual rate from 1947 to 1973.

Atkinson and Wu believe that another wave of technology is coming, but perhaps not for decades. We can argue about the best ways to train higher-skilled workers or to cushion the blow to workers of economic change, but technophobia is a formula for stagnation.

If we survived the advent of cars, the telephone and electric lighting — truly revolutionary changes around the turn of the 20th century — surely we can endure whatever the transformative innovations that will, once again, make our economy and workers more productive than ever.

Don’t fear the robot.

Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.

(c) 2017 by King Features Synd., Inc.

Filed Under: 060817, Lowry, Opinion

Primary Sidebar

Seach our site

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Historian's Corner ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Historian’s Corner

westhavenvoice.com

Historian’s Corner June 4, 2025 By whvoice 1 Comment By Dan Shine Voice Columnist West Haven Veterans Museum Part II See part 1 The West Haven Veterans Museum and Learning Center offers exhibits on ...
2 weeks ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Letters ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Letters

westhavenvoice.com

Letters June 4, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Peace Officer Memorial proposed Thursday, May 15, marked National Peace Officers Memorial Day. It is a day that we honor and remember law enforcement of...
2 weeks ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Editorial ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Editorial

westhavenvoice.com

Editorial June 4, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Have we learned a lesson? The recent decision by the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) has been hailed by city officials as a banner day fo...
2 weeks ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Dear Felicia ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Dear Felicia

westhavenvoice.com

Dear Felicia June 4, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment By the time yew git this missive, m’dear, it’s the beginning of June! It seems hard to believe in many ways. It seems Cobina was shoveling the ...
2 weeks ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

 

 

West Haven’s Calendar

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

tockify.com

Fri 23 Jun, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM [EDT]: Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT Old Grove Park Public · Anyone on or off Facebook West Haven summer concerts are back! Join us in West Haven thi...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Mark Your West Haven Calendar

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/442/1686776400000

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum

tockify.com

Wed 14 Jun, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM [EDT]: Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum West Haven Veterans Museum & Learning Center Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT West Haven Veterans ...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Added for June 10th & 11th

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/443/1686405600000

West Haven Historical Society Open House
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

West Haven Historical Society Open House

tockify.com

Sat 10 Jun, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM [EDT]:
View Comments
  • likes Like 2
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

Footer

Address

West Haven Voice
840 Boston Post Road
West Haven, CT

 

Contact us

Call (203) 934-6397

Contact form

SITE NAVIGATION

HOME
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
ADVERTISE!
CLASSIFIED
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONTACT US
WEB EXCLUSIVE

FIND US IN PRINT

Our print edition is available each Thursday. Here is a list of locations!

Letters Policy

Information on submitting letters to us.

Our submission deadlines.

Copyright © 2025 West Haven Voice, LLC