Newsweek - USA (2019-11-08)

NEWSWEEK.COM 25

automation will be disruptive. automation

can improve human lives. Automation will deprive

huge numbers of workers of being able to find work

that allows them to build a good life for themselves

and their families. All of these things are true. There

are reasons to be optimistic and reasons to be pes-

simistic. We need to implement solutions that will

undermine the reasons to be pessimistic so that

everyone can approach the future with optimism.

Right now, our economic measurements are all

wrong. GDP, the stock market and unemployment

look at the economy as a whole...Self-driving trucks

will be great for GDP, but they’ll be terrible for truck

drivers and everyone who works in an industry that

relies on truck drivers, such as truck-stop workers.

We need to put in place a new vision for our soci-

ety, one that values people intrinsically rather than

tying value to their economic output. In this way,

we place greater emphasis on work like caregiving,

volunteering, teaching, making art and other ac-

tivities that are not valued at their true worth by

the market. If we can get the measurements right,

we can start to build an economy that works for all

of us and get everyone optimistic about the future

that new technologies will unlock.

A monthly stipend would

help those left behind

by the tech wave, says

Yang, pictured here at a

campaign rally in New

York City earlier this year.

ON BEING BOTH AN

OPTIMIST AND

A PESSIMIST ABOUT

THE TECHNOLOGICAL

REVOLUTION

the gains.”