Digital Commons Network^™

This article draws lessons about the automation revolution by looking back at predictions John Maynard Keynes made back in 1928 about what technological innovation could do for humanity. Keynes rightly predicted the enormous economic growth the economy would experience for the rest of the twentieth century but wrongly predicted that it would greatly reduce the work week. This article examines how he got it so right and so wrong, and uses that examination to draw lessons about dealing with the automation revolution today. Automation is nothing new. Its potential—both to improve life and to disrupt people’s lives—as been accumulating for …