Rather, it is to determine the extent to which current and prospective trends in technology can alter, for the purposes of economic growth, today’s relationship between capital and labour, how great the risk is that substantial portions of the work force will be driven out of the production process, regardless of their level of education and competence.
The question, therefore, is what to do to avert human, social and political consequences that are potentially very severe indeed. 25 These are clearly questions for the long term. We must be skeptical of extreme projections that would have all or almost all workers replaced by robots and the owners of capital expropriating, in the form of profit, practically all the income produced.