Humans Need Not Apply: A Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

256 Pages·2015·0.96 MB·English

by  Jerry Kaplan

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A Guide to Wealth and Work in
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Published with assistance from the foundation established in mem-
ory of Calvin Chapin of the Class of 1788, Yale College.
Copyright © 2015 by Jerry Kaplan.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including il-
lustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections
107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for
the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educa-
tional, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail
[email protected] (U.S. office) or [email protected] (U.K. office).
Designed by Sonia Shannon.
Set in The Sans type by Integrated Publishing Solutions, Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015930743
ISBN 978-0-300-21355-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Per-
manence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Camryn Paige Kaplan
Turn your dreams into words and make them true.
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Preface ix
Introduction: Welcome to the Future, 1
1.
Teaching Computers to Fish, 17
2.
Teaching Robots to Heel, 33
3.
Robotic Pickpockets, 49
4.
The Gods Are Angry, 59
5.
Officer, Arrest That Robot, 77
6.
America, Land of the Free Shipping, 93
7.
America, Home of the Brave Pharaohs, 107
8.
Take This Job and Automate It, 129
9.
The Fix Is In, 159
Outroduction: Welcome to Your Children’s Future, 189
Acknowledgments, 209
Notes, 211
Index, 229
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I’m an optimist. Not by nature, but by U.S. government design.
After Russia humiliated the United States with the 1957
launch of Sputnik, the first space satellite, the government decided
that science education should be a national priority. The cold war
was in full swing, and Senator John F. Kennedy made closing the
“missile gap” a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Ceding
leadership in this critical emerging arena was unthinkable.
Young boys like me (but tragically, not many girls) were fed
a steady diet of utopian imagery extolling technological innovation
as the path to eternal peace and prosperity, not to mention a way to
beat them clever Russkies. Dog-eared copies of Amazing Stories and
Fantastic Adventures illustrated how spaceships and ray guns would
help you save the world and get the girl.
When I moved to New York at the age of ten, the city seemed
the Land of Oz to me, and the 1964 World’s Fair was the Emerald
City. For less than the two dimes tucked into my Buster Brown
penny loafers, I could catch the IRT at Grand Central Station to visit
sparkling visions of the future like the Unisphere, the Monorail, and
General Electric’s Progressland, where Disney’s animatronic robots
would herald “a great big beautiful tomorrow” in cheerful harmony.
The world of science fiction seemed to grow up right along-