Time to adapt to an automated future

The tsunami of technological innovation will continue to change profoundly how we live and work, and how our societies operate. In what is now called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, technologies that are coming of age - such as robotics, nanotechnology, virtual reality, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and advanced biology - will converge. And as these technologies continue to be developed and widely adopted, they will bring about radical shifts in all disciplines, industries and economies - in the way that individuals, companies and societies produce, distribute, consume and dispose of goods and services.

These developments have given rise to questions about what role humans will play in a technology-driven world. A 2013 University of Oxford study estimates that close to half of all jobs in the United States could be lost to automation over the next two decades. On the other hand, economists such as Boston University's James Bessen argue that automation often goes hand in hand with the creation of new jobs. So which is it - new jobs or massive structural unemployment?

At this point, we can be certain that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will have a disruptive impact on employment, but no one can yet predict the scale of change. History tells us that technological change more often affects the nature of work, rather than the opportunity to participate in work itself.