Critical Analysis: A World Without Work By Derek Thompson Essay

Could the world one day be run by robots due to technological advances? In the article “A World without Work”, Derek Thompson writes advances in technology have taken over thousands and thousands of people’s jobs. Published in the July/ August 2015 issue of The Atlantic, Thompson makes you think what if one day you will be jobless due to advances in technology; just like the 50,000 lost jobs in Youngstown, Ohio. Thompson clearly presents plenty of credible evidence to support his place that technology is taking over jobs, and this is only the beginning.

But do to his personal opinions shown throughout the article it could be considered a bit bias. This critical analysis paper will prove Thompson’s idea that technology will one day take over our jobs indeed is credible. Derek Thompson begins his article with a tragic story in Youngstown, Ohio. The city lost 50,000 jobs, faced depression, and even a cultural breakdown all due to the switch to machinery. Derek Thompson talks with editor in chief James Bennet about the state of jobs in America, and they talk about how in the next decade or so 47% of jobs will be lost due to technology.

Thompson also talks about when a person losses a job they face depression, and everything just goes downhill from there. He talks about technology having advantages over the people in the economy, and that’s why so many people are losing their jobs. But advances in technology could open new jobs in the future. Thompson doesn’t cover the positive effects of technology very efficiently therefore he is for that technology is effecting us in a bad way.

Towards the end of the article the author gets more into detail about why technological advances are bad and is pouring out his own thoughts towards this subject. Even though the author has shown some bias in his article this argument that technology is taking over jobs is still valid. Thompson does a very good job covering up his bias with credible and unbiased information.

As stated in (Thompson, 10) “a committee of scientists and social activists sent an open letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson arguing that “the cybernation revolution” would create “a separate nation of the poor, the unskilled, the jobless,” who would be unable either to find work or to afford life’s necessities” this is a great example of valid information. Advances in technology make more classes happen, but sometimes things go the other way around because as technology advances people potentially will fall down the scale that determines your status in a society, and possible end up at the bottom of it jobless.

First of all the author started off using the city of Youngstown as an example to show the readers what technology can lead too. As a matter of fact technology didn’t just start taking over jobs it’s been going on for a while. This was only the beginning according to the author in an interview he used “a report from Oxford that 47% of men will lose their jobs” (Thompson, 4). That is a big percentage of unemployed men if back in September 19, 1977 in Youngstown, Ohio people faced depression some of which even committed suicide.

This could lead to a global, economic, and social issues if no actions are taken now. Even jobs that require a degree are at threat “Google and WebMD already may be answering questions once reserved for one’s therapist. ” (Thompson, 22) This example shows how far advanced technology is as of right now, and how technology is getting more and more intelligent each year. For companies this is more beneficial they have a machine that they don’t have to pay a salary, and will work for as many hours as they want it too.

People in general may think that since so many eras have happened, and the government always have had jobs for the people. Although this may be true this time around things are slightly different “what may be looming is something different: an era of technological unemployment, in which computer scientists and software engineers essentially invent us out of work, and the total number of jobs declines steadily and permanently” (Thompson, 9) This statement proves that advances in technology can leave us jobless, and without a job we don’t have incomes, so therefor we can’t sustain ourselves.

Additionally you would think jobless men with so much free time would go hang out with friends spend time with family I am not even saying going out and looking for another job. Instead a survey showed “By and large, the jobless don’t spend their downtime socializing with friends or taking up new hobbies. Instead, they watch TV or sleep. ” (Thompson, 33) if this is what our society has come too men are giving up on life, falling to depression, and not willing to do anything in their spare time. It’s important to realize that technology can wipe out a majority of the population at this pace.

To back up the statement that men are not even willing to look for a job there was a study “The share of prime-age Americans (25 to 54 years old) who are working has been trending down since 2000. Among men, the decline began even earlier: the share of prime-age men who are neither working nor looking for work has doubled since the late 1970s… ” (Thompson, 17). Technology is taking over everything it is growing in value, and taking over people’s source of income. Since less people have jobs wouldn’t that destroy the economy? People will stop earning money therefor they can’t afford a new car, so there wouldn’t be a need for automobiles.

For example when Martin Ford writes in his new book, The Rise of the Robots, “what’s harder is anticipating the second-order effects of this transformation, such as what happens to the consumer economy when you take away the consumers” (Thompson, 62). We will need to establish a new form of government whereas people will be earning money somehow to be able to buy products. So far the author the author’s language and style of writing is to inform the readers what could potentially happen in the future, what’s happening right now, and what already happened in the past.