Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
The Current

'Second Machine Age' author says machines are taking over humans

With profound technological advances, our world is in a second industrial revolution. It is a moment of great disruption that will rework, re-define and re-design our economy, our fears and our hopes. Andrew McAfee takes us through "The Second Machine Age."
CBC Radio ·
"We ain't seen nothing yet when it comes to technology's impact on the labour force." - 'The Second Machine Age' author Andrew McAfee, 'The Second Machine Age' (Youtube)
The Current24:59'Second Machine Age' author says machines are taking over humans - May 4, 2015

Today, as part of our project By Design, we're peering into the future, to a time when we spend more time living side-by-side with androids, or robots... popular depictions of the future are usually populated with advanced machines acting in very human ways.

Our fears of the robots rising against us were perfected in the voice of HAL 9000, the computer that went rogue in the then-futuristic movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

New advances in artificial intelligence and digital technology have machines taking over more human tasks, with huge implications for how we'll live and work in the future.

Andrew McAfee is the co-founder of MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy and the co-author of "The Second Machine Age". He joined us from our studio in New York. 
 

If you are someone who's job has been directly affected by the new machine age and if you have had to re-invent yourself or are in the process of doing so...then we'd love to hear from you.

You can send us an e-mail at thecurrent@cbc.ca. Find us on Facebook, or tweet us @thecurrentcbc. And don't forget to use the #ByDesignCBC.

This segment was produced by The Current's Sujata Berry.

More from this episode