A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond

Written by Daniel Susskind

Narrated by Daniel Susskind

"An Oxford economics professor, Susskind has a patient delivery that benefits from his authoritative voice and scholarly view of this speculative subject...an important and eye-opening audiobook." -- AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by the author.

From an Oxford economist, a visionary account of how technology will transform the world of work, and what we should do about it.

From mechanical looms to the combustion engine to the first computers, new technologies have always provoked panic about workers being replaced by machines. For centuries, such fears have been misplaced, and many economists maintain that they remain so today. But as Daniel Susskind demonstrates, this time really is different. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence mean that all kinds of jobs are increasingly at risk.

Drawing on almost a decade of research in the field, Susskind argues that machines no longer need to think like us in order to outperform us, as was once widely believed. As a result, more and more tasks that used to be far beyond the capability of computers – from diagnosing illnesses to drafting legal contracts, from writing news reports to composing music – are coming within their reach. The threat of technological unemployment is now real.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, Susskind emphasizes. Technological progress could bring about unprecedented prosperity, solving one of humanity’s oldest problems: how to make sure that everyone has enough to live on. The challenges will be to distribute this prosperity fairly, to constrain the burgeoning power of Big Tech, and to provide meaning in a world where work is no longer the center of our lives. Perceptive, pragmatic, and ultimately hopeful, A World Without Work shows the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jan 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781250243089

Daniel Susskind

Daniel Susskind is the coauthor of The Future of the Professions, named as one of the best books of the year by the Financial Times, New Scientist, and the Times Literary Supplement. He is a fellow in economics at Balliol College, Oxford. Previously, he was a policy adviser for the prime minister’s strategy unit and a senior adviser in the cabinet office of the British government.

Reviews for A World Without Work

[Cameron Maddux · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An essential read on our future. Not only on work, technology, and economy concerns, but on meaning and purpose.

[erm965 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting views and some valid points. Almost as good as any Harari book specially in the first chapters when talking about the past.

[Yousif · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall I enjoyed this book and I think it will make me think about these topics a lot more.

I think the idea of a big state having issues implementing its goals as described in the book has not been explored well, and all the problems that we might face during the process of transitioning to "A World Without Work" also were not explored. How this might happen in certain countries before others could have also been discussed.

But I understand that this is not an easy topic to write about :)

[Dan Peterson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As someone working on the next generation of software for healthcare, which as near as I can tell seems likely to be quite disruptive to the profession of physicians, this book confirmed my concerns, but also offered some sense of a possible direction, and some hope, for the future.