Robots and Gigs

Panel session at 2017 Festival of Economics, Bristol, chaired by Sarah O'Connor

  1. #economicsfest @RSAMatthew says robots, AI and globalisation must be politicised.
  2. First speaker of the day - Matthew Taylor on the "arrogant account of globalisation" and its parallels for the Robot Revolution #economicsfest https://t.co/g9BglAYQwg
    First speaker of the day - Matthew Taylor on the "arrogant account of globalisation" and its parallels for the Robot Revolution #economicsfest pic.twitter.com/g9BglAYQwg
  3. The key point from @RSAMatthew is urgent need to politicise the discussion about technology - the technical is political #economicsfest
  4. Any prediction about tech & jobs is a reactionary act, says @RSAMatthew - it’s tech determinism #economicsfest
  5. .@RSAMatthew draws parallels between "inevitability" of financial globalisation pre-2008 and current "inevitable" development of tech. #economicsfest
  6. I know believe that people making predictions about how technology will shape jobs are walking into a trap - @RSAMatthew looking back at music, retail and more #economicsfest
  7. @RSAMatthew saying we need to politize technology and quickly so we understand the consequences of it. @FestivalofIdeas
  8. We urgently need to politicise the discussion about technology to debate societal implications says @RSAMatthew @FestivalofIdeas https://t.co/oRuEBmfmUk
    We urgently need to politicise the discussion about technology to debate societal implications says @RSAMatthew @FestivalofIdeas pic.twitter.com/oRuEBmfmUk
  9. Fantastic panel for robots and gig economy event at #economicsfest chaired by @sarahoconnor_  author of FT’s brilliant piece about Blackpool https://t.co/DMQ4P2PycD
    Fantastic panel for robots and gig economy event at #economicsfest chaired by @sarahoconnor_ author of FT’s brilliant piece about Blackpool pic.twitter.com/DMQ4P2PycD
  10. .@RSAMatthew cautions is against predictions about the Labour market. It was predicted the music industry would be dead by now. #economicsfest
  11. Mustafa Suliman lecture at RSA website must be seen. Understands the issues. #economicsfest
  12. Fifteen years ago we were told the music industry was dead - it wasn’t so don’t believe forecasts about robots and jobs says @RSAMatthew #economicsfest
  13. Delighted to have Sarah O'Connor ( @sarahoconnor_ ) here as chair of first #economicsfest session, author of this brilliant article on Blackpool:  https://www.ft.com/content/b6dbf34e-c987-11e7-aa33-c63fdc9b8c6c 
  14. Debra Howcroft: technological change might affect genders differently, not necessarily helping equality. #economicsfest
  15. Howcroft: robots in the workplace have implications for the home, and for expectations about housework & other unpaid work. #economicsfest
  16. "It's never been more opportune for state interventions to shape technical outcomes" - Debra Howcroft #economicsfest
  17. Employers in gig economy turn on & off demand for labour at will, will automate to replace workers, says @KimberleyScharf #economicsfest
  18. Lawyers and accountants will be the new gig economy workers, says @KimberleyScharf #economicsfest
  19. .@KimberleyScharf argues that if automation lets firms replace their low-skilled workers, they won't need so many high-skilled workers either #economicsfest
  20. And @KimberleyScharf wins the prize for being the first person today to mention the blockchain #economicsfest
  21. .@KimberleyScharf : gig economy brings flexibility but uncertainty. The jobs are fragile and targets for automation. #economicsfest
  22. Sharf: people imagine robot workers as the size of a person or a car, but swarm technology involves tiny robots that co-ordinate in different shapes. #economicsfest
  23. As his parents were economists, he had every reason not to study economics, says @TahaYasseri. Hah! #economicsfest
  24. Job automation is already happening where employers don't expect it to - what do you do with someone who gets the work done in a minute fraction of the time? #economicsfest  https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/93696/is-it-unethical-for-me-to-not-tell-my-employer-i-ve-automated-my-job 
  25. .@TahaYasseri : we have automation to thank for fact that we are not all now working in the fields or the factories. #economicsfest
  26. The geography of the disappearing and the new jobs is important; bigger cities will gain, says @TahaYasseri #economicsfest
  27. It’s much harder to replace jobs requiring social interaction. We need to pay attention to the timescales, says @TahaYasseri #economicsfest
  28. Yasseri asks who in the room uses @Wikipedia. Almost everyone. Who edits it? Not many, but a large proportion of the young people. #economicsfest
  29. Humans have advantages. The bots editing Wikipedia fight far more than the human editors do, @TahaYasseri points out. #economicsfest
  30. Yasseri: a lot of the most prolific Wikipedia contributors are bots. Bot conflicts endure: they lack human conflict resolution. #economicsfest
  31. .@TahaYasseri brings up Wikipedia as a space where humans are better at empathy than bots (though that doesn't always hold for capitalising film titles...) #economicsfest  https://www.dailydot.com/society/wikipedia-star-trek-into-darkness-capitalization/ 
  32. The warehouses have created human robots, says @sarahoconnor_ - quality of work matters as well as quantity #economicsfest
  33. We need a national minimum quality of work as well as a national minimum wage, urges @RSAMatthew Old social contract is bust #economicsfest
  34. #economicsfest minimum quality of work needed as well as national minimum wage (now totally accepted), says @RSAMatthew
  35. O'Connor warns thst technology is enabling "human robots": factory jobs in which employees are micro-controlled. #economicsfest
  36. We need to think about a national minimum quality of work as well as national minimum wage says @RSAMatthew ##economicsfest https://t.co/RnavzkK9YF
    We need to think about a national minimum quality of work as well as national minimum wage says @RSAMatthew ##economicsfest pic.twitter.com/RnavzkK9YF
  37. Taylor: people often don't bring their whole selves to work (for good reason). This may be part of why productivity is so low. #economicsfest
  38. #economicsfest Good work? We shd be able to take our whole selves to work.
  39. Job quality an old issue now affecting ‘good’ jobs. People didn’t care much about blue collar workers, says Debra Howcroft #economicsfest
  40. Howcroft: growth in workforce with degrees hasn't led to growth in good jobs, but to more of workforce having pressure of large debt. #economicsfest
  41. Of course people should want to go to work but the bigger issue is the income inequality, according to @KimberleyScharf #economicsfest
  42. .@KimberleyScharf also points out generational inequality - highly educated young people worse off than previous cohorts #economicsfest
  43. Scharf: the 1% of the population who own 50% of the wealth are very protective: make sure their families stay in that elite. #economicsfest
  44. There has to be shift from degree based to skill based education; current system unprepared for changes, @TahaYasseri says #economicsfest
  45. Yasseri: nature of work changing so rapidly we need skills-based education in a matter of weeks. Multi-year degrees not always the solution. #economicsfest
  46. Technological dislocation makes things worse for ages - look at the neolithic revolution, says @RSAMatthew #economicsfest
  47. @FestivalofIdeas discussing humans who have 'social' jobs will succeed better than ppl who have 'highly skilled' jobs such as accountants.
  48. Blockchain will disrupt the rich as they won't own the market. #economicsfest
  49. Nice shout out to @WalterScheidel ‘The Great Leveler’ by @RSAMatthew #economicsfest - Black Death great for equality!
  50. The Black Death was great for equality, @RSAMatthew says. @sarahoconnor_ decides it’s about time to bring in the audience #economicsfest
  51. Universal Basic Income is a recurring topic of #economicsfest: lots of interest from the audience
  52. .@RSAMatthew makes the fantastic distinction between the pie-in-the-sky "end of work/right to be lazy" UBI the kind that helps improve working conditions #economicsfest
  53. Taylor sees UBI as a modern approach to welfare, helping people have fulfilling working lives, not as alternative to work. #economicsfest
  54. .@KimberleyScharf brings up the dual challenges of Pareto efficiency (making someone better off without making anyone worse off) and fairness. Worth comparing @EricBeinhocker's point of how people see fairness of outcome vs fairness of process/opportunity #economicsfest
  55. Scharf: decisions about welfare involve trade off of fairness & efficiency. No single best answer: we need to decide democratically what we value. #economicsfest
  56. Question about designing the tech we want rather than taking it as given. Who’s commissioning the tech & for what purpose? #economicsfest
  57. Personality traits may become more important than class for people’s prospects, might be a good thing, says @TahaYasseri #economicsfest
  58. Scharf: automation raises the value of social skills more than cognitive skills. Robots can do ever more brainy things but not empathetic things. #economicsfest
  59. Debra Howcroft argues tech is in fact neutral; platform for drivers doesn’t need to be like Uber. Control determines outcomes #economicsfest
  60. "Technology is neutral but it's the way it's applied that causes the inequality." #economicsfest @FestivalofIdeas
  61. #economicsfest @KimberleyScharf: non- cognitive viz social skills will get you to the top but then you need brains ...!
  62. Why are we letting big high tech companies build our future, asks Debra Howcroft. #economicsfest
  63. Howcroft: technology does not dictate Uber's business model. Transport could be very different. These are business decisions taken without democratic input. #economicsfest
  64. The Black Mirror episode "Hated In The Nation" seems like essential background viewing for current #economicsfest discussion of swarm tech.
  65. Open Badges get a mention as a way to evidence important "soft" skills beyond what is captured in a normal CV. #economicsfest
  66. #economicsfest Soft, life skills often missed in recruitment, yet essential in many occupations. Need to be better understood.
  67. Keep in mind there's a big difference between the National Living Wage and the @LivingWageUK campaign! #economicsfest
  68. RSA lecture by @mustafasuleymn of DeepMind on ethical responsibility of tech firms referenced by @RSAMatthew at #economicsfest  https://youtu.be/xqYqWFksBeQ 
  69. .@RSAMatthew points out that the big issue in the US isn't the top 1%, it's the top 20% Same 20/80 split popped up in @JeanTirole's comment last night on French educational inequality #economicsfest
  70. The government should set up metrics for the quality of work - @RSAMatthew #economicsfest
  71. @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest Fantastic discussion about the future at FOE this morning, great panel. 1/2 https://t.co/YGDDLULi81
    @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest Fantastic discussion about the future at FOE this morning, great panel. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/YGDDLULi81
  72. The near-monopoly status of the tech giants is another recurring theme of #economicsfest. Are we prepared for risks of centralisation?
  73. The political demand to gig platforms should be for workers to have control of their own ratings etc, says @RSAMatthew #economicsfest
  74. Debra Howcroft disagrees - people’s ratings are affected by the behaviour of the platform, she says #Economicsfest
  75. @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest . I think I'm a cynic about the future, in the Blade Runner dystopian sense? Look at the state we are in now https://t.co/8m8Oyjy2Z6
    @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest . I think I'm a cynic about the future, in the Blade Runner dystopian sense? Look at the state we are in now pic.twitter.com/8m8Oyjy2Z6
  76. Questioner says #economicsfest discussion is far too narrow - ignores what’s happening if jobs in Asia get automated
  77. @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest. Robots and Gigs. Matthew mentioned how it should be Politicised, it should be and regulated. Who do trust.?
  78. Taylor: we need to stand up to the Silicon Valley giants, but a post-Brexit UK will be desperate for trade; in no position to make demands. #economicsfest
  79. “Can’t imagine an enfeebled Britain standing up to Google” @RSAMatthew #economicsfest
  80. End of fascinating session on challenges of technology @RSAMatthew 'action leads to hope not hope to action #economicsfest
  81. @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest@Debraholcroft" We need fundamental social change" Here here, we need to be equiped for the future. https://t.co/uSDluEoLAd
    @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest@Debraholcroft" We need fundamental social change" Here here, we need to be equiped for the future. pic.twitter.com/uSDluEoLAd
  82. @economics_net @KimberleyScharf Unfortunately, the cost of labour in the gig economy means that it is (currently) much less costly to employ humans that robots. That will change, but types of jobs will also need to change! #economicsfest
  83. It was a great fun to be on the Gigs & Bots panel with  @sarahoconnor @RSAmatthew @KimberleyScharf & Debra Howcroft at the @FestivalofIdeas
#economicsfest, great audience & questions & amazing Twitter coverage by 
@DianeCoyle1859 & @econromesh https://t.co/vtiHxvgv6r
    It was a great fun to be on the Gigs & Bots panel with @Sarahoconnor @RSAMatthew @KimberleyScharf & Debra Howcroft at the @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest, great audience & questions & amazing Twitter coverage by @DianeCoyle1859 & @econromesh pic.twitter.com/vtiHxvgv6r
  84. Great talk this morning on Robots and the gig economy at @FestivalofIdeas #economicsfest