Workers’ Comp And The Rise Of The Robots

History provides interesting insights into the debate around automation and employment. In 1632, King Charles I of England banned casting of buckets, for fear that allowing it would ruin the livelihood of the craftsmen who were making the buckets the old-fashioned way.

In 1811, the Luddites in England started a movement where they smashed machines that they viewed as threats to employment.

These examples have occurred with increasing frequency since the industrial revolution began. Not coincidentally, the per capita income in the world doubled every 6,000 years prior to the revolution and every 50 years afterward.

According to a Pew study, 52% of Americans think that much of our work can be done by robots, but only 38% believe that it could replace the type of work that they do. Additionally, 76% of Americans believe that robots would increase the inequality between the rich and poor.

But standing in the way of change, when viewed through the lens of history, has rarely worked.