The Robots Are Coming!

October 1, 2018
Miami Herald columnist Oppenheimer offers a breezy, superficial survey of trends in automation that are expected to radically transform the workplace in coming decades. Oppenheimer traveled around the world to see for himself how autonomous devices have already begun to assume roles traditionally held by people, such as the robots in Japan who checked him into a hotel, and greeted him when he entered a bank. While he ends up asserting that the “world will continue getting better,” despite some “turbulent times,” Oppenheimer glosses over reasons to doubt that optimism; for example, he minimizes the potential for large-scale social disruptions when entire professions, such as truck driving, are eliminated, with no obvious or easy replacement jobs. And he also downplays the limits of some advances, lauding massive open online courses, or MOOCs, without noting that many who enroll never finish them. Sweeping generalizations (he writes that many Asian countries have a “family culture of education... that simply doesn’t exist in many Western nations”) and factual sloppiness (Carrie Fisher didn’t have to be digitally recreated for Star Wars: Rogue One because of her death, which occurred after that film’s release) also lessen the book’s credibility. The result is a readable but less than essential addition to the many volumes already available on this topic.

October 1, 2018
A keen assessment of the future of work amid sweeping advances in technological automation.In an alternately thrilling and frightening narrative, Miami Herald foreign affairs columnist Oppenheimer (Innovate or Die!: How to Reinvent Yourself and Thrive in the Innovation Age, 2016, etc.) expertly gauges the pros and cons of the automation revolution, a world rife with robotic replacements, self-driving cars, and virtual bankers, doctors, and lawyers. He offers an eye-opening interview with two European researchers who made headlines with their 2013 predictive study that half of all jobs could vanish over the next two decades. The author then globe-trots through a variety of major world innovation centers to discover how "technological unemployment" could disrupt work forces worldwide. The greatest fear, he writes, is that artificial intelligence will create such a workforce disruption that it will erase more jobs than it can produce. Oppenheimer presents both sides of this argument, with supporting opinions from a gallery of "futurologists" who believe careers won't evaporate; they'll just become more interdisciplinary, with robotic intervention managing the more manually repetitive jobs. He chronicles his trip to Japan, where automation is already fully (though only somewhat successfully) integrated into places like sushi restaurants and a hotel where robots run every aspect of the business down to the lobby aquarium stocked with mechanical goldfish. Other experts excitedly prognosticate about cashless societies, artery-cleaning micro-robots, and cheaper housing, food, and transportation. Meanwhile, techno-pessimists believe a jobless world and gross social inequality is a steep price to pay for these transformative developments, and many propose mollifying alternatives like universal basic income. Thankfully, moments of levity balance all the feverish conjecture: Oppenheimer shares a mysterious mishap with his Alexa personal assistant, a driverless car ride that devolved from "boring to excruciating," and a hilariously awkward televised interview with a glitch-y humanoid robot named Professor Einstein. It's clear that big changes are coming, and Oppenheimer advises that personal and professional preparation is the best defense.A promising, terrifying, and cautionary exploration of the "unstoppable" rise of automation.

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March 1, 2019
Award-winning journalist Oppenheimer (Bordering on Chaos, 1996) presents findings from his investigation into job automation, covering fields from media and law to music and teaching. He did his homework by visiting nearly a dozen countries, studying sales strategies, dining at automated restaurants, and interviewing the world's leading futurist. These first-hand experiences give insights into a variety of professions and how robots are infiltrating the workforce. The chapters, cleverly-titled They're Coming for . . ., let the reader focus on a job or industry. Oppenheimer makes a distinction between robots strictly replacing versus enhancing jobs or changing skill sets, giving readers a glimpse into the future of particular professions. Throughout the narrative, his tone inhabits the middle ground between optimism and pessimism, offering predictions and letting readers form their own opinions. This approachable book will be of interest to a wide audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)