press release
MIT Technology Review’s July/August issue focuses on the advance of machines into war and work.
CAMBRIDGE, MA – July 3, 2013: The new issue of MIT Technology Review hits newsstands today and explores the role of technological automation in pushing humans to the perimeter of activities where they were once the central actors — in war and in the workplace.
In the feature “How Technology Is Destroying Jobs,” editor David Rotman explains how robots, automation, and software have increased the productivity of the U.S. at the same time that job growth has wilted. He concludes that economists don’t know if the decoupling of productivity from employment is permanent but says, “It’s hard to ignore … that technology is widening the income gap between the tech-savvy and everyone else.”
Drones are the subject of Fred Kaplan’s feature, “The World as Free-Fire Zone.” They have changed warfare by making it easy to kill nearly any particular person anywhere, making them the favored technology in the global war on terror.
Both features suggest that we must think about how we wish to use new technologies and not be used by them.
Other features in the issue include “Repairing Bad Memories,” which highlights work from a prominent neuroscientist who thinks we might be able to soften the pain in our pasts. “America’s Petrochemical Landscape” is a beautiful photo essay showing how the fossil-fuel industry is spreading beyond the drilling fields, far and wide across the land.
The issue also contains other technology news, opinion columns, and a demo on creating plastics out of plants, as well as a Business Report on big data.