BUSINESS AUTOMATION AND ITS EFFECT ON THE LABOR FORCE

A comprehensive guide focuses on adapting to machines of all kinds in the workplace.

Many readers encountering Uechi’s book will likely be horrified by its United States cover, which shows a group of humans working on some problem at a table—with glasses of water, cups of coffee, and an open laptop—right alongside a human-shaped robot with an expressionless face and a transparent skull. It’s a benign but stark picture of a future many people find terrifying, resembling a scene from the film I, Robot, starring Will Smith. But the author is well aware of this, and his wide-ranging work approaches the whole subject calmly and factually. After a brief survey of the growth of mechanization and automation, the manual explores the impact of technology on a handful of key industries, looking at the probable trends in those areas over the next 25 years. The world, he contends, is undergoing a civilization-level transformation that will move it into a new era, and in these pages, Uechi draws on his own experience as an IT manager to take readers through the likely workplace/tech developments up to 2046. His aim is to inform his readers and soothe their anxieties about things like the growing prevalence and sophistication of artificial intelligence. He goes into great detail under the headings of agriculture, manufacturing, construction, transportation, food services, health care, administration, and education—virtually every employment field that will affect most readers.

Everything from systems to sensors and robots comes in for a careful, painstaking examination in Uechi’s chapters, and he does a skillful, low-key job of breaking down a vast amount of research and technical information for general readers. His decision to spread his inquiry over such a large range of industries is a wise one, giving the broadest possible spectrum of readers some useful details on his predictions and extrapolations. This kind of decision goes hand in hand with his consistent and very convincing note of reassurance. He knows that many of his readers are worried that increasingly complex automation will threaten their jobs. While he's informing those readers of the facts and prospective trends, he’s also mindful of their fears. His steady, methodical approach is helpful—every chapter is segmented and buttressed with extensive notes in case readers involved in that section’s field want to research the topics further. The end result is a tranquil, remarkable, and indispensable guide even if some of the author’s extrapolations may be debatable. Occasionally, he is so diligent that he ends up sounding like an android himself. “Without a job, a person cannot earn income,” he computes at one point. “Without income, a person cannot buy and consume food and other products necessary to live.” But a certain amount of robotic style is probably inevitable in such a deep-dive approach to the complexities of industrial technology in all its endless facets, everything from pulse monitors to heavy grain loaders. The extent of Uechi’s research is genuinely impressive. Readers nervous about the future of their jobs and wanting to know the most likely ways that technology will change those positions will certainly want to read this book.

A sweeping and authoritative look at the future of the tech-work connection.