Jamie Merisotis - Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines

Praise for Human Work

Jamie Merisotis takes concepts too often used to justify exclusioncredentials, skills, and technologyand repurposes them to provide an ambitious but pragmatic blueprint for dismantling longstanding systemic disparities. Human Work recognizes the true ends are not greater efficiencies and revenues, but greater equity and economic mobility. This book is required reading for anyone committed to the future success of our increasingly diverse nation.

Spencer Overton , Professor of Law, The George Washington University, and President, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Americas Black Think Tank

Jamie Merisotis lays out a powerful argument that the rise of new technologies does not need to accelerate inequality. In fact, through the stories of workers, he shows that people, no matter their starting point, bring critical human attributes that make work personally meaningful and valuable to modern society. This book is a timely blueprint for us all.

Amy Liu , Vice President, Brookings Institution, and Co-Founder and Director of Brookingss Metropolitan Policy Program

Jamie Merisotis provides a fresh, timely, and relevant analysis of the complexities of human work as the world transitions into an era of uncertainty. Jamie has a unique capacity to combine deep and well-informed analysis with interesting anecdotes and observations. A must read for those committed to building a better future.

Francisco Marmolejo , Education Advisor, Qatar Foundation for Education, Health, and Community Development, and Former Global Tertiary Education Lead with the World Bank

This book is a refreshing alternative to sensationalistic claims that AI, robots, and automation will soon replace a majority of human workers. Merisotis presents an inclusive vision of the growing need for work that only humans can provide, with constructive steps that educators, leaders, and workers themselves can take to increase their employability and life satisfaction.

Ken Goldberg , Roboticist and William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Chair in Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Jamie Merisotis offers a compelling vision for the future of education by calling for learning systems that prepare people for human workthe work that only people can do with artificial intelligence and automation on the rise. He shows why education that cultivates human capabilities like creativity, critical analysis, empathy, and ethical reasoning is more important than ever. Its a book for our time.

Dan Porterfield , President and CEO, The Aspen Institute

Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines
Copyright 2020 by Jamie Merisotis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact RosettaBooks at , or by mail at 125 Park Ave., 25th Floor, New York, NY 10017

First edition published 2020 by RosettaBooks

Cover design by Sarah Herbert
Interior design by Jay McNair

ISBN-13 (print): 978-1-9481-2262-7
ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-1-9481-2260-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Merisotis, Jamie, author.

Title: Human work : in the age of smart machines / Jamie Merisotis.

Description: First edition. | New York : RosettaBooks, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020017560 (print) | LCCN 2020017561 (ebook) | ISBN 9781948122627 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781948122580 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Human capital. | Labor supply--Effect of automation on. | Employees--Effect of technological innovations on. | Manpower planning.

Classification: LCC HD4904.7.M469 2020 (print) | LCC HD4904.7 (ebook) | DDC 331.25--dc23

www.RosettaBooks.com

For my parents, Peter and Diana Merisotis, who taught me that the most important part of work is not what you earn, but what you achieve.

Prologue

Work is a good thing for mana good thing for his humanitybecause through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfilment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes more a human being.

An old saying about music goes, Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Ive felt this way a lot over the years as Ive tried to write about the world of work and how we prepare people for work through learning. Much like dancing about architecture, I wonder if writing about something as complex and nuanced as work is an almost absurd exercise. After all, billions of people around the world work, and they do so in as many ways as musicians make music.

But I continue to write about work and the development of human talent necessary to accomplish this work for a fundamental reason. Work matters. People work not only because it helps them economically but also because it offers them social mobility, personal satisfaction, and a range of other rewards that are almost impossible to describe. The technology innovator and investor Roy

The existential threats the world facespandemics, global warming, and challenges to free societiesserve to remind us of our shared humanity, our desire to build and maintain relationships, and the importance of work in our lives. The emergence of COVID-19 as a public health nightmare showcased the perseverance of people who are prepared for work in an uncertain future as it underscored the need to develop coordinated approaches for readying everyone.

Work is changing in unprecedented ways as technology and artificial intelligence take over more of the tasks people used to do. The robots might or might not be coming to take our jobs, but its clear that society is being thrust into a new era of human work: the work only humans can do in the age of smart machines. Human workers will do more than make money to support themselves throughout the rest of their lives. They will be learning, earning, and serving during the course of their lifetimes, participating in a virtuous cycle that expands human potential and allows all of us to make a difference. Well need to prepare for this new era by developing our human capacities such as compassion, critical thinking, ethics, and interpersonal communicationin college, at work, and in our daily lives. This means we need new approaches to formal and informal learning after high school that intentionally develop human traits, while also expanding opportunities for service so people can gain greater meaning and satisfaction from life.

In my 2015 book, America Needs Talent , I suggested the acquisition and development of talent will drive Americas future prosperity. By talent I mean not simply innate ability, such as being able to play a sonata or score a penalty kick, but more broadly the combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other capacities that are honed through learning and experience in ways that not only improve individuals, but advance society in general. Evidence from the past few years shows this talent imperative exists globally. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and individual countries show demand for talent developed through formal learning has increased more rapidly than expected. The future of work in a technology-mediated world will create even greater demands for this more fully developed talent.