Power, Technology, and the Future of Wor

The increasingly rapid development of technologies including artificial intelligence has raised fear of widespread automation. These fears are not new – rather, they have emerged frequently in the past during periods of economic slowdown and technological growth. This course will examine the relationship between work, power, and technology. It will discuss how, and how much new technologies are changing the way people work, if these changes in technology will lead to a replacement of workers or a change in the types and standards of available work. We will look at the potentials and limits of technology in the workplace, with a particular focus on power: understanding why technologies are designed, who they are used by, and for what purposes. We will put these technological developments in the context of long term changes in the American and global economy, and look at what the future may hold, and how we can imagine new futures for ourselves.