Vital Issues - AUTOMATION: What's Ahead? - Discussion Guide for Better Informed Americans - Volume VI Number 4

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodora

Vital Issues examines automation as a continuation of long-standing efforts to invent quicker, cheaper ways to produce and distribute goods, while addressing why it still provokes fear. It contrasts public concerns about machines replacing jobs with expert arguments predicting productivity gains, job needs, and potential improvements in living standards. The text highlights shifting workplace skills, the obsolescence of existing management and marketing systems, and the social and economic barriers that determine whether automation’s benefits will be realized.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

AUTOMATION: What's Ahead?

IS AUTOMATION SOMETHING NEW?

MARYGROVE COLLEGE L18xAt DETROIT.MICHIGAN # Vital Issues PLEASE DO NOT REMOVF "A DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR BETTER INFORMED AMERICANS” Published by the CENTER FOR INFORMATION ON AMERICA WASHINGTON,CONNECTICUT Volume VI,Number 4 # AUTOMATION: What's Ahead? Our country owes its remarkable economic growth and itsunsurpassed standard of living to the skill with which we'vedreamed up and put to practical use technological advances onour farms and in our factories.Our ability to find faster andbetter ways of doing things has become a national trait.Wepride ourselves on our "Yankee ingenuity." Even so,plenty of people aren't so sure that further tech-nological progress will prove an unmixed blessing.Theyparticularly wonder about that feature of it which we call“automation.”Yet automation is only a new word for some-thing we’ve always believed in—inventing ways of makingthings quicker and cheaper so that there will be greaterabundance for everyone. Why then is there fear of automation along with approval?The answer is that we have learned how to make machinesthat are entirely automatic. Doesn't this mean that machines will be taking over manypeople's jobs?Going a step further,a few imaginative per-sons have prophesied a streamlined world run by robots—aworld in which the human spirit with its love of freedom andits belief in the worth and dignity of the individual will nolonger count. But experts on the subject,both from a practical and theo-retical standpoint,insist that automation will mean morejobs,not fewer.They insist that it will enrich our lives,notdegrade them.They point out that in the next ten years wewill need 40%more productivity than we now have,while,in the face of this,our labor force will increase by only 13%.They maintain that unless this serious labor shortage is coun-teracted by an increase in automation,we will be confrontedby a declining standard of living. From this point of view,it looks as though automation issure to come.Already many-ypes of-manufacture have itro:duced plenty of it.As the trenid gue oound to bringits own particular benefits.And is uiso"bound to raiseserious social and economic problems. What about those factory and office workers whose pres-ent jobs will be taken over by machines?In new work,won'tthey have to acquire new skills in order to fit'successfully intothe new scheme of things? Moreover,won't our present management,production,dis-tributional,and marketing systems become increasingly obso-lete?Doesn't this mean that businessmen will have to developand master new techniques and concepts? The truth is that the progress we make in receiving thebenefits of-automation will depend,not just on technologicaladvances,but on what we can do to overcome social andeconomic stumbling blocks along the way. This is the true vital issue we must solve. Drowings by C.P.Meier To most of us automation still seems shrouded in mystery.How is it used?What are the facts we must face? 一EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE:Dr.Jomes W.Fesler,Professor of Government,Yole University;Dr.Kent RobertsGreenfield,Chief Historion,Department of the Army,Woshington,D.C.;Dr.Allon Nevins,Professor of AmericanHistory,Columbia University,President of the Society of Americon Historions;Dr.Robert E.Spiller,Choirmon of theDeportment of Americon Civilization,University of Pennsylvonio,Council Member ond former President of the Ameri-con Studies Association,a notional society for the study of Americon civilization.—Editor:Townsend Scudder,President of the Center.一 ## IS AUTOMATION SOMETHING NEW? Automation is both new and old.It is a new tool in man-kind's agelong search for better ways to produce the thingshe needs.Man invented the plow—and moved further ahead from his primitive hunting stage.He devised the wheel—oneof his greatest inventions—for moving carts,for making pot-tery,for milling and spinning.He invented the loom forweaving cloth.He learned the use of copper,bronze,and iron,and in

FAQs

Why does automation inspire both fear and approval?

Automation is feared because machines can be entirely automatic and may disrupt jobs, yet it is approved because experts and advocates see it as a tool for greater abundance through improved production.

What do experts say automation will lead to in the labor market?

Experts insist automation will mean more jobs, enriching life rather than degrading it, arguing that future productivity needs require expanded output despite a growing labor shortage.

How does the text connect technological progress to social and economic outcomes?

The benefits of automation depend not only on technical advances, but also on overcoming social and economic stumbling blocks that arise as production systems evolve.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodora