Ask HN: Any insightful historical books on the impact of automation?

[kirunso]

In those troubled time of increased AI-based automation that could threat to replace countless jobs, I was curious to learn more about how similar events played out in the past.

So I wonder if you know of any good book on the subject, either covering the subject in general throughout history, or focusing on a specific automation breakthrough.

Specifically interested in books that analyzes in depth how such event unfolded over time, without oversimplifying the complexity and details.

[toomuchtodo]

https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691170817/th...

> The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger - Second Edition with a new chapter by the author Marc Levinson

ISBN: 9780691170817

Chapter six is most relevant to your inquiry

[markus_zhang → toomuchtodo]

I'm thinking about harbour automation and how it impacts productivity. Thanks.

[bwb]

You might check out

Ghost Work By Mary L. Gray, Siddharth Suri https://shepherd.com/book/ghost-work

"Hidden beneath the surface of the web, lost in our wrong-headed debates about AI, a new menace is looming. Anthropologist Mary L. Gray and computer scientist Siddharth Suri team up to unveil how services delivered by companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Uber can only function smoothly thanks to the judgment and experience of a vast, invisible human labor force. These people doing "ghost work" make the internet seem smart. They perform high-tech piecework: flagging X-rated content, proofreading, designing engine parts, and much more. An estimated 8 percent of Americans have worked at least once in this “ghost economy,” and that number is growing. They usually earn less than legal minimums for traditional work, they have no health benefits, and they can be fired at any time for any reason, or none."

This is a bit recent though, but still helpful for a modern big picture perspective.

Rise of the Robots By Martin Ford https://shepherd.com/book/rise-of-the-robots

This one I haven't read yet, but I've heard it tries to look historically as it looks at this concept.

And then of course, you have the historic luddites :)

Rebels Against the Future By Kirkpatrick Sale Book cover of Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age https://shepherd.com/book/rebels-against-the-future