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Showing posts from August, 2011

Professor Jarvis's Homework Assignment: Jobless Future?

I'm glad that Jeff Jarvis is a professor. Nobody gives great homework assignments like his. I'll welcome comments here as always, but follow the link below if you want to join in the real discussion. Jarvis announced his intention to give the following talk at SXSW on Google+ : The SXSW proposal title is, "Honey, we shrunk the economy." The proposal: Technology now leads to efficiency over growth. That means that we're not going to have a jobless recovery. We're going to have a jobless future. Pick any industry and see how technology, the internet, global connectedness, and transparent markets are bringing tremendous efficiency. Newspapers have shrunk by hundreds of thousands of jobs and may disappear -- while news expands at less cost. Borders, Circuit City and untold stores are gone, replaced by a new retail supply chain -- aka, Amazon. Construction has imploded and won't reinflate and recreate jobs. We will discuss the implications for business, te

Jobless Recovery or Jobless Future: A Reply to Jeff Jarvis

 + Jeff Jarvis  suggests over on a Google+ post, that " We're not going to have a jobless recovery. We're going to have a jobless future. " Back in 2009, he sent me and others off on this topic, so I thought it deserved a thorough response now that he's announced his intention to focus on the issue again. I wanted to reproduce my response here, but I encourage any readers to carry on the discussion over on his g+ post.  Here's my response: Jeff -- you sent me down this rabbit hole back in 2009 , and I haven't emerged since. I'm glad to see you've circled back around to it, because I think it's terribly important, and few people could focus attention on it like you can. I take it as given that disruptive innovation, particularly at present, yeilds efficiency more than it yields growth. (Mike Masnick would probably kick me in the shins for saying this so plainly, as he did here ). In many ways, however, I think Masnick i