Editorial: Robots, AI, and the reconfiguration of working life

Abstract

Science fiction literature offers rich contrasts for understanding how robots and artificial intelligence may come to shape the future of work. At the dystopian end of the spectra stands Kurt Wonnegut’s (1952) Player Piano, in which he offers a compelling and critical exploration of a future where automation has transformed society to such an extent that nearly all human labor has been rendered obsolete. The novel vividly portrays a world dominated by machines, where engineers and managers form a privileged elite controlling vast automated systems, while the majority of people are displaced from meaningful work and confined to monotonous, purposeless roles. As Vonnegut writes (p. 78), ‘Now, you people have engineered them out of their part in the economy, in the market place, and they’re finding out - most of them - that what’s left is just about zero’. This mechanized world reveals deep social inequalities and raises questions about the meaning and value of work in an automated future. He further illustrates the social divide when he notes (p. 131), ‘The general feeling across the river was that these persons weren’t too bright to be replaced by machines; they were simply in activities where machines weren’t economical’. Vonnegut’s narrative is a cautionary tale about the social and ethical consequences of unchecked automation. It raises pressing questions about what work means when machines can perform tasks more efficiently than humans, and how societies might cope with the loss of purpose and community that meaningful labor traditionally provides (...)