Una riflessione critica su tecnologia digitale e futuro del lavoro a partire da “La rivoluzione Globotica” di Richard Baldwin

How are digital technologies changing work and professions? Will digital technologies – especially Artificial Intelligence – substitute even knowledge workers? “The Globotics Upheaval” by Richard Baldwin deals with those problems. In order to depict current changes generated by globalization and automation, Baldwin proposes a process composed by four steps, namely transformation, revolution, backlash and solution. The book investigates undoubtedly crucial problems but fails short in giving us a convincing answer. The author concludes that the globotics revolution will lead to more substitution of jobs, while generate others and betters. This conclusion is not so original, particularly if compared with current works on the topic. The author’s attempt, while interesting, remains superficial making even more apparent the need, often disregarded, of more in depth investigations rather that the creation of ad hoc concepts and neologisms. The book is useful for a basic understanding of the topic, but not so useful for forecasting the future of work.