I want to tell you about one of my hero
ins Francis Perkins she was the
secretary of labor under FDR the first
woman to be in the u.s. cabinet and one
of the most formative experiences of her
life was in New York City near
Washington Square when she was walking
down the street near some factory some
sweatshop factories that were then there
and now NYU and the next part isn’t so
happy she saw women throwing themselves
out of the factory there was a fire
this was the famous Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire in 1911 a hundred and fifty
people died almost all of them young
immigrant women who had been locked in
the factory because they shouldn’t take
unwarranted breaks nor were the fire
precautions in place so they couldn’t
get out they jumped out of the building
and fell to the ground but Frances
Perkins was ready she wasn’t happy about
what she saw but she was ready she had
been working with legislators with labor
unions with social reformers to create
occupational health and safety
legislation and other social protections
for workers and when this disaster
happened and became so well publicized
they went to work and they passed in New
York State the first protective Labor
legislation of any importance in this
country and one of the first places in
the world tonight I want to talk to you
about the disasters that we might face
about the opportunities and the hard
choices that are in front of us now
there is a real debate going on
about technology and IA i and about the
number of jobs that will be gained or
lost over time no one really knows
what’s gonna happen we have guesses but
no one’s really sure except for one
thing we’re sure about there will be
huge displacements and we need to be
prepared for that
that’s the disaster that we’re going to
face and that we have to be prepared for
so some jobs will be lost and some of
those we’re very glad they’ll be lost
telemarketers now if we could get rid of
the robot calls that have replaced the
telemarketers that’s not such a big loss
but if you look down this list taxi
drivers are in trouble so our uber
drivers and lyft drivers going into the
future
some jobs will be safe from automation
but none of that will be enough the big
question tonight is really what do we do
for those who are put out of work how
are we going to think about that how are
we going to help those us who may find
ourselves displaced in the future now
one answer is to create new jobs that’s
part of the answer and here’s some of
the new jobs that might be created some
of them are exciting new opportunities
some of them are jobs that have in a
sense been around for a while and are be
going to come more important I spent a
lot of years working with longshore
workers on the ports and they were
replaced to a large extent by
containerization but now there are a lot
of jobs at the port but who are they
they’re the repair people for the
containers we’re gonna have to think
about old jobs and rethink them one of
the things I really want to emphasize is
that the future we have to think about
not just creating work they’ll always be
work as long as they’re things that need
to be done there will be work as my
friend Tim O’Reilly says and I agree
with them but will that work be jobs
will it become
unsated work will it have dignity and
respect will it be valued if we think
about some of the jobs that have been
around for a long long time there are
jobs that have not been given the value
or the compensation that they should be
we are going to be increasingly
dependent on education not just teachers
in schools as we know them now but more
teachers more schools and lots of
training and Retraining as we go forward
we’re all going to get old we’ve all
once been young or have the young every
one of us will be sick at some point in
our life care providers are going to
become increasingly important and that
not all of them will be machines
some will but are they being given the
dignity respect and pay that they
deserve hopefully we’ll have more green
industries into the future they’ll
always be creatives and I don’t just
mean Hollywood stars and pop performers
but we’re going to need lots of artists
lots of singers lots of people who
actors who will bring joy into our lives
and we’ll think about the world in a
different way writers who will inspire
us and I personally would love to see
the introduction of a new Civilian
Conservation Corps another FDR idea to
help us rebuild the infrastructure that
is failing and to build new
infrastructure that will need into the
future are we ready for that future not
yet new jobs or old we are going to have
to develop very new and different and
old capacities we’re going to have to
develop our cognitive capacities even
more than we’ve done in the past again
back to education and training we’re
also going to have to develop our
emotional capacities if you look at the
statistics in the literature the
capacity to relate to other people is
going to become increasingly important
into the future this means we have to
reimagine our education our training the
way in which we learn in
tract with each other and new ways to
support people to learn what they need
and when they need it and to give it to
them so we’re going to have hard choices
to make going into the future if we
don’t intervene the rich will get richer
and the middle class already
disappearing will totally disappear if
we do act we can make sure that the
world is a much more decent place one
that provides social supports for those
who need it when they need it
that provides the kind of education and
training we’re all going to need what we
need is a new moral political economy
the current political economy dates from
the 1970s brought into being by Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher and President
Ronald Reagan their values and their
perceptions and those of their favorite
economists were what really created the
construct that we call a political
economy what informs our lives as
citizens as those who run firms that
tells government what it should and
shouldn’t do and their values and
presumptions and assumptions were that
we as individuals are narrowly
self-interested that that’s our major
and main motivation that we’re perfectly
rational capable of making absolutely
the right decision and that markets can
solve every problem now we’re going to
need new ideas and new intellectual
leadership going forward and what I hope
is that we don’t rely on pepper or a
more advanced AI to do that thinking for
us that we do it and we’ve already made
some progress with some great human
beings doing the thinking these are
three Nobel economists who have brought
into being more realistic theories of
behavior to form our political economies
Richard Thaler and Danny Kahneman have
shown us that we
something that’s hardly surprising that
we are imperfect decision-makers we are
not fully rational what a surprise
Elinor Ostrom who is one of my mentors
and friends and who I miss every day
she’s now deceased taught taught us that
we are social and creative beings who
build communities and find solutions to
common problems now change is going to
require new aspirations and new actions
we’ve got to get out and vote we’ve got
to create a social infrastructure that
really will do the work for us and help
us build a diverse and and real
community promote a value structure that
elevates both a need for survival and
the recognizes the need for dignity and
develop models and arguments about who’s
going to pay for all of this and then
advocate for the approach we prefer now
we want a world where people can have
dignity and meaning as they work that
they can grow old they can be young they
can change they can be sick but that
requires somebody to pay robots could
pay that’s a possibility we could soak
the rich that’s another possibility or
we could come up with a new and more
imaginative and and informed ideas about
how to to actually make this work what I
want to advocate is a new moral
political economy so that is really
about well-being and flourishing in my
mind is siena city hall there’s a
fabulous mural there from the 14th
century of a walled city that is safe
and secure and people are dancing
outside the walls and crops are growing
and there’s a lively market inside
we need that vision of good government
of a good Society that stepped up for
today now Francis Perkins is in my head
and my heart and I want to be ready and
I’m
doing what I can is a wonky academic to
get ready for the future so that we can
deal with those disasters that we know
are going to come and medicate mitigate
and be prepared for those we can’t
predict my great-grand nephews these two
young four year old twins there are
already working for a better world and
advocating for children refugee children
all children I want the world to be a
place where they can thrive they don’t
need to become professors doctors
venture capitalists technologists
lawyers but whatever they do and I
suspect it will be many different things
over their lifetime I want them to have
respect and dignity and to be paid for
it and I want them to continue to work
for the collective good and I want you
all to help me help them do that
thank you
[Applause] [Music]
ins Francis Perkins she was the
secretary of labor under FDR the first
woman to be in the u.s. cabinet and one
of the most formative experiences of her
life was in New York City near
Washington Square when she was walking
down the street near some factory some
sweatshop factories that were then there
and now NYU and the next part isn’t so
happy she saw women throwing themselves
out of the factory there was a fire
this was the famous Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire in 1911 a hundred and fifty
people died almost all of them young
immigrant women who had been locked in
the factory because they shouldn’t take
unwarranted breaks nor were the fire
precautions in place so they couldn’t
get out they jumped out of the building
and fell to the ground but Frances
Perkins was ready she wasn’t happy about
what she saw but she was ready she had
been working with legislators with labor
unions with social reformers to create
occupational health and safety
legislation and other social protections
for workers and when this disaster
happened and became so well publicized
they went to work and they passed in New
York State the first protective Labor
legislation of any importance in this
country and one of the first places in
the world tonight I want to talk to you
about the disasters that we might face
about the opportunities and the hard
choices that are in front of us now
there is a real debate going on
about technology and IA i and about the
number of jobs that will be gained or
lost over time no one really knows
what’s gonna happen we have guesses but
no one’s really sure except for one
thing we’re sure about there will be
huge displacements and we need to be
prepared for that
that’s the disaster that we’re going to
face and that we have to be prepared for
so some jobs will be lost and some of
those we’re very glad they’ll be lost
telemarketers now if we could get rid of
the robot calls that have replaced the
telemarketers that’s not such a big loss
but if you look down this list taxi
drivers are in trouble so our uber
drivers and lyft drivers going into the
future
some jobs will be safe from automation
but none of that will be enough the big
question tonight is really what do we do
for those who are put out of work how
are we going to think about that how are
we going to help those us who may find
ourselves displaced in the future now
one answer is to create new jobs that’s
part of the answer and here’s some of
the new jobs that might be created some
of them are exciting new opportunities
some of them are jobs that have in a
sense been around for a while and are be
going to come more important I spent a
lot of years working with longshore
workers on the ports and they were
replaced to a large extent by
containerization but now there are a lot
of jobs at the port but who are they
they’re the repair people for the
containers we’re gonna have to think
about old jobs and rethink them one of
the things I really want to emphasize is
that the future we have to think about
not just creating work they’ll always be
work as long as they’re things that need
to be done there will be work as my
friend Tim O’Reilly says and I agree
with them but will that work be jobs
will it become
unsated work will it have dignity and
respect will it be valued if we think
about some of the jobs that have been
around for a long long time there are
jobs that have not been given the value
or the compensation that they should be
we are going to be increasingly
dependent on education not just teachers
in schools as we know them now but more
teachers more schools and lots of
training and Retraining as we go forward
we’re all going to get old we’ve all
once been young or have the young every
one of us will be sick at some point in
our life care providers are going to
become increasingly important and that
not all of them will be machines
some will but are they being given the
dignity respect and pay that they
deserve hopefully we’ll have more green
industries into the future they’ll
always be creatives and I don’t just
mean Hollywood stars and pop performers
but we’re going to need lots of artists
lots of singers lots of people who
actors who will bring joy into our lives
and we’ll think about the world in a
different way writers who will inspire
us and I personally would love to see
the introduction of a new Civilian
Conservation Corps another FDR idea to
help us rebuild the infrastructure that
is failing and to build new
infrastructure that will need into the
future are we ready for that future not
yet new jobs or old we are going to have
to develop very new and different and
old capacities we’re going to have to
develop our cognitive capacities even
more than we’ve done in the past again
back to education and training we’re
also going to have to develop our
emotional capacities if you look at the
statistics in the literature the
capacity to relate to other people is
going to become increasingly important
into the future this means we have to
reimagine our education our training the
way in which we learn in
tract with each other and new ways to
support people to learn what they need
and when they need it and to give it to
them so we’re going to have hard choices
to make going into the future if we
don’t intervene the rich will get richer
and the middle class already
disappearing will totally disappear if
we do act we can make sure that the
world is a much more decent place one
that provides social supports for those
who need it when they need it
that provides the kind of education and
training we’re all going to need what we
need is a new moral political economy
the current political economy dates from
the 1970s brought into being by Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher and President
Ronald Reagan their values and their
perceptions and those of their favorite
economists were what really created the
construct that we call a political
economy what informs our lives as
citizens as those who run firms that
tells government what it should and
shouldn’t do and their values and
presumptions and assumptions were that
we as individuals are narrowly
self-interested that that’s our major
and main motivation that we’re perfectly
rational capable of making absolutely
the right decision and that markets can
solve every problem now we’re going to
need new ideas and new intellectual
leadership going forward and what I hope
is that we don’t rely on pepper or a
more advanced AI to do that thinking for
us that we do it and we’ve already made
some progress with some great human
beings doing the thinking these are
three Nobel economists who have brought
into being more realistic theories of
behavior to form our political economies
Richard Thaler and Danny Kahneman have
shown us that we
something that’s hardly surprising that
we are imperfect decision-makers we are
not fully rational what a surprise
Elinor Ostrom who is one of my mentors
and friends and who I miss every day
she’s now deceased taught taught us that
we are social and creative beings who
build communities and find solutions to
common problems now change is going to
require new aspirations and new actions
we’ve got to get out and vote we’ve got
to create a social infrastructure that
really will do the work for us and help
us build a diverse and and real
community promote a value structure that
elevates both a need for survival and
the recognizes the need for dignity and
develop models and arguments about who’s
going to pay for all of this and then
advocate for the approach we prefer now
we want a world where people can have
dignity and meaning as they work that
they can grow old they can be young they
can change they can be sick but that
requires somebody to pay robots could
pay that’s a possibility we could soak
the rich that’s another possibility or
we could come up with a new and more
imaginative and and informed ideas about
how to to actually make this work what I
want to advocate is a new moral
political economy so that is really
about well-being and flourishing in my
mind is siena city hall there’s a
fabulous mural there from the 14th
century of a walled city that is safe
and secure and people are dancing
outside the walls and crops are growing
and there’s a lively market inside
we need that vision of good government
of a good Society that stepped up for
today now Francis Perkins is in my head
and my heart and I want to be ready and
I’m
doing what I can is a wonky academic to
get ready for the future so that we can
deal with those disasters that we know
are going to come and medicate mitigate
and be prepared for those we can’t
predict my great-grand nephews these two
young four year old twins there are
already working for a better world and
advocating for children refugee children
all children I want the world to be a
place where they can thrive they don’t
need to become professors doctors
venture capitalists technologists
lawyers but whatever they do and I
suspect it will be many different things
over their lifetime I want them to have
respect and dignity and to be paid for
it and I want them to continue to work
for the collective good and I want you
all to help me help them do that
thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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