I rarely read the columns generated by Ross Douthat at the NYT. He generally spouts theological nonsense informed by his Catholic upbringing and as a fellow traveler in the world of suburban catholicism I long ago diverged from his opinions. However, today, Douthat speculated that the coming robot apocalypse predicted by many, including presidential hopeful Andrew Yang, is not going to happen as soon as many forecast.
I read the entire screed, but beyond disagreeing with Douthat's conclusions, I think he is missing the existential threat which makes the robot overlord scenario a moot point. If/when climate change overtakes and destroys much of our productive capacity, especially in agriculture, who will care if a robot truck driver puts a human driver out of work. I hope with all my heart we can solve the coming crisis and Artificial Intelligence will probably be a key player in the fight, but let's focus on what is the most dangerous challenge we face instead of using precious space to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.
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