Automated trucks: Blue-collar disaster or economic win? | Andrew Yang

Give yourself the gift of knowledge — subscribe to Big Think Edge: http://bit.ly/bigthinkedge Why Silicon Valley wants to automate 3.5 million blue-collar truck drivers out of existence. - There are 3.5 million truck drivers in the U.S.; it's the most common job in 29 states. Yet there is a $168 billion financial incentive for Silicon Valley to automate truck drivers. - The pros? Automation will lower the 4,000-person annual death toll caused by truck collisions, and it will save companies and consumers money. - The cons? Truck drivers with families to support and loans to pay will soon have to compete with a robot truck that doesn't need to sleep. That kind of economic hardship doesn't exist in a vacuum; it will ripple outward in unexpected ways. Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur and author who is running for President as a Democrat in 2020. In his book The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future (https://amzn.to/2YRhW6l), he explains the mounting crisis of the automation of labor and makes the case for the Freedom Dividend, a Universal Basic Income of $1,000 a month for every American as well as other policies to progress to the next stage of capitalism. If you're interested in licensing this or any other Big Think clip for commercial or private use, contact our licensing partner Executive Interviews: https://ift.tt/2IQF1gR Follow Big Think here: YouTube: http://goo.gl/CPTsV5 Facebook: https://ift.tt/1qJMX5g Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigthink