Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (47 page)

2
. University of Akron News Release: “Man and Machine: Better Writers, Better Grades,” April 12, 2012,
http://www.uakron.edu/education/about-the-college/news-details.dot?newsId=40920394–9e62–415d-b038–15fe2e72a677&pageTitle=Recent%20Headlines&crumbTitle=Man%20and%20%20machine:%20Better%20writers,%20better%20grades
.

3
. Ry Rivard, “Humans Fight over Robo-Readers,”
Inside Higher Ed,
March 15, 2013,
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/15/professors-odds-machine-graded-essays
.

4
. John Markoff, “Essay-Grading Software Offers Professors a Break,”
New York Times,
April 4, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/science/new-test-for-computers-grading-essays-at-college-level.html
.

5
. John Markoff, “Virtual and Artificial, but 58,000 Want Course,”
New York Times,
August 15, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/science/16stanford.html?_r=0
.

6
. The story of the Stanford AI course is drawn from Max Chafkin, “Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun, Godfather of Free Online Education, Changes Course,”
Fast Company,
December 2013/January 2014,
http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb
; Jeffrey J. Selingo,
College Unbound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students
(New York: New Harvest, 2013), pp. 86–101; and Felix Salmon, “Udacity and the Future of Online Universities” (Reuters blog), January 23, 2012,
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/01/23/udacity-and-the-future-of-online-universities/
.

7
. Thomas L. Friedman, “Revolution Hits the Universities,”
New York Times,
January 26, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedman-revolution-hits-the-universities.html
.

8
. Penn Graduate School of Education Press Release: “Penn GSE Study Shows MOOCs Have Relatively Few Active Users, with Only a Few Persisting to Course End,” December 5, 2013,
http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pressroom/press-releases/2013/12/penn-gse-study-shows-moocs-have-relatively-few-active-users-only-few-persisti
.

9
. Tamar Lewin, “After Setbacks, Online Courses Are Rethought,”
New York Times,
December 10, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/us/after-setbacks-online-courses-are-rethought.html
.

10
. Alexandra Tilsley, “Paying for an A,”
Inside Higher Ed,
September 21, 2012,
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/21/sites-offering-take-courses-fee-pose-risk-online-ed
.

11
. Jeffrey R. Young, “Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera’s Free Online Courses,”
Chronicle of Higher Education,
August 16, 2012,
http://chronicle.com/article/Dozens-of-Plagiarism-Incidents/133697/
.

12
. “MOOCs and Security” (MIT Geospacial Data Center blog), October 9, 2012,
http://cybersecurity.mit.edu/2012/10/moocs-and-security/
.

13
. Steve Kolowich, “Doubts About MOOCs Continue to Rise, Survey Finds,”
Chronicle of Higher Education,
January 15, 2014,
http://chronicle.com/article/Doubts-About-MOOCs-Continue-to/144007/
.

14
. Jeffrey J. Selingo,
College Unbound,
p. 4.

15
. Michelle Jamrisko and Ilan Kole, “College Costs Surge 500% in U.S. Since 1985: Chart of the Day,”
Bloomberg Personal Finance,
August 26, 2013,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013–08–26/college-costs-surge-500-in-u-s-since-1985-chart-of-the-day.html
.

16
. On student loans, see Rohit Chopra, “Student Debt Swells, Federal Loans Now Top a Trillion,” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, July 17, 2013, and Blake Ellis, “Average Student Loan Debt: $29,400,”
CNN Money,
December 5, 2013,
http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/pf/college/student-loan-debt/
.

17
. This information regarding graduation rates is provided by the National Center of Education Statistics,
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40
.

18
. Selingo,
College Unbound,
p. 27.

19
. “Senior Administrators Now Officially Outnumber Faculty at the UC” (Reclaim UC blog), September 19, 2011,
http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2011/09/senior-administrators-now-officially.html
.

20
. Selingo,
College Unbound,
p. 28.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Clayton Christensen interview with Mark Suster at Startup Grind 2013, available at YouTube,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYVdf5xyD8I
.

23
. William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos, Kelly A. Lack, and Thomas I. Nygren, “Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials,”
Ithaka S+R Research Publication,
May 22, 2012,
http://www.sr.ithaka.org/research-publications/interactive-learning-online-public-universities-evidence-randomized-trials
.

C
HAPTER
6

1
. These two cases of cobalt poisoning were reported by Gina Kolata, “As Seen on TV, a Medical Mystery Involving Hip Implants Is Solved,”
New York Times,
February 6, 2014,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/health/house-plays-a-role-in-solving-a-medical-mystery.html
.

2
. Catherine Rampell, “U.S. Health Spending Breaks from the Pack,”
New York Times
(Economix blog), July 8, 2009,
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/us-health-spending-breaks-from-the-pack/
.

3
. IBM corporate website,
http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/watson_in_healthcare.shtml
.

4
. Spencer E. Ante, “IBM Struggles to Turn Watson Computer into Big Business,”
Wall Street Journal,
January 7, 2014,
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304887104579306881917668654
.

5
. Dr. Courtney DiNardo, as quoted in Laura Nathan-Garner, “The Future of Cancer Treatment and Research: What IBM Watson Means for Our Patients,”
MD Anderson—Cancerwise,
November 12, 2013,
http://www2.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/2013/11/the-future-of-cancer-treatment-and-research-what-ibm-watson-means-for-patients.html
.

6
. Mayo Clinic Press Release: “Artificial Intelligence Helps Diagnose Cardiac Infections,” September 12, 2009,
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009–09/mc-aih090909.php
.

7
. National Research Council,
Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series
(Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2007), p. 47.

8
. National Research Council,
To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System
(Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2000), p. 1.

9
. National Academies News Release: “Medication Errors Injure 1.5 Million People and Cost Billions of Dollars Annually,” July 20, 2006,
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11623
.

10
. Martin Ford, “Dr. Watson: How IBM’s Supercomputer Could Improve Health Care,”
Washington Post,
September 16, 2011,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dr-watson-how-ibms-supercomputer-could-improve-health-care/2011/09/14/gIQAOZQzXK_story.html
.

11
. Roger Stark, “The Looming Doctor Shortage,” Washington Policy Center, November 2011,
http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/notes/looming-doctor-shortage
.

12
. Marijke Vroomen Durning, “Automated Breast Ultrasound Far Faster Than Hand-Held,”
Diagnostic Imaging,
May 3, 2012,
http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/articles/automated-breast-ultrasound-far-faster-hand-held
.

13
. On the “double reading” strategy in radiology, see Farhad Manjoo, “Why the Highest-Paid Doctors Are the Most Vulnerable to Automation,”
Slate,
September 27, 2011,
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/robot_invasion/2011/09/will_robots_steal_your_job_3.html
; I. Anttinen, M. Pamilo, M. Soiva, and M. Roiha, “Double Reading of Mammography Screening Films—One Radiologist or Two?,”
Clinical Radiology
48, no. 6 (December 1993): 414–421,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8293648?report=abstract
; and Fiona J. Gilbert et al., “Single Reading with Computer-Aided Detection for Screening Mammography,”
New England Journal of Medicine,
October 16, 2008,
http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa0803545
.

14
. Manjoo, “Why the Highest-Paid Doctors Are the Most Vulnerable to Automation.”

15
. Rachael King, “Soon, That Nearby Worker Might Be a Robot,”
Bloomberg Businessweek,
June 2, 2010,
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2010–06–02/soon-that-nearby-worker-might-be-a-robotbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
.

16
. GE Corporate Press Release: “GE to Develop Robotic-Enabled Intelligent System Which Could Save Patients Lives and Hospitals Millions,” January 30, 2013,
http://www.genewscenter.com/Press-Releases/GE-to-Develop-Robotic-enabled-Intelligent-System-Which-Could-Save-Patients-Lives-and-Hospitals-Millions-3dc2.aspx
.

17
. I-Sur website,
http://www.isur.eu/isur/
.

18
. Statistics on US aging can be found at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging website,
http://www.aoa.gov/Aging_Statistics/
.

19
. For statistics on Japanese aging, see “Difference Engine: The Caring Robot,”
The Economist,
May 14, 2014,
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/05/automation-elderly
.

20
. Ibid.

21
. “Robotic Exoskeleton Gets Safety Green Light,”
Discovery News,
February 27, 2013,
http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/robotic-exoskeleton-gets-safety-green-light-130227.htm
.

22
. US Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Occupational Outlook Handbook,
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/most-new-jobs.htm
.

23
. Heidi Shierholz, “Six Years from Its Beginning, the Great Recession’s Shadow Looms over the Labor Market,” Economic Policy Institute, January 9, 2014,
http://www.epi.org/publication/years-beginning-great-recessions-shadow/
.

24
. Steven Brill, “Bitter Pill: How Outrageous and Egregious Profits Are Destroying Our Health Care,”
Time,
March 4, 2013.

25
. Elisabeth Rosenthal, “As Hospital Prices Soar, a Stitch Tops $500,”
New York Times,
December 2, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/health/as-hospital-costs-soar-single-stitch-tops-500.html
.

26
. Kenneth J. Arrow, “Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care,”
American Economic Review,
December 1963,
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/2/PHCBP.pdf
.