Does digital technology have an inequality problem? Based on recent news coverage, you’d certainly think so. One common theme is robots and AI (Artificial Intelligence) taking over jobs, particularly less skilled jobs, threatening to increase the wage inequality that has been rising in the developed world since the 1970s and 80s. Uber is working furiously to replace their drivers with autonomous vehicles. Amazon appears to be swallowing retail sector after retail sector. A now infamous Oxford University study estimated that 47% of all US jobs are at risk to be automated over the next 20 years.
Another common theme is stories of gender and ethnic inequality in technology. Women and ethnic minorities are already seriously under-represented in technology industries. Media accounts of tech culture range from unsupportive, to openly hostile (see stories of Uber’s Las Vegas escapades for an eye-opening example). Technology seems to be uniquely resistant to this type of equality. Since 1980, the percentage of US women majoring in the physical sciences in college has risen to nearly 50% or more, with a similar rise in professional disciplines such as medicine and law. During that same period, female representation in computer science majors has actually dropped, from over 30% to around 20%. According to Airbnb’s diversity reports in 2016, 8% of their professional workforce, and 8% of their managers, were identified as Black or Hispanic, while in the state of California Hispanic and Black Americans make up 45% of our population.
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