The employment of machinery is frequently detrimental to their interests
1821 (John Murray). David Ricardo, the British political economist, wrote in his 1821 chapter On Machinery, in the third edition of On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, that workers' fears about machines had some basis.
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 3rd edition, Chapter 31: On Machinery
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Who else?
What it refers to: The labouring class's view of machinery, which the chapter calls not founded on prejudice and error when machines reduce a nation's gross produce and employment.
Other voices
- “To discharge the greater part of the men spinners” Andrew Ure,
- “Lightened the day’s toil of any human being” John Stuart Mill,
- “We are being afflicted with a new disease” John Maynard Keynes,
- “About 47 percent of total US employment is at risk” Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne,
- “AI keeps stubbornly refusing to take our jobs” Noah Smith,
- “Racing with the machine beats racing against the machine” Erik Brynjolfsson,










