The Conversation

What the Industrial Revolution really tells us about the future of automation and work

Written by Moshe Y. Vardi, Professor of Computer Science, Rice University

Where are all the people in this factory?AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

As automation and artificial intelligence technologies improve, many people worry about the future of work. If millions of human workers no longer have jobs, the worriers ask, what will people do, how will they provide for themselves and their families, and what changes might occur (or be...

Want a job? It's still about education.

Written by Shaun M. Dougherty, Assistant Professor of Education & Public Policy, University of Connecticut

Specialized training is becoming more and more important to financial success in today's labor market.U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Michael Ellis

During the 20th century, there was nothing that could help you achieve labor market success more than a good education. Even today, education is one of the strongest predictors of whether someone is...

Why Hurricane Harvey donors shouldn't boycott the Red Cross

Written by Brian Mittendorf, Fisher College of Business Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Accounting & Management Information Systems (MIS), The Ohio State University

As with all natural disasters, the public and the business world have reacted with an outpouring of aid for people suffering from Hurricane Harvey’s extensive damage.

The usual appeals for Americans and U.S. companies to open their wallets, however, have been accompanied by increasingly loud calls from some corners urging donors to avoid the...

Explaining the Muslim pilgrimage of hajj

Written by Ken Chitwood, Ph.D. Candidate, Religion in the Americas, Global Islam, University of Florida

Muslims start the hajj by circling the Kaaba, the black, cube-shaped house of God.UmmSqueaky, CC BY-NC

Around 1.7 million Muslims have gathered this year in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage – the hajj. The five-day pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for all Muslims who have the physical and...

How can job loss be bad for health, and recession be good for it?

Written by Ann Huff Stevens, Professor of Economics, University of California, Davis

Several studies have shown that health suffers after being laid off, as fear and anxiety lead to stress.VGstockstudio/Shutterstock.com

There’s no better time than Labor Day to think about the critical role that work – both our own jobs and the labor of others – plays in all of our lives. But this role is surprisingly complex:...

Education isn't a commodity for labor

Written by Steven Fesmire, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Middlebury College

Education should amount to much more than churning out a workforce.Andrew Tan, CC BY

When it comes to current debates in politics and policy, even a strident defense of the liberal arts – such as George Anders’s “You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Education” or Randall...

How algorithms and human journalists will need to work together

Written by Andreas Graefe, Endowed Sky Research Professor, Macromedia University of Applied Sciences

Robot journalists don't really need mechanical hands to type.maxuser/Shutterstock.com

Ever since the Associated Press automated the production and publication of quarterly earnings reports in 2014, algorithms that automatically generate news stories from structured, machine-readable data have been shaking up the news industry. The promises of this...

Why Texans heard conflicting messages about evacuating ahead of Hurricane Harvey

Written by Ashley Ross, Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M University

Cars leaving Beaumont, Texas during a mandatory evacuation before the arrival of Hurricane Gustav, August 30, 2008.Patsy Lynch/FEMA

“Your safest option is to stay put.” This message from Houston-area emergency management officials is difficult to reconcile with images of elderly nursing home residents sitting in waist-deep water and boat...

Remembering America's lost buildings

Written by Kevin D. Murphy, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and Professor and Chair of History of Art, Vanderbilt University

A photograph of Penn Station's interior from the 1930s.Bernice Abbott

In June 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a US$1.6 billion project to transform New York City’s much-maligned Penn Station in hopes of restoring it to its former glory.

The original structure – an iconic example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style –...

'Cajun Navy' rescuers in Hurricane Harvey show vital role of volunteer boats

Written by Tricia Wachtendorf, Professor of Sociology, Director of Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware

As flooding took hold in the Houston area, volunteers who suffered through Hurricane Katrina made their way to Texas.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

As we look at the devastating losses suffered in Texas from Hurricane Harvey and in Louisiana following severe flooding in 2016, one of the inspiring aspects to emerge are the reports of the “Cajun...