Demography as a Driver of Robonomics

Abstract

This article looks into demographics and how the changes in demographics in the most developed countries in recent decades will work in ways to introduce more robots and automation technologies into the economy and society. The author looks at demographic and population trends to illustrate the expectations of substantial demographic decline in most countries. The discussion then turns to the social and technological factors that cause the decline in population in many developed countries, explaining how choice and fertility, technologies of contraception, and liberalized abortion laws have led to decreases in the number of humans born in the most developed countries. The article concludes, explaining the inevitable, that humanity is pushing itself into a robonomic economy with the challenges and externalities that will be substantial since there is a global tendency toward lower rates of fertility and an aging global population.