The great advances in technology in industrialized societies has radically transformed the face of our planet, for good and for bad. Artificial fertilizers ensure high-yielding crops, polio and other diseases have been defeated, and we are conquering outer space. There is an increasing standard of living and people seem to be better off than they have ever been before. But technological progress has also brought with it unforeseen consequences. Unemployment is increasing among many in our society because firms may not consider it cost-effective to retrain the less-educated and older employees.
             In this era of increased technological advances, labor is being replaced by knowledge especially at the lower end of the economic spectrum. The technology revolution has eliminated many jobs and continues to eliminate jobs at a rapid pace. We may not have sheep sheering robots as of yet, but advances in research have come up with an injection of natural protein that causes sheep to shed their wool. The pace of the present technological revolution is also far more rapid than any of the fundamental shifts of the past. The shift of labor from agriculture to manufacturing took over 100 years, but he pace of technological change is much faster now. The Internet and other information technologies have already had a significant impact on the working world, even though some of these technologies are still in their infancy. When one considers that as recently as five years ago most people had not yet begun to use the Internet, the potential for the next five years seems almost unlim!
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             With increased automation, machines are performing certain tasks formerly done by humans faster and more efficiently. In our fast advancing technological society today, many industries are highly automated or use automation technology in some part of their operation. The widespread use of automation and its influence on daily life is a concern because it is displa...