🔮 Jobs or no jobs; AI’s past guides its future; against metrics; pineapples, bacteria & influencers++ #163

Dept of the near future

⏳  “The past is prologue.” Rodney Brooks aims to clarify the origins of AI, and identify just how much more exciting work there is to do. Must read.

📐  Against metrics: has the obsession with metrics-driven the short-termism and productivity slowdown afflicting many Western economies?

💳 How did China leapfrog the rest of the world in payments? A clear case of necessity as the mother of invention. Great analysis.

💈 Emerging markets can’t quit Facebook. More than 550m people in those markets use it as a commerce platform. (About a third of e-commerce happens on the platform across multiple markets.)

💯 Should central banks issue cryptocurrencies? (Tl;dr “No”, but accessible and interesting argument.)

Dept of automation & the future of work

The OECD reckons that 50% of jobs are vulnerable to automation, although it varies significantly by country and sector. (Great summary from The Economist and the full paper here.) Key points:

• At current employment rates, that puts 2…