The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future

"Andrew Yang’s book is another take on the forces fraying America’s middle class. He draws our attention to eye-popping data points about where our economy is heading, such as the threat artificial intelligence and automation poses to huge numbers of jobs. For example, truck driving—which, Yang notes, is the leading occupation in 29 different states—could soon be done by self-driving vehicles. Yang argues that the changes to come in our economy may have consequences of far greater magnitude than the changes that have resulted from computers so far. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . There’s a lot of focus in The War on Normal People on how trade deals and outsourcing exacerbate the problems of the American middle class, but so many repetitive motion jobs and routine information-based jobs may soon be done better by AI. Even jobs high up on the income scale, such as the work of highly trained, highly paid medical professionals like radiologists, are likely to be supplanted by software which can read X-rays more accurately than human beings. As a matter of fact, Yang talks about how journalists who do routine reports—on, say, corporate filings—may soon be replaced by artificial intelligence. There are things that human beings can do that artificial intelligence can’t, but that sphere is shrinking. It’s pretty alarming. The most significant thing you get is a better sense of politicians as people. One of the things that Andrew Yang has benefited from, which I experienced in person, is his sincerity. He acts like an average 44-year-old guy who has succeeded in business. The fact that he’s a normal person comes across. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter The other reason why I think Yang, who has never held any public office, has overtaken several senators and governors in polls is because he has an agenda designed to assist people who need help. He is concerned about what is roiling politics in 2019 and what many of the books we discussed are about: the hurt caused by Darwinian competition and the search for how we can make America a little less Darwinian."