The Golden Gate Bridge switches this week from toll booths to electronic tolling. The pre-payment system is supposed to make commuting faster, but it also puts human toll booth operators out of a job. With robots playing increasingly key roles in manufacturing, surgery, and everyday operations, where does that leave the flesh-and blood worker? Are there downsides to the rise of robots? Or does this reliance on technology simply make humans more efficient, creating new job opportunities?

Guests:

Andrew McAfee , principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of "Enterprise 2.0" and "Rage Against the Machine"

Martin Ford , owner of Silicon Valley software company and author of "The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future"

Catherine Mohr , director of medical research at Intuitive Surgery

Mark Micire , research scientist in the Intelligent Robots Group for both Carnegie Mellon University and the NASA Ames Research Center