“The most important disruptive force over the next eight years might actually be in energy. Renewable power sources, especially solar, have improved dramatically and become much cheaper over the last decade, and could potentially have a big effect on America's energy systems during the administration of the next president. That will especially be true if, as seems likely, battery and electric car technology also improve. But those developments, while economically important, probably won't have big net employment effects.

“It is harder to predict how much better machine intelligence will get and how quickly, but its role in the workforce will be more dramatic over the long run. Programs that can understand human speech, or even carry on a basic conversation, could transform lots of service work, and threaten millions of jobs. And of course, machine intelligence behind the wheel of a car could eventually wipe out jobs driving trucks, cars and buses. That sort of displacement probably won't occur during the next administration, but the next president will be confronting decisions that will influence how these technological trends play out, and how workers fare as they do.”—Ryan Avent, Author of The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, & Status in the Twenty-First Century

“I don't like making specific predictions. I think it is best to plan for a range of possible outcomes. If we assume technological displacement is going to continue in employment, policies should be put in place to deal with different future employment scenarios (i.e. levels of unemployment, degrees of polarization etc.).”—John Danaher, Ph.D.; Blogger at Philosophical Disquisitions.

“The greatest challenge we face with emerging technology disruption is in educating the general population on exactly what this new technology is and how it will affect their lives, and preparing them psychology for a world where uncertainty and redundancy will likely be the norm (at least in the short-term).

“Recently, Eric Schmidt (former CEO, Google) and Sebastian Thrun (president of Udacity), co-authored an article in Fortune, where they outlined the many reasons we should stop worrying about AI, relax, and trust them to build the innovative technology of the future. While they praised all of the potentially utopian benefits of unleashing AI into the world, they conveniently glossed over the very real, immediate problems (like job loss and potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities) that we are likely to experience on our way to tech-utopia.

“Policymakers need to hold the creators of disruptive technology responsible for contributing to the solutions to sweeping societal problems their technologies may create to ensure that they develop technology responsibly and equitably. In particular, big tech companies should be investing in educating the general public on innovative tech through classes, advertising, and experiential programs.

“Tech companies and policymakers need to work together to (1) offer practical, real-world education on disruptive technology to the general public, (2) develop psychological and social tools and coping mechanisms for people to express, understand, and process their concerns at what will likely be a blow to our collective and individual “identity and purpose in the world” from emerging technologies, and (3) offer Americans a collective vision that will reach BEYOND the immediate benefits and potential ramifications of disruptive technologies. What is the vision of the future? What should we be, collectively, working towards that will carry us through the painful challenges of these new technologies? This, I believe, is where we currently falter significantly, and it’s part of the reason there is so much populist anger across the world today (“without a vision, the people perish” – Proverbs 29:18).”—Charlie Oliver, Founder & CEO, Served Fresh Media & Tech 2025

“Truck drivers, the largest job in 29 states, and 2nd or 3rd in many others, and the 5+ million who support them will find their jobs at risk. Ryan Petersen, founder of the startup Flexport wrote in TechCrunch, "A convoy of self-driving trucks recently drove across Europe and arrived at the Port of Rotterdam. No technology will automate away more jobs—or drive more economic efficiency—than the driverless truck." Add the jobs threatened by AI in finance and customer service, and robotics in retail, warehouses, and manufacturing and the potential for massive disruptions exist.”—Andrew Stern, author of Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream

“By 2025, a number of tipping points will hit that will change how our world progresses, many of them relating to our use of energy. By 2022-2025, all renewable forms of electricity generation, including solar power, wind, and tidal, will become cheaper to produce than traditional fossil fuel energy sources, without subsidies. That last point is key, because once renewables become the cheapest form of electricity, they will immediately be adopted by fiscal conservatives and capitalists.

“From then on, the debate around adopting renewables will end because investing in them will simply become good business. This will accelerate the world’s shift to renewables far faster than today analysts forecast.

“Similarly, by 2022, electric vehicles will become cheaper than combustion engine vehicles, without subsidies, thereby following the same hockey stick adoption curve that renewables will enjoy. Widespread adoption of self-driving cars will follow, thanks to investments from Silicon Valley and Detroit heavyweights, by the mid-2020s.

“One dark horse disruption I’ll also mention is quantum computing. Advancements in this tech are accelerating faster than expected due to investments from Silicon Valley and the Pentagon. Once a true quantum computer is created, we’ll enter a new era in computing power that will add rocket fuel to advancements across a range of disciplines.”—David Tal, Publisher & Futurist at Quantumrun.com