SPEAKER 1: Are you worried about the future of work for you and your family?
Will there be enough good jobs to go around?
And are you as worried as I am about the anger
and the divisions that are cropping up all over in our societies
and the frustrations from those who have been left behind
by trade and by changing technologies?
If you want to help heal these divisions to create
a good workplace for everyone, then join us,
because addressing these issues is what this course is all about.
Your parents probably told you to work hard, stay in school,
and you'll be fine.
That's what my parents told me.
It worked out pretty well for me and for most baby boomers.
Now I want to make sure that we deliver on this same promise
to you, those of you who are going to be the next generation workforce.
But this won't happen if we don't act to change the direction of our economy.
Now, as we look to the future, we see that many people are very concerned
about the impacts that new technologies like robotics,
artificial intelligence, and others are going to have on their jobs.
They see disruptive technologies and organizations all over the place,
like Uber and Airbnb, that are disrupting the taxi and the hotel
industries, and they see many jobs in grocery stores and airports
being replaced by computers and self checkout operations.
And now we're hearing about human work that
could be replaced when we're driving cars with driverless cars.
But we believe, in this course, that it's time to go beyond these worries
and start to focus on what we can actually do to shape the future of work
and to use these technologies to augment work
and to improve life in the best possible way.
Let me suggest some ways we're going to tackle these issues.
First, we're going to ask, what does making human-centered technology
decisions really mean?
And how do we implement technologies in ways that really improve human work?
How might workers get a voice and more influence
in the design and the use of technologies that affect their work?
And how can we incorporate technology so that it
makes human work more productive as well as more rewarding?
Most importantly, how will worker's skills and training evolve?
And how can we ensure that everyone has access to lifelong learning
opportunities?
And then finally, we need to ask, what role does government play?
What role for our civic institutions, like labor organizations,
educational institutions, community groups?
How can they help to ensure that we use technology
to create a more equal opportunity for all, to create
more social inclusion in our societies, and a broader, more shared prosperity?
As we go along, throughout the course, we're
going to share what we're learning about how to do this by drawing
on a number of experts here at MIT--
our leading experts on technology, our leading experts on work,
and with partners all over the world who are studying these issues,
such as the World Economic Forum, the international labor organizations,
and a large number of other academic groups and consulting firms.
They will be partners in delivering this course,
and we hope to learn from them as we go along.
We'll also take you on a personal journey.
You'll define your own goals and aspirations
for your career, wherever you live.
You'll build a career plan and a step-by-step strategy
for getting there.
You'll learn what employers expect in today's world of work--
the skills, flexibility, and knowledge that are crucial for success.
And we'll examine what has to happen in order for employers and workers,
governments, educators all to come together
to forge the new policies needed to govern the world of work
in the 21st century.
SPEAKER 2: I fight every day.
SPEAKER 1: And of course, we'll make all of this come alive.
We'll introduce you to some of the people who are driving innovations.
SPEAKER 3: We rise and fall on the strength of our middle class.
SPEAKER 1: Disrupting the status quo in search of better ways to do business
and to advocate for workers.
We'll use a good jobs app to ask whether employers in your area
are providing good jobs or not.
And we'll negotiate a new social contract governing employment relations
that works for all.
So join us, and let's demonstrate that we
can shape the workplace of the future so it works for you, for your peers,
and for all who depend on us.