Although Americans expect certain positive outcomes from developments in automation, they are worried and concerned about the implications of these technologies for society as a whole.
People deal in varying ways with tensions about what information to trust and how much they want to learn. Some are interested and engaged with information; others are wary and stressed.
Many experts say lack of trust won’t hinder increased public reliance on the internet. Some expect trust to grow as tech and regulatory changes arise; others think it will worsen or maybe change entirely.
Lee Rainie, director of internet and technology research at Pew Research Center, delivered this keynote speech at the New Media and Society conference in Toronto on July 29, 2017.
Although manufacturing jobs have fallen over the past three decades, improved productivity has kept manufacturing output rising – contrary to what many Americans believe. But over the past few years, productivity growth has been sluggish at best.