Robots, artificial intelligence and automation are spreading beyond the assembly line to compete for many of our jobs. Economists forecast that as many as half of current jobs in the developed world could be lost to computers in a generation, and as many as two-thirds in manufacturing-heavy China. But what about the new jobs that will emerge? And could we be at the threshold of a world in which robots do all the unpleasant work leaving us free finally, in the words of JM Keynes, to learn how to live ‘wisely, agreeably and well’?

(Photo: Robot hand holding an apple. Credit: Getty Images)