Finding Happiness in Creative Destruction

The introduction of new technologies—from the steam engine in the 19 century to the moving assembly line in the 20 century to robotics in the 21—is both economically potent and terribly disruptive. This is the process that the economist Joseph Schumpeter long ago dubbed “creative destruction,” the means by which new technologies disrupt old industries and generate entirely new ones.

While economically revolutionary, creative destruction can be socially painful, altering our social and economic structures and throwing large numbers of people out of work. Today, for example, we worry that robots will soon be able to perform more and more jobs currently performed by humans. One might think that such periods of rapid technological change would lead to widespread social disruption and considerable unhappiness.