Just as machines have infinitely multiplied human muscle power throughout history, technology is infinitely multiplying human brain power today.

So say MIT professors Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson in their book, “Race Against the Machine.”

Moreover, they say the digital revolution is only half completed.  When it comes to technology’s ability to replace workers, “We ain’t seen nothing yet,” McAfee claims.  As technological developments advance at a Moore’s Law pace entire industries of workers will be replaced.

Professors McAfee and Brynjolfsson find evidence of these changes in economic data.  Private sector investment has increased rapidly but produced few jobs since the end of the Great Recession.  Much of this investment has been in equipment and technology which is replacing workers.

However, emphasizing this concern misses the point, according to McAfee.  The primary impact is humans will be freed up to do other things.  At a recent Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference, McAfee predicted this free time would be used to combat, “poverty, drudgery and misery around the world.” A future he categorized as “utopian.”

He concluded, “I am extremely confident that what we are going to do with our new digital tools is going to be so profound and so beneficial that it’s going to make a mockery of everything that came before.”