The foundational pillars of the current technological revolution are computing, global connectivity, big data, and AI, from which countless new technologies will emerge including 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, batteries, remote surgeries, VR/AR, robotics, and others.

A growing class of 'working poor' individuals work full-time hours but earn wages so low that they cannot break out of poverty due to living expenses and bills.

Companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart show wage pressure in gig economy: after accounting for insurance, vehicle wear and tear, and other expenses, drivers often make less than minimum wage, with some reports indicating up to 75 percent of drivers earn below minimum wage.

Humanity is entering a period of radical technological transformation driven by exponential progress from compounding technological advancement, which will enable provision of goods and services once reserved for the wealthy to all who need or desire them within a generation.

AI has been promoted to middle management in various industries from service to banking and food prep, where software now performs supervisory work of training workers, monitoring quality, and reviewing performance.

If an individual is not interested in retraining in STEM subjects and is unable to find a job in their field of interest due to automation, they face the prospect of being stuck in the gig economy.

Progress can be objectively defined as increases in measurable human welfare dimensions including life over death, health over sickness, abundance over poverty, peace over war, safety over danger, freedom over tyranny, equal rights over discrimination, literacy over illiteracy, knowledge over ignorance, intelligence over dullness, happiness over misery, and opportunities for family, culture and nature over drudgery and monotony.

Automation of manufacturing jobs in the rust belt created anger that was directed toward immigrants, and largely contributed to the election of Trump and related political consequences.

Atomic physics represents a progress trap: the study of atoms led to scientific knowledge but also enabled the creation of atomic bombs with catastrophic destructive potential.

Hyper-connectivity of modern society represents a progress trap: while connecting people globally is beneficial, it has created severe mental health problems as a negative consequence.

Progress for its own sake is a wrong approach; society must be thoughtful about how it applies progress to avoid traps, and must be able to respond quickly when traps are discovered.

As mechanized industrialization and electrification freed up physical labor, an increasing number of individuals could pursue higher education, leading to emergence of STEM fields and creation of new knowledge and technologies, particularly electronics and computing.

From 2000 to 2010 the US lost approximately 5.6 million manufacturing jobs, with 85 percent of those losses attributable to technological change and automation rather than outsourcing or other factors.

Industrial robotics growth is accelerating and on a projected track to eliminate another 20 million manufacturing jobs globally by 2030.

During the Great Depression unemployment reached 25 percent; with automation by 2030, US unemployment could range from 25 percent at minimum to upwards of 50 percent.

OpenAI's GPT-3 language learning model can produce articles that look like they were written by journalists and are appearing with increasing frequency across the web, putting journalism jobs at risk.

Global population growth is now slowing, which means by extension fewer workers will be needed, adding to the challenge of automation-driven job displacement.

The current pandemic has greatly accelerated the automation transition, compressing what would have taken a decade into the course of a year.

The combination of K-shaped recovery, automation job losses, and civil unrest following pandemic represents an early warning of the automation progress trap, with civil unrest and issues continuing to increase if automation remains unaddressed.

The internet has democratized access to knowledge, thereby giving everyone the ability to learn any skill from anywhere, eliminating geographic and institutional barriers to education.