Are Computers Making Society More Unequal?

More unequal? Maybe. More for everyone? Certainly.

It's not like "computers" can be stopped...

I call bullshit on this. The nordic countries have a pretty great tech sector too, and they don't suffer from this. Its a policy thing, and I was always under the impression that this is a choice that the USA has made consciously, and is widely acepted as a given - that cutthroat capitalism creates greater inequality, with (maybe) bigger growth rates.

It's funny how the "equality" thing can depend on various notions - including assumptions.

Unless we are talking about unconditional equality (i.e. same for everyone including slackers), what about an equality based on how productive people are? It's called marginal productivity ethics, and following that theory our current society is very unequal, and the society envisioned by the articled (the so called "hyper meritocracy") is much more equal.

"In the aftermath of the marginal revolution in economics, a number of economists including John Bates Clark and Thomas Nixon Carver sought to derive an ethical theory of income distribution based on the idea that workers were morally entitled to receive a wage exactly equal to their marginal product" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginal_product_of_labor)

If anything, computers put an emphasis on the fact that waking up everyday and showing up for "work" with the only qualification of having a pulse is not sufficient anymore to command a salary, especially when machines can replace the worker for a fraction of the cost (and do a much better job)

Things change. I for one will not lament on the fact that our society is becoming so productive and efficient that (gasp!) some people also have to become more efficient!!

Yeah, because the ability to drive a car is something that takes years of specialized training to accomplish, right?

Yeah, I feel like we've been here before. The tractor eventually put ~90% of the population out of work. If you were someone without a tractor, you'd be watching your neighbours become more wealthy while you'd be left worrying about completely losing your livelihood.