Robonomics: The rise of the automated economy

Abstract

The technological advances in the last decades are transforming the global economy and society paving the way for the automated economic system, aka robonomics. This editorial provides a brief overview of automation technologies, their application in various sectors of the economy and society, and elaborates on robonomics as an economic system and a scientific field. Robonomics is introduced as an economic system that relies almost entirely upon automation as a production factor rather than human labour. As a new scientific field, robonomics goes beyond the economic aspects of the automated economy and focuses on the social, cultural, demographic, political, environmental, legal, geographic, psychological and other issues raised by automation technologies as well. Finally, the editorial introduces ROBONOMICS: The Journal of the Automated Economy, and the publications in the inaugural issue.

Keywords: Robonomics, Automation, Artificial intelligence, Robots, Economics, Politics