Part 8/16:
So when I speak of this race between automation and capital accumulation, it means if we automate very quickly and displace what the humans can do, but we haven't actually accumulated the machines that can produce the automated things, then the economy doesn't grow very much, but the labor already can become devalued and displaced. And if that's the case, then wages are likely to decline.
On the other hand, if we have sufficient capital accumulation, we produce lots of machines that can perform the automated tasks cheaply, then the value of the human labor in the remaining tasks will go up, and humans will be better off.
Gus: You describe the effects of automation as first increasing wages and then decreasing wages. Why would the effect be that way?