Crucially, this dynamic only emerges in the longue durée. The historical record is unambiguous. Technologies have created more jobs than they have destroyed, but the short-term damage can be profound. Carl Frey points out that: ‘Throughout history, the long-term benefits of new technologies to average people have been immense and indisputable. But new technologies tend to put people out of work in the short run, and what economists regard as the short run can be many years.’44
