Robot-Proof: When Machines Have All the Answers, Build Better People
Vivienne Ming
Wiley (March 2026)

Some machines may have “all the answers” but where did the questions come from?

Years ago in Future Shock (1970), Alvin Toffler made this prediction: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Many workers resemble Chicken Little, fearful that the sky is falling and they will lose their jobs.  They blame “AI.” They should instead accept the fact that some machines can now complete many tasks much faster and much better than any humans can…and at a fraction of the labor cost. Conversely, no machine can create and enrich a workplace culture within which mutual respect, trust, civility, and empathy are defining values. Responses in all of the major surveys indicate that employees indicate what is most important to them. A substantial majority rank feeling appreciated either first or second. Only a human can deliver that benefit but one or more machines can help a human to achieve and deserve it.

That said, I think that Toffler woud agree with me and countless others that machines cannot “learn, unlearn, and relearn” unless and until they are closely supervised by humans.

“According to Vivienne Ming, “Robot-Proof is a book about people. We are the complex, flawed general characters in the story. In it, we will explore what it means to be human in an increasingly automated world. We need to understand the ugly and the amazing of how real people, companies, and societies will respond to the changes that are already taking hold. This story is much less about how AI will change our world and much more about how we can drive those changes toward a human-centered future…It’s about being human in a world that is increasingly not.”

Ming provides an abundance of invaluable information, insights, and counsel about subjects and issues that include these:

o The future of work
o “The coolest job in the world”
o What intelligence is…and isn’t
o One GPU, one vote
o Why nothing inevitable

o Why the AI Era is NOT another Industrial Revolution
o Derprofessionalization
o Modern “spotaneous creativity”
o Question: Do Cyborgs dream III-posed sheep?
o Question: What if (anything) can make us “robot-proof”?

o How to robot-proof your children
o How to robot-proof yourself
o Innovative thinking about innovation
o How to robot-proof a community
o Human trust

Vivien Ming has committed her life to developing and then supporting systems that empower us all. “This is the ultimate lesson of a robot-proof life. The future is not a destination we arrive at, but a continuous, messy, and exhilarating process of creation…Now the question is yours. What problem animates you? What challenges in the world keep you up at night? What would you make a sacrifice for, even if no one ever knew that you did it?”

And the answers are….