In the early 1400s being a scribe is a prestigious job.

Highly skilled monks work in a special room called a scriptorium

where they spend their days copying religious texts.

But in 1440 the German blacksmith and inventor

Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press. Some of the monks lose their jobs

but others corner the market on high-end books.

And all sorts of new jobs are created as print shops open and more books are sold.

It's a similar story in 1785 after the Englishman Edmund Cartwright invented the mechanical

loom. It's bad news for hand weavers at least at first, but by 1850 there are 260,000 power looms in England and people are

needed to build them, operate them, and repair them.

In the American folk song The Ballad of John Henry, a 19th century railroad worker claims he can drive spikes faster than a newly invented mechanical steam drill.

Henry goes head to head against the machine and he wins. But the effort

kills him and the steam drill goes on to power the expansion of the railroads which

spawn new towns and businesses where people like John Henry, for the most part find work.

In 1892, an inventor in Iowa named John Frock tests the first gasoline-powered tractor.

At the time, about 40% of Americans are farmers.

100 years later, less than 2% are,

and machines handle most of the work.

In the 1980s, word processors replace typists.

About the same time, robots start taking their place on assembly lines,

elbowing out welders in automobile plants in Detroit.

In the 1990s, Amazon replaces booksellers across America.

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