What kind of world are we building for ourselves? That’s the question bestselling author Nicholas Carr tackles in his urgent new book, The Glass Cage, about the human consequences of automation.

Digging behind the headlines about factory robots and self-driving cars, wearable computers and digitized medicine, Carr explores the hidden costs of granting software dominion over our work and our leisure. Even as they bring ease to our lives, computer programs are stealing something essential from us. Drawing on psychological and neurological studies that underscore how tightly people’s happiness and satisfaction are tied to performing meaningful work in the real world, Carr reveals something we already suspect: shifting our attention to computer screens can leave us disengaged and discontented.

From nineteenth-century textile mills to the cockpits of modern jets, from the frozen hunting grounds of Inuit tribes to the sterile landscapes of GPS maps, Carr explores the impact of automation from a deeply human perspective, examining the personal as well as the economic consequences of our growing dependence on computers.

Join Carr as he discusses this increasingly crucial topic with public advocate and Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, who developed the highly-influential Net Neutrality theory.