June 8, 2006 11:08AM 

# New at Cato Unbound: Robin Hanson on Creativity and Smart Machines 

By [Will Wilkinson](https://www.cato.org/people/will-wilkinson) 

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In [his reply](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/06/06/robin-hanson/reality-and-fantasy-in-economic-revolutions/) to *Rise of the Creative Class* author [Richard Florida’s lead essay](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/06/04/richard-florida/the-future-of-the-american-workforce-in-the-global-creative-economy/), George Mason economist Robin Hanson argues that creativity matters less for economic growth and the future of work than Florida thinks. According to Hanson, Florida’s emphasis on creativity distracts us from the prospect of a truly revolutionary change just over the horizon: rapidly exponential growth driven by smart machines. “An economy with intelligent machines could grow very rapidly indeed,” Hanson argues, “and induce rapidly falling human wages.” Will we be prepared if we’re busy making the Creative Class comfortable?

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