Jack Ma: Society Will See 'Much More Pain Than Happiness' Over The Next 30 Years

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA's chairman Jack Ma has a dire warning for the world: Expect "much more pain than happiness" over the next three decades.

According to a Bloomberg report, Ma is making the case that robotics and automation will change the entire structure of today's society. His comments were made at a speech to entrepreneurs in Zhengzhou, China.

Social Conflict And The Rise Of Robotics

"Social conflicts in the next three decades will have an impact on all sorts of industries and walks of life," Ma was quoted as saying.

The Bloomberg report noted that Ma's speech was "unusual" since the e-commerce and technology billionaire typically embraces his role as a visionary for the world and economy.

Ma even stated that he made the case 15 years ago that the rapid rise of e-commerce will impact all industries, particularly retailers. But no one listened to him then because he wasn't a worldwide recognizable executive. But that was then and today Alibaba is spending billions of dollars across the world to invest in many industries — especially those he is cautioning against in his speech.

But Ma did make the case that all is not doom for society. He argued that the rise of machines and automation could be used in tasks humans can't physically do.

"Only in this way can we have the opportunities to keep machines as working partners with humans, rather than as replacements," Ma said.

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Orchard Platform: Asia Is 'Light Years' Ahead In Innovation __________ Image Credit: "A conversation with Alibaba founder Jack Ma on the future of online trade and globalization" World Economic Forum [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons