In the 1960s Soviet computer scientists tried pushing the economic planners at Gosplan to begin computerising the economy via a “National Automated System for Computation and Information Processing”, which they touted as having the potential to greatly streamline the work of economic planning.

After a protracted struggle, the technocrats were eventually denied the necessary approval and resources to realise this project. Many have since alleged this was because the planners were afraid of automating away their own jobs. How might similar circumstances be prevented in the future?