U.S. and Chinese leaders convened in Washington last week for the annual U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, but parted ways without making significant progress. The two sides remain at odds over a range of economic and trade issues, and each country’s leader faces pressure at home to appear tough on the other.

In their not-so-distant predictions, futurists often foretell a world in which artificial intelligence (AI), big data, machine learning and automation dictate our lives. To some, this technological disruption leads to the elimination of work altogether or, at worst, robot domination. To others, this same change births a newly empowered professional class that derives its prosperity...