>What Keynes foretold was a very optimistic version of what economists call technological unemployment—the idea that less labor will be necessary because machin

>What Keynes foretold was a very optimistic version of what economists call technological unemployment—the idea that less labor will be necessary because machines can do so much. In Keynes’s vision, the resulting unemployment would be distributed more or less evenly across society in the form of increased leisure. I would be shocked if that actually happened. From what I can tell most people would rather make more money than have more leisure, even if it's not a conscious decision. Since employers would rather hire one guy for 40 hour weeks instead of two guys for 20, if marketable people don't demand shorter hours (and less money) it's never going to happen. Also, it's an overly simple view of technological innovation. Technology tends to eliminate low skill and unskilled jobs, creating fewer numbers of higher skilled positions. It's pretty naive to think if you automate a steel mill you're going to be able to transition people from that mill into medicine or software development.