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Near the beginning of the 20th century, a lot of theorists predicted that our increase in per worker productivity would leave a population with huge amounts of

Near the beginning of the 20th century, a lot of theorists predicted that our increase in per worker productivity would leave a population with huge amounts of leisure time. The average person would only have to work a couple of hours a day for all of humanity's basic needs to be met. With robots, we may eventually reach the point where people don't need to work at all in order to meet humanity's basic needs. Unless something drastic happens to our economic system, however, I seriously doubt it will translate into a shorter work day.

philwelch 17y ago
Someone still needs to build and maintain the robots. How we avoid turning this into some sort of aristocracy is the interesting question.
- jared314 17y ago
  I think it is more probable for the mechanics to get pushed lower rather than elevated to some higher status.
exit 17y ago
there's a disconnect between your last two sentences. "we may eventually reach the point where people don't need to work at all in order to meet humanity's basic needs." and then "i seriously doubt it will translate to a shorter work day." what's going on here? why will people work harder (or at least just as hard) if survival becomes easier?
- krakensden 17y ago
  Culture, mostly, and besides- just because the average wealth level rises doesn't mean the lives of the bottom 10% are going to get better.
camccann 17y ago
The average person would only have to work a couple of hours a day for all of humanity's basic needs to be met. With robots, we may eventually reach the point where people don't need to work at all in order to meet humanity's basic needs. Question: What percentage of the work done in modern Western societies actually qualifies as "meeting humanity's basic needs"?
chipsy 17y ago
I advocate a transition to a basic income grant(BIG) policy precisely because wage-earning work seems to be tapering off as a sufficient means of income for the lowest earners. When food and retail services go automated - and that might take some more decades to be cost-effective, though it's already been piloted in various ways - we'll really be staring this problem in the face. You'll have one person manning the counter, and then perhaps nobody at all - just outsourced security, delivery, and maintenance systems. And at that point, one person could potentially run an entire chain of businesses, and have them stay open 24 hours a day, with super-high reliability. Global franchises will be demolished in the same way that national newspapers are right now. This really is a new era, isn't it?

philwelch 17y ago

Someone still needs to build and maintain the robots. How we avoid turning this into some sort of aristocracy is the interesting question.

jared314 17y ago
I think it is more probable for the mechanics to get pushed lower rather than elevated to some higher status.

exit 17y ago

there's a disconnect between your last two sentences. "we may eventually reach the point where people don't need to work at all in order to meet humanity's basic needs." and then "i seriously doubt it will translate to a shorter work day." what's going on here? why will people work harder (or at least just as hard) if survival becomes easier?

krakensden 17y ago
Culture, mostly, and besides- just because the average wealth level rises doesn't mean the lives of the bottom 10% are going to get better.

camccann 17y ago

The average person would only have to work a couple of hours a day for all of humanity's basic needs to be met. With robots, we may eventually reach the point where people don't need to work at all in order to meet humanity's basic needs. Question: What percentage of the work done in modern Western societies actually qualifies as "meeting humanity's basic needs"?

chipsy 17y ago

I advocate a transition to a basic income grant(BIG) policy precisely because wage-earning work seems to be tapering off as a sufficient means of income for the lowest earners. When food and retail services go automated - and that might take some more decades to be cost-effective, though it's already been piloted in various ways - we'll really be staring this problem in the face. You'll have one person manning the counter, and then perhaps nobody at all - just outsourced security, delivery, and maintenance systems. And at that point, one person could potentially run an entire chain of businesses, and have them stay open 24 hours a day, with super-high reliability. Global franchises will be demolished in the same way that national newspapers are right now. This really is a new era, isn't it?