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"The idea is that people don't need to go work, because robots do all the work, and thus any economic value attached to labor, either real or nominal, converges

"The idea is that people don't need to go work, because robots do all the work, and thus any economic value attached to labor, either real or nominal, converges to zero. " This is entirely theoretical and will never happen. My friend, the industrial revolution represented a vastly bigger shift to automation than anything we are witnessing today. Imagine a 'magic machine' that could do the work of 10 000 horses (i.e. 10 000 horse-power) - and move people from Penzance to London - on coal - no horses or drivers needed! It was called a 'train' :) Same for farming, factories etc.. Automation has been ongoing for 200 years.

jomamaxx 10y ago
To be more precise: at the dawn of the industrial revolution, almost 95% of people were doing 'laborious' jobs. 95% of jobs at that time were 'at risk' of being replaced. Most of them were. Not only did we move forward, but there were so many surpluses, and so much more to do that even common household jobs (maids, butlers, footmen, valets) - could find higher paying work doing other things. Today, only about 30% of jobs are 'at risk' - and I'd argue they are not at as much risk as we think. Call centers are not going away. For every task that is automated, 2 more will appear that need human intervention, and 5 more customers will be added (thereby creating more work) - new consumers from the current 4 billion human being who have yet to come into the world economy.