It's very far from idle speculation at this point; many prominent economists and economic researchers[1] have grappled with the issue. Both the Lump of Labor Fa

It's very far from idle speculation at this point; many prominent economists and economic researchers[1] have grappled with the issue. Both the Lump of Labor Fallacy and Luddite Fallacy may prove themselves to be fallacious in the new era. Gwern has a good post with links: http://www.gwern.net/Mistakes?cx=009114923999563836576%3Adv0a4ndtmly&cof=FORID%3A11&q=chunking#neo-luddism http://www.gwern.net/Mistakes?cx=009114923999563836576%3Adv0... Here are a few prominent ones: http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-great-decoupling https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-great-decoupling http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21594264-previous-technological-innovation-has-always-delivered-more-long-run-employment-not-less http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21594264-previous-tec... http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/08/28/1942571/david-autors-guide-to-labour-and-the-machine/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/08/28/1942571/david-autors-g... http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/autor-autor/?_r=0 http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/autor-autor/?_r=... http://www.asymptosis.com/are-machines-replacing-humans-or-am-i-a-luddite.html http://www.asymptosis.com/are-machines-replacing-humans-or-a... [1] Autor, Ford, Cowen, Krugman, Acemoglu, Brynjolfsson, McAfee just to name a few