>> but what if apples start to cost 25% of what they currently do? What if we extrapolate that across all fields? ... do this with everything we need... That'

>> but what if apples start to cost 25% of what they currently do? What if we extrapolate that across all fields? ... do this with everything we need... That's great, as long as there are new jobs, or a decent safety net(which i doubt). >> The answer historically has been that entirely new types of employment are created, ... It's usually hard to see looking forward, but somehow it's always worked out. It's not always worked out - remember horses ? and what about the terrible transition period ? but let's leave that.Is it really that hard to see looking forward ? That's a more interesting question: So before the industrial revolution, rich people bought a lot and a variety of clothes/foods/things/services(doctor/lawyer/cook/traveling/transportation), large houses, etc . So assuming things would get cheaper, they'll be more available , you could imagine that regular people will want those things,a lot of them, but maybe with even more variety(more people). So you could imagine a consumer culture. And the same for the business side: businesses wanted advertising, transportation, financial services, manufacturing, knowledge, etc.. So if all those things will become cheaper - and better, you could assume they would want more and more of them. And furthermore - before the industrial revolution there we're many problems - the world wasn't ideal(you got sick, life we're boring). In general , we can assume many of those problems will get solved, so they'll create new demand. So so many new jobs! And we know all that - we've seen it happen! So why the hell we cannot think of new jobs ?