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Well, sure, if you consider 55 as early retirement, I could see how people would be ready to check out and do nothing. These are people that have likely worked

Well, sure, if you consider 55 as early retirement, I could see how people would be ready to check out and do nothing. These are people that have likely worked full time for the last 30+ years. What I want to know is what happens at scale if people retire at 30 or 40, or maybe if they never work at all. The idea is that automation might free up people from work entirely. I don't think it's fair to extrapolate data from people who have been working for 30+ years and then had an "early" retirement.

big_chungus 7y ago
You're right that it's a loose extrapolation at best, but it's rather the best data we have, or at least the best data of which I'm aware. You asked for citations for my claims, and I provided them; I'm showing what happens when people _stop_ working early, not when people never really start or don't for long. That aside, a society in which no one supports himself but rather is dependent on the noblesse oblige of the state to survive is a dystopia I hope never to see.