From a macro-economic perspective there is two very different "gig economies" - utopian: recognition that humans cannot do sustained productivity, higher exper

From a macro-economic perspective there is two very different "gig economies" - utopian: recognition that humans cannot do sustained productivity, higher experts in short bursts capture peak productivity, everyone works less overall - dystopian: automation makes more surplus labor, which reduces the incentive of further automation by hiring low productivity but dirt cheap labor. If everyone does this, and it isn't worth it to maintain yesterday's automation, overall productivity can go down. Unfortunately Americansn live in the second one. We are suburban squatters in the rotting ruins of our past greatness.