When you think of the phenomenal potential of the human mind to feel, explore and create (at whatever level the individual is capable of) the idea that most of

When you think of the phenomenal potential of the human mind to feel, explore and create (at whatever level the individual is capable of) the idea that most of us should spend most of our time doing things we dislike is pretty ridiculous. My least favourite modern concept is the idea that everyone must have a job, and that the most mind-numbing job is better than any alternative. The most dull and incapable human is still able to feel joy, wonder and excitement as powerfully as anyone else. Not all of us could spend our technologically-driven retirement writing like Shakespeare, painting like Monet and exploring like Richard Branson, but our average quality of life has a very long way to go. There's some residual puritanical disgust at the idea of living mostly without work, but it's clearly going to become technologically possible in some number of years. This post-scarcity world is when we're going to really be able to shine as a species, even if our society will be radically restructured in the process. Radical restructuring can be a positive thing - think of how much the life of a woman has changed in the past 100 years.