If energy and food production (eg mining and farming) are automated, if transportation of such resources (eg shipping) is automated, and if resource distributio

If energy and food production (eg mining and farming) are automated, if transportation of such resources (eg shipping) is automated, and if resource distribution (eg grocery stores, utilities, and other mercantile outfits) are automated, and these systems' integration is automated, money, and thus the idea of "payment" go away. The issues are the Monday before that, when one or two jobs are still necessary, when money hasn't yet entirely inflated into worthlessness, and the Monday after that, when people realize they have nothing to live for if they can't be of service to their community or loved ones, have no dreams to chase, and their only means for expression that hasn't been automated away is the destruction of their despair's origin: the systems that keep them alive begging nothing in return. Check out the short story "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster