Predictions of doom and gloom because some technology (AI or something else) renders humans unneeded forget that humans aren't just workers but also consumers.

Predictions of doom and gloom because some technology (AI or something else) renders humans unneeded forget that humans aren't just workers but also consumers. So if we get rid of a large proportion of workers without replacing work as a means of wealth distribution the economy will no longer work because there will be no one to buy the goods and services produced. Ultimately we will either have to forgo technological advancement in order to keep the current model where work is the primary means of wealth distribution or move to a completely different system for that. If machines can do our work to let us do more interesting things for us I say great. The difficulty is the transition period where replacing people by AI without compensation will be advantageous for the first movers but not yet enough to break the system to force us to a new model.