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And you think the Masters will just let you F around all day simply because automation can pretty much cover it all.
Even when there will be no NECESSARY work left to be done by humans, they'll need to keep you out of trouble, on your toes, and away from your cozy in-groups;
and while not everybody can be put in prison, everybody can be given "make work" and be kept busy all day, so ideas won't get to their heads. Just like in a prison.
There. Problem solved.
I think automation will do most of the work we do. This is nothing new and that is why the work week came down from 70 hours to 40 hours in less than a 100 years. Farming equipment, the disappearance of phone operators, receptionists, bank tellers, etc.
Within 20 years all vehicles will drive themselves. You can kiss goodbye all folks that drive trucks and taxis for a living. Fast food restaurants can already be automated and retail stores are disappearing. And do not forget Dr. Watson a computer doctor that knows more medicine than all docs in the world put together.
American workers were replaced by workers in China and now those Chinese workers are being replaced by robots that can do the job for less.
Yes, it is safe to assume that very soon there will be very little work left for humans to do.
The challenge will be to become the best one can be and hope that those that own the robots have a sense of decency. The system will need adjustment and the wages for those 1-2 hours of work per day will have to be sky high. Otherwise, humanity ends.
The OP is correct, why do most humans accept they must work like dogs? Do they have any forward vision?
For many of us, work is enjoyable, personally rewarding as well as financially, and only takes up 1/3 of the day, 5 days of the week. It gives meaning and value beyond family.
A person can derive meaning and value from many things. That's a personal issue. There exists no universal truth floating around in the universe that says a person must work in order to acquire life meaning. And many people would be happy to have the freedom to pick and choose how to spend their time. Having to work versus choosing to work. Having the option to do either is great.
And whatever meaning a person ascribed to his/her life is purely subjective and is not a universal meaning. Not much difference between working to give life meaning as opposed to playing video games to give life meaning. All subjective.
I think automation will do most of the work we do. This is nothing new and that is why the work week came down from 70 hours to 40 hours in less than a 100 years. Farming equipment, the disappearance of phone operators, receptionists, bank tellers, etc.
Within 20 years all vehicles will drive themselves. You can kiss goodbye all folks that drive trucks and taxis for a living. Fast food restaurants can already be automated and retail stores are disappearing. And do not forget Dr. Watson a computer doctor that knows more medicine than all docs in the world put together.
American workers were replaced by workers in China and now those Chinese workers are being replaced by robots that can do the job for less.
Yes, it is safe to assume that very soon there will be very little work left for humans to do.
The challenge will be to become the best one can be and hope that those that own the robots have a sense of decency. The system will need adjustment and the wages for those 1-2 hours of work per day will have to be sky high. Otherwise, humanity ends.
The OP is correct, why do most humans accept they must work like dogs? Do they have any forward vision?
You still didn't explain what you think humans will do while robots work.
Do you think they will simply be paid (clothed, fed, etc) while being allowed to sit around so they can explore how they can become "the best that they can be"? Best at what? Contemplating the immortality of the soul?
Don't get me wrong, philosophy is a great goal in and of itself, but most people are not cut out to use their free time to reach for this type of light, Marxist-style; and even if they were, they would not be allowed to.
Apart from the fact that most people are spiritual and intellectual vegetables that beg to be told what to do, no leaders of any society in history have ever had to deal with enormous masses of idle yet economically secure people.
So if all work is done by robots, the leaders know they must regiment the masses in "make-work" organizations.
You are mistakenly departing from the premise that all work/jobs going on today are necessary...and that once robots can do it all, people will be liberated from work. Besides, the top guys will always advance the logic: why would MY robot keep YOU idle and alive? You must "earn" your living. Do keep in mind that robots are not created for the common human good but to maximize employers' profits.
Your premise (that current work is all necessary) feeds into another fallacy, namely the idea that working people are important simply because they "contribute" and are not "idle". Most of the work that people today do, especially those in overdeveloped countries, is highly unnecessary, and a lot of it is, in fact, harmful.
Society would be better off if much of that work was NOT done.
Most is "make work", not necessary work - created to result in unnecessary and often harmful products/services/information packages/ideas that will be exchanged in the market for profits that go straight to the top.
Never mind a lot of this make work results in enormous resource waste and environmental destruction.
In exchange, the workers are kept busy and expected to be thankful to those at the top of the heap for having "created jobs" for them. They are conditioned to be thankful for the prison in which they are kept busy all day and which, in turn, is supposed to justify their paycheck and the fact that they are allowed to continue to stay alive.
In sum, those who lead society and hold the economic reigns will never agree to keep humans alive while allowing them to live spontaneously and do as they please with their time during the day.
Yes, you are correct in that humans should question why is it necessary for them to work like dogs all day long.
This happens anyway to the few who are not the aforementioned intellectual and spiritual vegetables; but most are.
Besides, simply questioning without the power to enact any change only results in depression.
A few can trick the system if circumstances are right and simply step out of the "make-work" prison by living very modestly, etc.
Once again: the only remotely effective weapon against the absurd existence of the average Joe is to skip reproduction.
This is the ONLY weapon the imprisoned average Joes have but this is one that biology, more often than not, prevents them from using.
I do, however, hope that you are right and that history will prove my cynicism wrong .
A little of the PAST and a little from the PRESENT.
Some yrs back VW de Mexico had Robots on the assembly but removed them in order to put people to work. When I lived in Mexico City read in the paper where an average of 200 people a day were looking/applying for work at the plant in Puebla.
Now today the UAW are planning to strike GM Motors for a new four yr contract since the company has had good profits.
What would the UAW do if GM decided to put Robots on the assembly saving a lot of overhead and continuing good profits.
I suppose that maybe cutting down on the hrs workers put in so Robots could take up the slack.
Just imagine the workers doing a 32 hr work week and a lot of time to twiddle their thumbs.....a inevitable three day weekend every week.
You're just in the wrong country. There are many places around the world that people are not constantly working M-F, 9-5.
US workers work more hours than any other civilized country. Other countries provide much more generous vacation, family leave, child care, etc., and IIRC Sweden is currently experimenting with 30 hour work weeks.
I was just reading somewhere today that the same forces that have raised income inequality to a fever pitch in the US are also the ones that want people working more hours. And I think that is basically correct.
The other issue is that worker productivity has soared in the past two or three generations and wages have not gone up accordingly. If we are going to work 40+ hours a week at least we ought to be able to rationalize that we get paid well for it. Overall however that is not so.
Back in the 70s I recall futurists predicting we'd all be working 20 or 30 hour work weeks by now. And this would have been a good thing.
That said, I think if the OP were to move to Scandanavia they would still be depressed. Work stress and dissatisfaction don't help matters but they don't drive most people to suicidal ideation, either.
You still didn't explain what you think humans will do while robots work.
That is the 64K question: If robots do all the work and no one makes a salary then what? If the majority of people cannot put food on the table we have a revolution. And if people make no money then we have no economy and with no economy the corporations that operate the robots cannot make money either. One solution is to pay the equivalent of a 40 hr week for 2-3 hours a week of work. Why must we assume that man must work 40 hours a week?
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Do you think they will simply be paid (clothed, fed, etc) while being allowed to sit around so they can explore how they can become "the best that they can be"? Best at what? Contemplating the immortality of the soul?
I don't know the answer to that, but hopefully humans will become more creative. MAN had zero creativity and progress for hundreds of thousands of years because ALL MAN ever did was to be a hunter and gatherer. Once agriculture developed 12 thousand years ago man was able to become specialized and had time to create. In other words not everybody was a hunter and men were able to dedicate time to other endeavors.
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Don't get me wrong, philosophy is a great goal in and of itself, but most people are not cut out to use their free time to reach for this type of light, Marxist-style; and even if they were, they would not be allowed to.
Apart from the fact that most people are spiritual and intellectual vegetables that beg to be told what to do, no leaders of any society in history have ever had to deal with enormous masses of idle yet economically secure people.
So if all work is done by robots, the leaders know they must regiment the masses in "make-work" organizations.
Great points, we are heading into the unknown. Of course, one solution is to stop progress and go back to our barbaric lifestyle.
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You are mistakenly departing from the premise that all work/jobs going on today are necessary...and that once robots can do it all, people will be liberated from work.
There is no doubt that automation has provided MAN more leisure time.
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Besides, the top guys will always advance the logic: why would MY robot keep YOU idle and alive? You must "earn" your living. Do keep in mind that robots are not created for the common human good but to maximize employers' profits.
Exactly we can choose to remain as we are: Uncivilized, petty, jealous, and barbaric.
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Most is "make work", not necessary work - created to result in unnecessary and often harmful products/services/information packages/ideas that will be exchanged in the market for profits that go straight to the top.
Never mind a lot of this make work results in enormous resource waste and environmental destruction.
There is good capitalism that develops technological advances and then there is the capitalism that makes people want to keep up with the Jones.
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In exchange, the workers are kept busy and expected to be thankful to those at the top of the heap for having "created jobs" for them. They are conditioned to be thankful for the prison in which they are kept busy all day and which, in turn, is supposed to justify their paycheck and the fact that they are allowed to continue to stay alive.
I agree
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In sum, those who lead society and hold the economic reigns will never agree to keep humans alive while allowing them to live spontaneously and do as they please with their time during the day.
We left slavery and feudalism behind and now MAN has 16 free hours a day-----so it is possible!
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Yes, you are correct in that humans should question why is it necessary for them to work like dogs all day long.
This happens anyway to the few who are not the aforementioned intellectual and spiritual vegetables; but most are.
Besides, simply questioning without the power to enact any change only results in depression.
This change will probably take 1-2 thousand years------assuming we are not victimized by computers that acquire a conscience.
For many of us, work is enjoyable, personally rewarding as well as financially, and only takes up 1/3 of the day, 5 days of the week. It gives meaning and value beyond family.
Fist, you are ignoring commuting time, and the huge social, environmental and economic cost of commuting.
Second, you are ignoring the fact that many, if not most workers do not really do anything on their job that contributes to the wellbeing of the community. Some people's jobs literally enable corporate theft.
Third, most peoples jobs are stressful enough that they detract from the worker's emotional contentment, living one's life under a corporate tyranny and constant dread of employment security consequences.
Fourth, how does daycare give meaning and value to your children "beyond" your own presence and guidance?
The operative word in your post is "For many of us". What about those of us (maybe the majority) who are more aptly characterized by what I described? Why should we all be compelled to endure this exploitation? For "many of you" who get personal value from working, knock yourselves out. I won't stop you. Why do you wish to impede me from what gives me personal value?
Fist, you are ignoring commuting time, and the huge social, environmental and economic cost of commuting.
Second, you are ignoring the fact that many, if not most workers do not really do anything on their job that contributes to the wellbeing of the community. Some people's jobs literally enable corporate theft.
Third, most peoples jobs are stressful enough that they detract from the worker's emotional contentment, living one's life under a corporate tyranny and constant dread of employment security consequences.
Fourth, how does daycare give meaning and value to your children "beyond" your own presence and guidance?
The operative word in your post is "For many of us". What about those of us (maybe the majority) who are more aptly characterized by what I described? Why should we all be compelled to endure this exploitation? For "many of you" who get personal value from working, knock yourselves out. I won't stop you. Why do you wish to impede me from what gives me personal value?
Great post!
What is really astounding is how MOST humans accept the concept of working for ANOTHER human as normal and justified.
What is really astounding is how MOST humans accept the concept of working for ANOTHER human as normal and justified.
Yeap.
Indeed a great post...and your observation - equally great.
It just probably feels more comforting and less scary to deny that most people's lives boil down to a prison; so they learn to "love" the prison and call it "choice". Some form of Stokholm syndrome may also be at play here.
Then again, it only takes one cursory look at "what if you won the lottery"-type threads to see how much people "love" those "careers" that give them so much meaning.
Yeap.
Indeed a great post...and your observation - equally great.
It just probably feels more comforting and less scary to deny that most people's lives boil down to a prison; so they learn to "love" the prison and call it "choice". Some form of Stokholm syndrome may also be at play here.
Then again, it only takes one cursory look at "what if you won the lottery"-type threads to see how much people "love" those "careers" that give them so much meaning.
I think it is part of our humanity to justify and rationalize. I certainly do it too. But, in the end it is rather astounding that most of us work for someone else. We accept this subservient status as normal.
In the hunter and gather era there were no leaders among the small groups. And if they gathered food in the first 1-2 hours the rest of the day was for leisure. And they slept much more than modern humans. They were sleeping by sunset and up and dawn------in many instances 9-11 hours.
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But, in the end it is rather astounding that most of us work for someone else. We accept this subservient status as normal. 
