I’ve been challenged to wrap my head around how society will function, when work is automated and nobody needs to earn money to live. A promise more than one technologist has forecast. I thought this blog post would be a way to begin the conversation. So here we go.
Several years ago, I was part of a men’s discussion group where we talked about work. Facilitated by an Episcopal priest, we looked to church writings as a starting point for our conversation, specifically The Rule of St. Benedict, promulgated by a sixth-century monk who established several monasteries. The nature of our talks was that work had dignity and provided value to the worker besides any earnings or benefits created. The meetings unfortunately degenerated into a bitch session for some about their jobs, and we disbanded.
In thinking about the topic of this post, I remembered those discussions. When we think about robots and AI eliminating the need for work, or at least gainful employment, as some have “promised,” it sounds appealing. But should we not consider the value of work itself? Although there is a popular criticism of being defined by our work, it can be for many a source of satisfaction, enjoyment, a feeling of accomplishment, and contribution. And as far as being defined by your work, consider names like Miller, Baker, Thatcher, Cooper, etc.
I recognize that I eventually stopped working and retired—at least from my day job, as many people have and many folks work towards. But how I approach retirement, how I spend my free time, is in substantial part formed by my employment. What did I learn from working that can help in other endeavors that provide value, but for which I don’t get paid? I’ve found many of my work habits help in my free time.
But what if I’d never worked? What would I do? And if I did work, what work would there be for me to do? One answer might be work that robots are bad at.
Which raises an interesting irony: many robots (not in human form) were developed and employed to complete tasks they could do better than humans, such as highly detailed, repetitive tasks, or tasks requiring significant strength, or minute tasks requiring high precision. So, we’d be considering relegating humans to tasks that robots can’t do well, such as creative endeavors (AI and the arts is a topic for another day), artisanal crafts, and high cuisine (?).
Well, that’s all great, but who will pay for those products, and will there be enough demand to keep four billion humans employed? Which raises the question: if we don’t work, how will we acquire the resources we need to buy the products and services that are produced by automation.
Commentators have talked about Universal Basic Income (UBI). How will that be funded? Will completely automated production be taxed to provide UBI? One term I came across was post-scarcity allocation. When resources are abundant, they are distributed to everyone. How will the distribution be funded and allocated? Will the super-wealthy give up their resources when earned income or investment income become public funds? How will ownership of the means of production be recognized when the economic output is owned in the collective?
Likely, as with past technical advances, new opportunities, new job classifications, and new types of work will arise to replace the jobs lost to AI and robots. We can hope that will be a beneficial change and the prosperity that is being hawked as the future AI will bring will be realized.
As we’ve been doing with this series, let’s look at how science fiction has addressed this:
Maybe the gentlest treatment was the movie Wall-E. The lovable robot wins out in the end; the idle humans aren’t too excoriated. But a cautionary tale regardless. A future that might not be desirable.
Image Credit: https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/uXxoMty34UilDYKc3uZV8SZCW6G.jpg
Going back to 1976, Logan’s Run depicts a society of all pleasure, easy sex, and no work. Yet you’re eliminated at 30, which may be more reflective of the time it was made (1976) as a holdover of the “don’t trust anyone over thirty” counterculture.
Image Credit: https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/kq5qypAYMzdUadB1RLf0fft1oZo.jpg
And then there’s The Time Machine. The Eloi are taken care of; plenty of food, idle time, no work, etc. Of course, they’re food for the Morlocks, so there’s that. But relevant to the topic today, they’ve developed an ennui, an apathy towards life and each other. Would this be our future if we didn’t work? And would inequality develop through the intrinsic motivation of some to exert control—absent the being food part, of course.
Image Credit: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Qyrx34O6L._SY445_SX342_ML2_.jpg
In the final analysis, we can’t know what will happen. And I certainly don’t believe the tech titans know either.
Let me know what you think of this blog post. It’s a bit free-ranging and without conclusions, but a topic we need to think about.
Thanks for stopping by.