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Robert Berger's avatar

Yeah, this is probably one of the most important questions that we should be asking. As a society, we don't even have the language to discuss a world of abundance, and we seem to have many actors in power who want to maintain artificial scarcity in the face of the ability to deliver Fully Automated Luxury Abundance for All.

At least one science fiction story and cautionary tail you left out is "Things To Come" By H.G. Wells (at least what I remember from the movie). Humanity had reached the state where no one has to work. The folks who did want to pursue "computer technology or fusion engineering or lunar mining or any of the professions that would seem vital to the proper functioning of the world" get to do that and are on the precipice of sending the first people to the Moon (ok, they use a giant Gun to shoot their spaceship into space, but hey steampunk). All the people who are just lounging around, doing stamp collections, etc. get riled up by Trump/MTG type rabble rousers who cause an unthinking destruction of the world....

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Allison H.'s avatar

I'm curious about how you see this relating to predictions/trends around skills, not jobs, being the (near-term?) future of how humans are matched with work. Seems like it's a stepping stone on the journey you're outlining--and if this really becomes a shift maybe there will be dignity in the possessing of skills, which reside with the person vs. the job which is conferred by an organization?

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html/#navigating-the-end

Also this article makes me want to re-read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I feel like it's going to hit much differently today!

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