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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hearing techs saying that humans are going to run out of work to do reminds me of the Patent Commissioner Henry Ellsworth, who predicted in 1843 that we would soon face a day where there would be nothing left to invent.

The premise is that increasing automation will leave people with nothing left to do.  From a historical perspective, increasing automation usually results in humans finding more and more valuable things to do with their labor.

Around 100 years ago, half of us were farmers.  Now that number is about 2 or 3%.  They didn't run out of things to do.  They went into manufacturing.  And as a result, most every US household today has a car, a washing machine, several TVs, vacuum cleaners, AC, dishwashers, and microwaves.

In 1950, about 1/3 of us were in manufacturing.  Today that number is about 20%.  Even if 3/4 of those jobs disappeared in a few decades, it would be a smaller feat to get them back to work than it was to move farmers into new jobs.

Technologists are great at imagining what their technologies can do.  But the rest of the human race has imaginations of their own.  They will find value to add.
 [/quote]

Wow -- such faith in humanity! Why am I sure the flipside of that thinking is "and if they need health care, they can find a way to pay for it"?[/quote]

Automation can bring the cost of health care down, just like anything else.[/quote]

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