Kevin Surace argues that automation could free humanity from work within fifty years, letting people pursue art, music, invention, and caregiving instead. He calls it a potential renaissance, though the transition will be uneven and face political hurdles.
You know, rather than be scared by a jobless future, I started to rethink it and I said, I could really be excited by a jobless future, because I can finally see a day in under 50 years when people don't have to work for pay. Because humans have labored for thousands of years, slaves to their work primarily in most of the world, and soon they'll be able to do what they wanted to do, what they were born to do before someone came along and said, stop doing that, you gotta go earn a living. This is a whole new renaissance that we may be able to see actually in our lifetime, where humans can do what they were born to do, like art and dance and music and invention and caring for others and whatever it is that you want to do. Now, there'll be fits and starts. There'll be politics that get in the way. This is no utopia. No, it is a utopia, actually, come to think of it. And working together towards this goal, this is actually a great idea when we look at it from this vantage point.
