I wonder the suffering that humanity has to go through before we reach a stage where we don't need jobs (assuming it is even possible to reach that stage). If we can replace human workers systematically, thoughtfully and steadily with the goal of freeing humans from work (at least most of it), that would be awesome. But I can't think of a single leader/country who is that forward thinking and smart. Every new technology (self driving cars for example) is going to very quickly replace humans, and nobody is going care about those displaced humans and that is going to be a big problem.

You could become that leader and/or petition your country to be that forward thinking and smart.

It (displacement) does seem to be a huge risk and it's probably better to devise solutions now rather than after huge displacements have occurred.

Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines. This is a global problem and it needs to be addressed at global level. Assuming self driving cars (just one example) becomes a reality in at least western countries in the next decade, does any one have any plan to help those humans that are going to be replaced? I was only trying to point out that our current group of political leaders don't seem to think that far ahead. Ideas like basic income etc needs lots of planning, testing etc at smaller levels before they can be implemented at a larger scale if we want to keep social unrest to a minimum.

I agree, but how do you reach that point? Automating a steady income is a lot of work, and the goal is to just give it away? I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I have been having this debate with colleagues since I started taking Economics. We have not yet found a way to replace the current labor system without impeding the incentives that effect progress.

That's a form of utopia I find extremely fascinating. Like it or not we (the animals called humans) need meaning in our lives, and (also like it or not) work provides many with meaning or at least the illusion of it or some kind of distraction... the need for meaning would likely become much more acute if nobody needed to work.

OK. But what's your proposal for how they get food, clothing, living space? The labor portion of food, clothing, shelter being automated only eliminated a part of their cost. They still have a cost, so if people don't have jobs, how do they continue to acquire the things they need to live?

I've been thinking about this for awhile. I believe that the dependency graphs need to be made explicit and open. Everyone should be able to see what resources there are, which are being used for what, the entire supply chain, and projections.

We'll likely need new distributed protocols to be able to make group decisions about things, but I think we'll be able to get a long way just by making key information widely available.

You just ask for them at the nearest replicator terminal ;p

Basic income.

As much as i like technology adoption to go up, i am not sure if progress is really about replacing humans from jobs. I am not yet convinced that people don't need jobs. Besides, technology progress can happen much faster than change in governance, policies and culture.