Will humans soon be free from work?

[Ashyne]

It is highly likely that in the very near future, possibly by the end of this century, humans will finally be free from work as a means of survival and will live almost their entire lives in leisure. Work will no longer be a chore, but a hobby for most.

Why will this be and how will this come about?

With the advancement of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, programmable machines will gradually take over many aspects of our lives, including our jobs. The jobs most at risk within the next 10-20 years will be physical and service labor such as construction workers, janitors, cleaners, delivery personnel, waiters, drivers. Machines are far more capable of and effective at doing these repetitive jobs than humans, as we already see in the manufacturing and production industries where automatons mass produce goods endlessly and perfectly.

As vehicles use GPS navigation and roads are becoming "smarter", vehicles will soon be able to drive themselves, allowing passengers to simply key in the destination and let the vehicle go on autopilot. Taxi drivers will become obsolete and car owners will no longer need a driving licence or undergo driving tests. In restaurants, patrons will order food through the table display and the finished order will be sent by either a robot waiter or through a conveyor system directly from the kitchen (where the food is also produced by robots) to the customer's table. Construction workers will no longer be required, perhaps only supervisors will be required to be on-site to oversee more complex operations. Robots will do construction work with pinpoint accuracy and precision, perfect in every way as compared to human workers. And as construction work also carries among the highest risk of workplace human death, substituting humans with machines will remove this significant risk. Delivery companies will use drones to deliver products within a small region (for example, within the limits of a city or town), or a similar automated system of delivery.

Within 20-40 years, lawyers, teachers and doctors will become obsolete. Robots can operate on patients with no risk of human error, fatigue or lack of experience. Where lawyers currently spend months in court fighting for each case, a robot programmed with all the knowledge of the law and justice system will solve criminal and civil cases within the span of a day, with the only human involvement being the judge themselves making the final decision. Even now, teaching is done through the Internet and in the digital world. Lessons are pre-recorded and uploaded on a school's database and students can access and review lessons at any time. Some educational institutions even allow teachers to teach students remotely by video conferencing or e-schooling. Teachers will soon become obsolete because information can simply be processed, compiled and distributed to students without needing a teacher to be present. Any questions will have answers in a global database that can be accessed by any student without having a teacher directly coach a student. Jobs relating to finance will also be replaced by machines, especially those in banking, financial consulting and analysis.

Within 50-80 years from the present, almost all jobs will have become automated, with the only human involvement being as decision-makers and creative talent. Humans will no longer have to participate in any job or work that requires intelligent analysis and manual labor. Machines will out-do, out-perform and excel at everything that humans once did, except for creativity. All jobs in the future that require human involvement will be of a creative nature. Humans will imagine and think and create ideas for new products and inventions, then machines will do the rest of the work.

Creativity, not educational qualifications (which by that time will not matter anymore and become obsolete as well) or work experience, will be the most treasured and valuable trait and talent to possess in a post-work future civilization. Creative minds will continue to dream up and bring into existence new and exciting technologies for many decades to come.

Humans will also be involved in final decision-making, such as the final outcome of a criminal court case. But even so, machines that understand the rigid law and the justice system much more intimately. Because every court case is unique and individually different, human judges will still be required for a while, but it is certain that machine intelligence will soon remove the need for even human judges. Politicians and national leaders will still always remain in power and control. But their powers will be vastly reduced and their involvement in human affairs will be at the most basic level of decision-making and policy-building.

With lack of work for humans to do, society will, for the first time in millennia, be free from the routine of work and its requirement for basic survival. Unemployment will reach more than 99% and with no work to earn an income, human economy will completely change as well.

During this time in the future, our global civilization would have sent robotic probes to scout the rest of the solar system for valuable resources to mine and bring back to Earth and its extra-terrestrial colonies on the Moon and possibly Mars. The asteroid belt, comets and other planets within our solar system will be mined for resources that are worth much more than what we can find on Earth with its rapidly-depleting resources. With such a vast amount of resources within our reach and with self-replicating robots that are able to construct new copies of themselves through resources found on other celestial bodies in order to create an army of collectors, there will be a constant supply of valuable resources being sent to Earth. Earth civilizations would experience immense new wealth and prosperity never seen before in human history.

Also at the same time, ageing would have likely been cured and genetic engineering would have allowed people to either reverse, halt or greatly reduce the speed of ageing. With people living longer, certain measures must of course be put in place to prevent overpopulation. Governments will set limits such as the China's previously implemented 1-child policy. Most governments globally will set such a limit to control birth rate and population growth. Human birth rate will remain close to human death rate, meaning that population growth will be negligent. World population will remain consistent for many decades or even centuries, before it will begin to gradually decline (will speculate on the reason for this in a future post).

As resources grow and populations remain at a standstill, the immense wealth and prosperity gained from off-world mining combined with the replacement of human work by machine labor will result in a future where humans will spend almost all of their lives engaged in leisure, especially in virtual realities and digital mediums. Because humans no longer earn an income, world economy will completely change. Money will become obsolete since humans do not produce, they also do not receive compensation for production.

Instead, human society will revert to a barter-trading system instead of one where money is used as a trading currency. Humans will trade items directly for other items, instead of using money. The value of goods will not be based on current systems of production cost, service cost, material cost and other related costs. Rather, in this future, the value of all items will be based solely on the personal preferences and sentiment attached to each item and how willing would an owner give it up (or not) for another item.

Governments will also set up a new system of welfare to cope with this new system of economy and living. In a future where money does not exist and where resources are excessive, human greed will always want more which will always lead to over-expenditure and over-consumption of resources. In such a future, a new system must be put into place to control human acquisition of goods and consumption resources. I must also mention that by this time in the future, all food and drink is free, so governments will set a quota for how much each individual is allowed to consume per day. For example, food is rationed for each individual so that every individual is allotted an appropriate and sufficient amount of food and drink as required of their age, activity level, genetics, body composition and other minor variances among individuals. In such a society, no one starves and no one is obese. Everyone is given food handouts proportionate to their requirements and never less, never more. It will be a society that is less individualistic and more communal and collectivist. Everything will become highly regulated, structured and controlled.

People will acquire new products (aside from barter-trading) by coupons handed out by their government, that allow an individual the right to receive (for free, of course) a new item of equal value to the number of coupons presented upon acquisition. Each week or month, every citizen will receive a fixed amount of coupons which will entitle them to trade these coupons for new products. The coupons are not a monetary currency as they are voided at the end of each month and cannot be traded with other people, only for new products. This system allows resources to be freely distributed to everyone in a fair and sustainable way as well as to prevent over-consumption and over-stocking by any one individual.

By the year 2100, the lack of human involvement and intervention in almost all aspects of society will lead to people spending almost all their waking hours in the digital world, engaging with one another and creating new worlds in cyberspace. As machines do all the work in the real world, food and drink as well as electricity and utilities are provided for free and the outside world becoming increasingly claustrophobic and lacking in stimulation, humans will retreat into the fantasy worlds of cyberspace in search of never-ending and new varieties of excitement and stimulation.

By 2150, humans will no longer venture outside the walls of their high-rise apartments. Everything is provided for within their homes, food and drink delivered right to their doorstep or more likely, 3D-printed right on the spot. The system of government handouts, barter-trading for new items will also become obsolete by this point. Everything will be 3D-printed as and when an individual needs to and when an item is not required, it will be broken down into the basic components to be molded again into something new and different in the future. 3D-printed resources and items are permanently recyclable, allowing endless variations of items to be produced individually within the confines of one's home. Any item an individual desires will be produced within their own homes. Machine automation in the manufacturing industry will also start to decline in preparation for a shift in human society.

By 2200, robotics technology will have reached a stage where almost all intelligent machines and robots will be as small as atoms and this will usher in a new era of production. Although nano-machines have been created more than a century ago, it is only now that their true potential is being realized. Instead of the 3D-printing of the previous decades, atomic machines will allow any item- from a building, to a car, to a piece of clothing or any object conceivable- to be rapidly formed and deformed just like intelligent gel composed of atom-sized machines that are able to connect with each other to create various shapes, structures and forms. Everything in a person's home will be made of inter-connected atomic machines, allowing a homeowner to reconfigure the interior and exterior of their homes at any time, within seconds. Atomic machines will form the core of futuristic production as they self-replicate and are able to move themselves into position to form anything possible.

By 2250, human bloodstreams and bodies would have atomic machines running through them, granting god-like powers such as self-regeneration, accelerated healing, disease prevention and modifying the very structure of their bodies from within. Plastic surgery would of course have become obsolete decades ago, replaced by atomic machines directly controlling the growth and manipulation of desired body parts.

____________________________

I will end my speculation here. Please note that all of the above are completely my speculations and I hope you will also share your own visions of the future like I have.

[Gary Meadows]

Technology will always need humans to keep it running smoothly.

We are tech's crutch. Not the other way around.

[Ashyne]

Technology will always need humans to keep it running smoothly.

We are tech's crutch. Not the other way around.

Humans only need to supervise machines. When machines can supervise themselves due to advancements in artificial intelligence, then humans are not needed. Unless it is to invent new programs or A.I. but even this will one day be taken over by intelligent machines.

[Professor Buzzkill]

Humans only need to supervise machines. When machines can supervise themselves due to advancements in artificial intelligence, then humans are not needed. Unless it is to invent new programs or A.I. but even this will one day be taken over by intelligent machines.

When humans are not needed, why would corporations or gov't fund them to sit on their behinds?

[dlonewolf85]

Nice thread, it's a food for thought!

I'm a professional social worker and activist (we work for women-empowerment, child-rights, gender equality and related issues). And I don't see how a robot could possibly steal my job, unless it can provide counselling to people, provide legal assistance, prevent injustice, etc.

I don't see robots fighting for the rights of people, trying to pass a bill in the parliament, creating awareness among the masses about social issues, etc. Therefore, I think that my job is quite safe. Haha!

Edit: spelling mistakes!

Edited April 21, 2016 by dlonewolf85

[Professor Buzzkill]

Nice thread, it's a food for thought!

I'm a professional social worker and activist (we work for women-empowerment, child-rights, gender equality and related issues). And I don't how a robot could possibly steal my job, unless it can provide counselling to people, provide legal assistance, prevent injustice, etc.

I don't see robots fighting for the rights of people, trying to pass a bill in the parliament, creating awareness among the masses about social issues, etc. Therefore, I think that my job is quite safe. Haha!

Not to be mean, but your job doesn't need to be done. As a father I look after my child's rights as well as my own. My wife is more than capable to look after her self. Empower the family unit and there would be far fewer instances of vulnerable people being taken advantage of.

Btw, why do women needs rights advocates? Women have every right that men have

[dlonewolf85]

Not to be mean, but your job doesn't need to be done. As a father I look after my child's rights as well as my own. My wife is more than capable to look after her self. Empower the family unit and there would be far fewer instances of vulnerable people being taken advantage of.

Btw, why do women needs rights advocates? Women have every right that men have

Thank you for your opinion, but not all parents are great parents, not all spouses are always good people... Domestic abuse is a reality in our world, and we cannot deny that. You may be an excellent father to your child, but in our world there exists many cases where children are abused by their own parents (just giving you an example). Also domestic violence against men is a reality. Women DO need rights advocates in many countries. These are facts that we have to digest and deal with, whether we like it or not.

[Ashotep]

Being free from work will also mean being free from money. Sure some people will have jobs looking after the machines but soon machines will look after the machines and humans will not be needed at all. That is if we don't destroy the planet first.

[Ashotep]

Thank you for your opinion, but not all parents are great parents, not all spouses are always good people... Domestic abuse is a reality in our world, and we cannot deny that. You may be an excellent father to your child, but in our world there exists many cases where children are abused by their own parents (just giving you an example). Also domestic violence against men is a reality. Women DO need rights advocates in many countries. These are facts that we have to digest and deal with, whether we like it or not.

That's true but I still think even your job could be replaced by a robot.

[dlonewolf85]

That's true but I still think even your job could be replaced by a robot.

Well, I would like to know how exactly... Can a robot work to prevent things as extreme as child pornography, human trafficking, forced prostitution, or even things like bullying, verbal abuse, mental torture, etc.? Could a robot possibly work to give women an equal status like men in a third world country? Please enlighten me, as I would love to quit my job and put a robot in charge!

[Paranormalcy]

Many countries, including even a few counties in the UK, are experimenting with a "basic income credit", given to every adult, as a minimal maintenance wage, regardless of any work done - this will entirely eliminate homelessness, in the hands of anyone remotely responsible enough to be able to make and manage a simple budget. Some "socialist" (!!!) countries already have implemented and are continuing this "experiment" as of a year or two ago, so this is not an isolated thought, looking at the future of a post-work society.

[Ashyne]

Many countries, including even a few counties in the UK, are experimenting with a "basic income credit", given to every adult, as a minimal maintenance wage, regardless of any work done - this will entirely eliminate homelessness, in the hands of anyone remotely responsible enough to be able to make and manage a simple budget. Some "socialist" (!!!) countries already have implemented and are continuing this "experiment" as of a year or two ago, so this is not an isolated thought, looking at the future of a post-work society.

Yes, that is similar to what I mentioned and this is almost a certainty to occur in the future. It's not a matter of "if" but "when". Likely by the end of the century or by the middle of the next century. Such a society will also completely eliminate starvation, obesity, wealth divide as well as inequality. It is the most perfect form of society that can exist.

[Ashyne]

Nice thread, it's a food for thought!

I'm a professional social worker and activist (we work for women-empowerment, child-rights, gender equality and related issues). And I don't see how a robot could possibly steal my job, unless it can provide counselling to people, provide legal assistance, prevent injustice, etc.

I don't see robots fighting for the rights of people, trying to pass a bill in the parliament, creating awareness among the masses about social issues, etc. Therefore, I think that my job is quite safe. Haha!

Edit: spelling mistakes!

Also note that violence is a fundamental trait of a primitive society. Yes, the modern society is one that is still considered primitive and ruled by recklessness, impulsive and emotional tendencies towards violence and anger.

A futuristic, highly advanced society will have no violence at all, because of various reasons:

1) The reasons to commit violence will have been eliminated. People commit violence due to issues such as territorial control, differences in ideology, race, cultures, religions, power & dominant control and basic individual differences.

In a future where globalization has allowed the mixing of races and few people are of a single race, there will be less reason for racial discrimination. In the even distant future, it is even a possibility that just like in our distant past where all humans (of Homo Sapiens) started as one race, the complete mixing of all the world's races will result in a single race.

Likewise, the globalization and sharing of cultures will result in much greater tolerance towards other religions, ideologies and cultures. Many ideologies, especially those related to spirituality and religion, will have vanished over the next few centuries as science and logic take precedence over primitive forms of reasoning. A future where understanding and co-operation is achieved based on the foundations of science will foster greater inter-mixing of people from separate backgrounds and ethnicities. Combined with the convergence of all races into a single race, humanity of the distant future would be more closely tied to one another instead of being separated in the many ways we are today.

Also, in a future world, globalization will result in borders between nations being more transparent. Instead of societies being separated by national borders, the world's societies will become so closely inter-connected with one another through trans-national co-operation that all of the Earth's civilizations will converge to become one mega-city, with each nation instead becoming similar to a district or neighborhood in a city rather than an independent entity.

2) Violence is illogical and has no meaning in a future society. Violence is a primitive, instinctual trait derived from and inherent in our genetic makeup as a predatory species. In a future society where the reasons for violence are lacking, people have excessive wealth due to off-world mining leading to wealth and prosperity so great that governments are able to provide free utilities and services for all citizens and where all societies and races have converged into a single entity which is the sum of its many parts rather than as separate and independently individual parts, people will come to realize that there is no reason for violence. The highly regulated security systems of the future where police cameras and surveillance equipment are placed in every public space just like many modern societies today (but more so in the future), will result in the gradual decline and soon, the complete absence of crime. The use of genetic engineering in newborns will result in greater control of aggressive and violent traits in future humans.

Crime due to financial greed will also be gone due to the government-controlled welfare handout system where all citizens are entitled to the same portion as each other, leading to no one individual capable of accumulating more wealth than another. With machines controlling the economy and all facets of society due to their superiority in automation and intelligent analysis and the only human involvement being the highest leaders of government, who have basically no power except for matters in final decision-making, creative and policy-building, political corruption will also be extinct.

People will also see that bloodshed, violence and hate will also be suppressed and prevented by ultra-efficient security enforcement systems by intelligent machines. Violence due to mental illness and more aggressive personalities will also be prevented due to the use of atomic (atom-sized) machines that are able to insert themselves directly into a person's body and brain, altering the chemistry of the brain itself as well as injecting suppressants and medication to suppress a person's violent tendencies or cure mental illnesses.

As people engage in the digital world for almost all of their waking hours and where virtual reality has become indistinguishable from the real world, even if people still possess violent tendencies, they are certain to rather express it harmlessly and safely in the virtual world than in the real world where they face severe punishments. All of these reasons will result in a near 0% crime rate for every and all forms of crime.

In the modern world, environmental pollution and desecration remains a top priority and problem to solve. However, this is merely a temporary phase in our current time due to lack of sufficient technology and its implementation to resolve this issue. But, as "green" and bionic technology help to integrate the environment into architecture and the framework of all of society, we will eventually see a period where every available land and structural space- such as on rooftops, on the sides of buildings, etc.- will be fully utilized to allow the environment to thrive in an urban setting. Farms and gardens will populate the tops and interior of buildings, solar energy will be harnessed from solar cells placed on architecture and everything will become more compact and used properly with no wastage of available space. Each building will become self-sufficient and self-sustainable, providing everything its occupants need to survive and thrive.

Many decades ahead of this period, buildings will start to reduce in number and land area will be cleared and returned to nature as massive arcologies will be constructed and which will rise thousands of meters into the sky, with bases thousands of meters in diameter. Each arcology will be completely self-sufficient and self-sustainable and will house millions of inhabitants in a vertical city that is shaped much like a pyramid. Such a vast city will allow everyone and everything inside to be sealed off from the outside world, allowing nature to regain its dominance over the once-urban landscape. In such a future many centuries from now, you will see arcologies standing alone like massive pyramids, dotting a green, natural landscape. And so, environmental pollution would have become obsolete as well due to advances in "green" and bionic technology to harness natural energies as well as keep any pollution (if available) within the confines of the arcology itself and not leak into the external environment.

Arcology & Green Architecture examples:

_______________________________________

Also note that all of the above are completely my speculations. But this is my vision of the future and I welcome you to share yours.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Ashyne

[ROGER]

Wonderful visions of a possible future for mankind . Though history shows us once a civilization becomes progressive and beneficial climate , war , and simple human nature rip it all down again .

I'm cynical in my old age .

[Ashotep]

Well, I would like to know how exactly... Can a robot work to prevent things as extreme as child pornography, human trafficking, forced prostitution, or even things like bullying, verbal abuse, mental torture, etc.? Could a robot possibly work to give women an equal status like men in a third world country? Please enlighten me, as I would love to quit my job and put a robot in charge!

Maybe we aren't there yet but one day they will have robots that can do anything that humans can do.

[docyabut2]

We are human robots programed to survive to make more robots:)

[XenoFish]

We will never be free from work. No matter how advanced machines get.

[lightly]

When humans are not needed, why would corporations or gov't fund them to sit on their behinds?

as consumers. the rich can't get richer if our needs aren't subsidized.

[Ashyne]

Wonderful visions of a possible future for mankind . Though history shows us once a civilization becomes progressive and beneficial climate , war , and simple human nature rip it all down again .

I'm cynical in my old age .

As I've already mentioned in my previous posts, a future civilization is certain to be one that is free from violence and all forms of detrimental behavior and attitudes. The reasons for these are simple:

1) A future civilization that has taken thousands of years to become highly advanced will understand universally that any form of violence will result in destruction and chaos that will tear the civilization apart and there is too much at stake and too much to lose that it will do anything to prevent violence and chaos.

2) A future civilization will be masters of science, technology and biology. It will use genetic engineering to modify the genetics of its newborns, resulting in our descendants who have lower violent tendencies and aggressiveness. This is similar to the chemical castration that certain governments use on sexual criminals today to reduce libido to lower risk of a recurring sex offence. But in the future, it will not be chemical castration, but in fact re-writing our genetic makeup to remove primitive and unnecessary inherent instinctual traits that are redundant or obsolete in a future society, such as tendency toward violence and aggressiveness.

3) You say that once a civilization becomes progressive and beneficial, that climate, war and simple human nature will break it down again. But as stated earlier, genetic engineering will certainly allow a species to modify its genetics and remove traits that are not beneficial to an advanced civilization. Also as stated before, as "green" technology and bionics are integrated into our civilization, we will use natural energies harnessed directly from nature itself, resulting in non-existent environmental pollution.

By that time, we will also have the power to engineer our natural environment. Just as now we already have cloud-seeding and dams to control the rain and water flow, in the future we will be able to harness volcanic power as energy to fuel our civilization as well as transform harmful natural disasters into beneficial energy through technology.

4) And as written before, war has no purpose or place in a future society where every nation has converged into one mega-city. Just as today we have a United Nations body advising independent nations on global issues, in the future, the concept of a single governing body for all of humanity will reach a stage where all nations will become so economically, culturally, socially and technologically inter-connected that any attempt by any nation to break this peace and trans-national co-operation will result in a coalition of all the world's powers into stopping it. We see this in the Allied forces against the Axis powers during World War 2. We see this today in the global coalition against the Islamic State. In a modern and future society, no single nation or entity will be allowed to rise up and dominate another. All other nations will always come together to prevent the fracturing of a global unity.

War will be a thing of the past. And many centuries from the present, it will become a memory embedded deep within our history and forgotten in the consciousness of the future.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Ashyne

[Ashyne]

More examples of bionic and "green" technology integrated into architecture in the near future (2100-2200) before "green" architecture and technology advances even further and cities become more compact, eventually turning into arcologies:

[Ashyne]

The eventual evolution of "green" architecture in urban landscapes into arcologies:

Water-based Floating Arcology-

[Ashyne]

Eventually, by 2250-2400, the cities we see today which are filled with thousands of skyscrapers and high-rise apartments will disappear. The entire Earth will become green through environmental/climate engineering and nature and animals will wander freely in environmental preservation parks that are tens of thousands of times larger than they are today. Dotting these green landscapes will be land and water-based arcologies that each present a self-sufficient and self-sustainable city housing tens of millions of inhabitants. They will sparsely populate the landscape and be surrounded on all sides by environmental preservation parks which will allow control of the natural environment while still enabling nature to return to dominance over the once-urban landscape.

[rashore]

I don't think we could genetically alter and chemically castrate all signs of aggression out of ourselves. In fact, it would be greatly detrimental to do so. While there aspects to aggression that are negative, like war and violence. It also is what feeds our desire to rise to challenges, drives us to great sportsmanship and discoveries, our ability to survive, our need to go out and explore, our passion about subjects, our procreation.

And in and of itself.. choosing to genetically and chemically alter another person is an act of aggression.

In a way, aggression is what is driving this topic. In the form of passion, one of the more pleasant forms of aggression.

Edited April 22, 2016 by rashore

[Ashyne]

The above scenario is only one possible outcome.

The Ecumenopolis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenopolis):

Another outcome would be the complete removal of the natural environment from the planetary surface and the substitution of nature with artificial replacements. By 2300-2400, if the arcology and "green" landscape scenario does not occur, it is also likely that the entire planet will turn into a super-computer mega-city that is completely covered with urban landscapes and architecture. Each structure in this mega-city contributes computing power and energy to enable the super-computer mega-city to turn the planet into one giant computer. Such a planetary super-computer will have the surface, sub-surface and water environments covered in atomic machines that turn the whole planet into an enormous circuit board and electrical grid.

[forsberg]

On 21.04.2016 at 1:56 AM, Ashyne said:

Creativity, not educational qualifications (which by that time will not matter anymore and become obsolete as well) or work experience, will be the most treasured and valuable trait and talent to possess in a post-work future civilization. Creative minds will continue to dream up and bring into existence new and exciting technologies for many decades to come.

I would not be so optimistic about it. I heard about such forecasts 10, 20, 50 years ago, and even in XIX century. But it hasn't happened so far, and it's too simplistic assumption that the world would direct in this direction.

Further more, the world would have become a socialist place. Most people will have no motivation to stand up from the front of the tv-set or the computer to do anything valuable. I'm afraid it'd been the worst possible world that ever existed in the known history, not mentioning the fact that masses will be a very easy target to be controlled by the cunning rulers. Some people of course would be creative, but majority - as socialist countries' history shows - will degrade.

I'm therefore looking forward to NOT see it to happen, at least in 500 or 1000 years, if not more.

Edited December 13, 2016 by forsberg