This is why I think automation of even more complex jobs is a good thing. Usually (always?) automation of something means a lower barrier to entry. But if "automation" becomes so intelligent that it ends up replacing nearly all jobs, for who exactly does it lower the barrier to entry, if not for employees?
I think it lowers the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs. The trend is clear. Because of the Internet, there are more and more entrepreneurs, and fewer "employees". The impact is not that great yet, but the robot workforce revolution will accelerate this trend.
Imagine a future where almost everyone is an "entrepreneur". That future will be much like the past (think 100-200 years ago), where most people were actually entrepreneurs. Except this time an entrepreneur will be able to offer a service or product on a much larger scale, not just for his family.
But is that sustainable? Can everyone offer services to everyone else? I say yes. We already have a ton of services on the Internet that we don't necessarily think we all need, but many of us are using them to keep those startups in business.
If the last century was mostly about everyone being an employee and working in a large factory or for a large corporation, this century will be about everyone being an entrepreneur. The more "automation" we'll have, the easier it will be for everyone to start a business, and implement many of their own ideas, or sell their own skills as a freelancer, which I think is still a type of entrepreneur.
I don't disagree with you. In fact, I largely after with you... That type of society is sustainable. The question is, however, how we get from our current system to that one. It does not look like it will happen naturally. Instead it looks like we're headed more toward a "the people who have the wealth now will retain it for a long time to come" future.
I don't see starting a new, successful, business, as getting easier, like you seem to.
I think we are moving to an economy that is made up of the very small aggregated to the large in a network and quite local - a new line on the old of 200 years ago.
Imagine several Fab labs in your community making things on demand - a food system where many small units say 300 hen flocks + a few cows, pigs, sheep on pasture also aggregated. Imagine every house and building collecting and distributing energy.
The automation enables us to do this as right now we can make movies etc at a fraction of the costs and so you and I can do things that before woud have taken a lot of capital.
Using the network effect a good local system can have a large infrastructure based on the aggregation at a cost we can all cope with
I think it lowers the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs. The trend is clear. Because of the Internet, there are more and more entrepreneurs, and fewer "employees". The impact is not that great yet, but the robot workforce revolution will accelerate this trend.
Imagine a future where almost everyone is an "entrepreneur". That future will be much like the past (think 100-200 years ago), where most people were actually entrepreneurs. Except this time an entrepreneur will be able to offer a service or product on a much larger scale, not just for his family.
But is that sustainable? Can everyone offer services to everyone else? I say yes. We already have a ton of services on the Internet that we don't necessarily think we all need, but many of us are using them to keep those startups in business.
If the last century was mostly about everyone being an employee and working in a large factory or for a large corporation, this century will be about everyone being an entrepreneur. The more "automation" we'll have, the easier it will be for everyone to start a business, and implement many of their own ideas, or sell their own skills as a freelancer, which I think is still a type of entrepreneur.