In most of human history, the type of jobs available were relatively stable century to century; today, the types of jobs aren't even stable decade to decade.
The automation of physical labor let us turn to intellectual labor and creative labor. The coming automation of intellectual and creative labor is not like the previous automations of physical labor, because it leaves human jobs no where else to turn to.
CGP Grey's "Humans Need Not Apply" video[1,2] covered this almost a decade ago:
> Imagine a pair of horses in the early 1900s talking about technology. One worries all these new mechanical muscles will make horses unnecessary.
> The other reminds him that everything so far has made their lives easier -- remember all that farm work? Remember running coast-to-coast delivering mail? Remember riding into battle? All terrible. These city jobs are pretty cushy -- and with so many humans in the cities there are more jobs for horses than ever.
> Even if this car thingy takes off you might say, there will be new jobs for horses we can't imagine.
> But you, dear viewer, from beyond 2000 know what happened -- there are still working horses, but nothing like before. The horse population peaked in 1915 -- from that point on it was nothing but down.
> There isn’t a rule of economics that says better technology makes more, better jobs for horses. It sounds shockingly dumb to even say that out loud, but swap horses for humans and suddenly people think it sounds about right.
The automation of physical labor let us turn to intellectual labor and creative labor. The coming automation of intellectual and creative labor is not like the previous automations of physical labor, because it leaves human jobs no where else to turn to.
CGP Grey's "Humans Need Not Apply" video[1,2] covered this almost a decade ago:
> Imagine a pair of horses in the early 1900s talking about technology. One worries all these new mechanical muscles will make horses unnecessary.
> The other reminds him that everything so far has made their lives easier -- remember all that farm work? Remember running coast-to-coast delivering mail? Remember riding into battle? All terrible. These city jobs are pretty cushy -- and with so many humans in the cities there are more jobs for horses than ever.
> Even if this car thingy takes off you might say, there will be new jobs for horses we can't imagine.
> But you, dear viewer, from beyond 2000 know what happened -- there are still working horses, but nothing like before. The horse population peaked in 1915 -- from that point on it was nothing but down.
> There isn’t a rule of economics that says better technology makes more, better jobs for horses. It sounds shockingly dumb to even say that out loud, but swap horses for humans and suddenly people think it sounds about right.