– In the meantime, we are going mad from lack of meaningful work. Work defines us, and deprived of work we are prevented from living. If we see work as a burden, it is because we have changed its nature. For 90% of our history as humans work and play were intertwined*. Pre-agriculture, nobody had to ‘earn’ a living, they just lived, part of which consisted of feeding yourself.

– A lot of us are left scratching our heads and wondering what on earth we are here for if we cannot do anything for ourselves because the machines did it all for us already… the housewife identity was the first big casualty, but then housewives could reinvent themselves as ‘workers’. Now what can we reinvent ourselves as?

– Loneliness and obesity: Technology has made us need each other less and our own bodies less. Many people don’t seek out other people ‘just for fun’ or exercise ‘just for fun’; we do these things as part of feedback loops that reinforce these behaviours. Technology is short-circuiting these feedback loops and changing our lives in ways we never wanted.

So “Automation will set us free” from what? I think it is trying to set us free from living.

*https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200907/play-makes-us-human-v-why-hunter-gatherers-work-is-play