The Automation Revolution and the Rise of the Creative Economy (2016)

(April 2016)

Elon Musk predicts the mass unemployment due to AI & Automation will be a large enough problem to where we'll require a "universal basic income". He then questions where people will then find meaning when their labor is not needed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6HPdNBicM8

Also consider Peter Diamandis discussing how we are heading toward a future of abundance in everything we need, making it significantly less expensive to "get by". https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_f...

While I agree we could see a universal basic income, I'd say Elon Musk puts too much weight on what people consider meaning. While most billionaire entrepreneurs love what they do, most of the working class see their jobs as something that prevents them from doing what they love. According to the Washington Post, only 13% of people worldwide like going to work. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2013/10...

So with these points of view considered, in a future where they go just as predicted, it seems like automation will force a sort of renaissance period with a massive rise in Arts and Entrepreneurship. If people begin making a universal basic income that pays their bills, and machines control everything they can possibly control, suddenly we will have almost the entire automation-replaced workforce spending their time on things that robots can't do in the foreseeable future: Fine-arts, competitive sports/games, and Entrepreneurship. I believe most people who hate their jobs already find meaning elsewhere and now with empty days and no serious financial concerns, it's either do nothing or do something that robots can't. Even the laziest people will become bored of doing nothing

The pre-Renaissance period in Europe shows many similarities to what we are experiencing now on a greater scale. For one, the printing press, among other important inventions, had an enormous impact on the shaping of the renaissance; suddenly, there was no need to re-write the same pages by hand, and the world started moving much faster than they were used to. Secondly, the decline of feudalism is comparable to what Peter Diamandis's "abundance life" would cause: a sudden narrowing of the gaps between classes.

I could be wrong, but a universal basic income wouldn't change how most people find meaning; it would rather provide people the freedom to attempt what they never had time for.