Back in the 80s, my friend’s dad wouldn’t let him go into programming because AI was going to kill all programming jobs. My buddy missed out on a huge career in tech. Proceed like the singularity is 50 years away. That’s what I did.

Maybe? Robots don’t and probably won’t have emotions. They may “enjoy” working. I know most people do not, and if every day was a weekend and we had the resources that we didn’t worry about food and shelter, then people would find more enjoyable things to do than working.

First we have to get through the upheaval that will certainly happen as people lose their jobs before the social safety net is erected, and then all of the subsequent issues with self governance that could go horribly wrong when we have stronger and stronger AI. (Insert your favorite dystopian scifi novel.)

Currently people sell their skills/labor in return for money. General AI and robotics will one day be able to do everything that humans can do, so the cost of labor over the long term will tend to $0. That slope is exponential and we’re still in the long tail, but as things pick up we’ll need UBI and social programs to account for the displaced. Once it becomes apparent, the slope of the exponential will be fast enough that retraining won’t be an option.

Laurence Dahners explores this is his Ell Donsaii scifi series. Fun read.