Elon Musk predicts that with the proliferation of AI, including his Optimus robots, the people of tomorrow will not have to work if they choose not to. Thanks to the automation of so much of what was once human effort, market necessities and luxuries will be incredibly cheap. By extension, people won’t necessarily have to work nor will they need to worry as much about saving for retirement.
There’s no arguing with Musk about what he predicts. While the future is certainly opaque, if it’s true that AI and robots represent work, then by extension it will be true that production of goods and services will skyrocket alongside plummeting costs for those same services. And with a growing number of working hands being those of robots and the machines that they produce and think with, work conducted by humans will increasingly be a choice as opposed to mandatory.
Where there’s possible disagreement with Musk is in the prediction that the people of the future won’t work. The speculation here is quite the opposite.
Precisely because it will no longer be a necessity, people will work more than ever. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone. To see why, stop and contemplate what happy workers tell those who are unhappy: do for work what you would happily do for fun.
Skeptics will reply that not all work is a blast, and to stop counseling people to pursue what doesn’t exist. Which at first glance makes sense. People need advice, not fantasy. But at second glance, it’s easy to see where we’re headed has fantasy qualities exactly because it will be so much better than what we know presently.
To see why, think more about the world that Musk foresees. Plentiful everything, both necessities and luxuries. Think about this while also contemplating the purpose of work: we work not for money but for what money can be exchanged for.
In Musk’s estimation, the money of the future (dollars, yuan, private money, crypto?) will purchase a great deal more. Which means a great deal less money will be required to fund a more advanced lifestyle.
Much more important, the proliferation of automated work will free us to pursue what we want to do each day simply because we won’t need to spend each day working endless hours to make ends meet, or to exchange our work for a little or a lot in the way of luxuries. Per Musk once again, necessities and luxuries will be wildly cheap.
Which means the humans of the future will yet again be free to do what they want. And that’s the point. When we’re doing what we want, when we’re doing what elevates our unique skills and intelligence, our work ethic soars alongside our productivity.
What will this work be? The prediction I made in my 2018 book The End of Work was that we were on the verge of evolving from a “Service Economy” to an “Entertainment Economy.” Amid soaring abundance, more and more of us will migrate to the activities we can’t not do while frequently entertaining others with soaring disposable in the process.
Those entertained will similarly be doing what they can’t not do. Retirement will become a dated notion.
Originally published on Real Clear Markets.
