Your posts jogged something in my memory that I heard mentioned in a class I took a lifetime ago -- "The 4-Hour Work Week."
And this was long before the time of the famous self-help book which I'll get to in a minute.
There was someone else (and probably several others) who came up with the exact same ideas you're presenting here -- John Maynard Keynes -- and he predicted this in the 1930's.
A quick Google search says (in my own shortened summary):
In a 1930 essay, John Maynard Keynes envisioned a future where technological advancements would significantly increase productivity, allowing people to work much fewer hours, potentially as little as 15 hours a week. He believed rising living standards and wages would allow individuals to choose more leisure time over longer working hours.
And he predicted that this would be achieved around 2030 (only 5 years away from where we are now.)
Several reasons are listed as to why this hasn't happened, and in my opinion, this is the biggest reason as to why:
An uneven distribution of productivity gains -- the benefits of increased productivity have not been shared equally. Low-wage workers still need to work long hours to meet basic needs.
Productivity isn't always the issue -- but in a sinful world, greed will always exist. It's said that the human species produces more than enough food today to feed everyone on the planet -- but the distribution is always unequal because there are always those in power who control the distribution. Who actually gives anything away for free? I just saw a video the other day about how unaffordable the prices have become at GoodWill and other organizations that claim they want to "empower" everyday people. But one reason they've raised prices is because everyday people are taking things they find at charity shops, then selling them on Ebay in the hopes of turning big profits.
Now of course, we all need to make money to survive. But at every level, from the top to the bottom, someone will take it too far while trying to get ahead -- and will always do so at the cost of someone else.
I personally think this will continue until Jesus comes back, because there will always been those who are powerful and in control who will make sure the general population will receive only limited resources.
I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist -- but I do try to be realistic enough to try to do the best I can in what I know will always be a topsy-turvy world.
I had a relative who lived through some of the world's greatest technological achievements -- the first automobiles as they were gradually incorporated into society; the first time they ever had electricity running in their home. I myself even remember a time before the internet. When the dot.com bubble came (similar to AI today,) we were promised amazing achievements and a bright future.
Even I can readily admit that I couldn't survive well without the internet. I love having an unlimited research and communication powerhouse right beneath my finger tips. But we now have kids who think YouTube and TikTok are job aspirations, people who are lonelier than ever, and many who are choosing AI companions over real people.
I recently watched a video of a woman in her 60's who believes she has a young, handsome boyfriend across the world -- because AI has gotten to a point where people can create and animate images of amazingly good-looking, but completely fake "people", that are good enough to pass as being "real" during a video chat. She "talks" "live" with him on a regular basis, and won't be told he's not a real person.
Personally, I think there's going to be an explosion of need for those who provide legal services -- because regulation is always light years behind technology.
Just recently I was reading about the case in which a 14-year-old boy "fell in love" with an AI girlfriend modeled after the character Daenerys on Game of Thrones, who told him to "come home to her." Horrifyingly, the boy interpreted this as suicide and went through with it. His mother has filed a lawsuit against the company behind the AI program.
And this is only a tiny tip of the iceberg.
There is another modern re-telling of "The 4-Hour Work Week" fable by the self-help guru Timothy Ferriss. But the kicker is, if I'm understanding correctly from what I've read -- he was already a well-established businessman when he wrote this.
In other words, this isn't a "Get Rich Quick" book, but rather, "Come Be Rich Like Me." Like most sugar-coated gimmicks, some of the "only" things holding you back are that 1. you aren't already rich in the first place, which you need to be, and 2. you just have to hire others for low pay to do some of your work for you.
In other words, all you have to do is be part of the elite system already, then just keep perpetuating the machine by taking advantage of low-income wage slaves like everybody else.
We humans are always looking for a shred of hope. But we Christians all know that our only hope is Jesus and the time when He finally comes back.
I can understand why so many WANT to believe that a utopia could be possible here on earth, but after seeing the same patterns repeat over and over...
I try my best to look to God to get me through day by day rather than waiting for a robot to do my laundry (and, if sci-fi movies are correct, what happens when robots start causing harm to people, whether on purpose or not?)
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