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Will artificial intelligence, computers or automation replace some jobs in the future? 

From steam engines to computers. It seems like every few years, there is something out there that will steal our jobs. 

So far these advancements have started new industries and mostly created as many jobs as they have replaced. 

It’s quite plausible that one day all jobs will be done by robots and computers. 

If that happens, the cost of making most things could drop to zero.

I feel that all the technology needed to make this happen, is starting to fall into place, and we are on the verge of an automation revolution. 

How does everything become free?

Most of the costs in life come from paying humans for their labour in one way or another. 

Machinery and automation replaces jobs by reducing the number of hours of labour needed to complete a task, and have been replacing jobs for a long time. 

Just removing the cost of human labour and the cost of the buildings they work in, this would remove a large chunk of the cost of any product or service. 

Think of a product and how much of it’s cost is paying someone to mine or gather all the raw materials needed.

People to refine or process the materials.

To assemble the product.

Pack and deliver it. 

Then all the people needed to move things from one place to another.
 
Then the cost of all the buildings needed.

People needed to service and supply these buildings. 

The people to maintain all this.

This is where most of our ‘costs’ come from. It’s the cost of the humans, that put in the hours of labour needed, to keep the system going.

Costs could also be slashed when we adopt the circular economy with a “reuse repair recycle” philosophy and start making things that are durable, repairable and re-usable. 


What happens if we automate all the jobs? 

It used to take almost the whole output of the world’s human labour just to keep us alive, fed, clothed, and to maintain a place to shelter. 

Throughout modern history we have increased productivity by using tools and machinery. 

Things like windmills, electric drills, pipes, elevators, computers, cranes and many more. 

These sort of things, have saved us humans many hours of labour. 

Each time needing fewer people to complete the basic tasks that sustain our lifestyles.

Each year there are advancements in computers and machinery that makes automating more tasks cost effective, more productive and good enough to replace human jobs. 

If we carry on in this way, then ultimately we will get to a point where either we hit a wall and can’t increase automation any further. 

Or we end up automating everything.  

At the moment it seems we are automating more and more each year. 

There does not seem to be any signs of it slowing down or hitting any wall we can’t pass.

If anything, it seems we are finding complex automation increasingly easy as technology advances. 

If you could make a physical product, where the first time a human is needed, will be when the customer first uses it at home.

Then that physical product could be made for almost no cost.  

We could move from a price dominated economy to a resource based economy. Where it’s more about making sure we manage the resources at out disposal than making a profit. 

What do we need to achieve zero cost automation? 

There are a few things that help to make automating everything cheap enough, fast enough and productive enough to replace a human. 

First is renewable and abundant energy, in this day and age that means electricity. 

We already have ways to make clean cheap electricity with wind and solar. 

So it’s not a big leap to get to a point where most things can be powered by cheap abundant renewable energy, and whichever storage solution wins out. 

Motors play a big part in automation. 

From driving conveyor belts, to turning a drill bit. As soon as they are fast enough, durable enough and cheap enough then they have replaced physical labour. 

Over the last few decades motors have improved vastly, in things like speed, torque and efficiency. 

There seem fewer tasks they can’t do each year.

Next up is sensors.

Automation is limited if it can’t monitor the surroundings. 

From lasers that count units produced in a production line to cameras that provide a visual image of an object or machine. 

These really help you automate in an imperfect world, pick up potential problems and keep track of complex systems. 

As with motors, these have improved a lot in the last few decades especially in things like object recognition and environmental monitoring. 

Almost goes without saying that computers are quite handy too, and doubt I need to state how much they have improved over the last few decades. 

From processing the sensor’s data to controlling the motors. 

It’s the computers that makes automated systems all tick along nicely and deal with any problems. 

They also run the artificial intelligent systems that will control complex systems like self driving cars.

So to get to full automation, we mostly just need something that is at least as good as a human, and ideally something much better. 

Things like optical circuits that can detect objects as well as a human, or robotic arms that can pick up and manipulate objects as well as your average worker. 

Once we have got the speed, accuracy and dexterity right then an automated system will get cheaper and become more and more common. 

As soon as a task can be done by automation for less than, a low paid worker costs. Then that job will become redundant and automated.

How far along the fully automated path are we now?

I think most people would be surprised by how much automation they encounter every day. Most of it seems so mundane that we take it for granted. 

From washing machines cleaning your clothes to elevators stopping at the right floor. There is already a lot of human labour and jobs that have been replaced. 

There is a saying which goes along the lines of:

As soon as something is automated then people stop thinking of that being part of the automation system. 

Which means people think of automation being things like robots that mimic human task rather than machines that perform a part of a task. 

Like self service checkouts are helping automate the shopping experience but not many people would consider a scanner as automation.  

One of the big challenges in complex automation has been speed. 

Whether it’s reaction time when the unexpected happens. 

Or how fast a task can be completed compared to a human doing it.  

We currently have mostly automated some things like quarries and other resource gathering systems.

Processing the resources has a huge amount of automation.

Assembly and production of the finished product is again already fairly automated. 

Self driving to move things around is one of the major bottlenecks at the moment but developing fast.

Creating new products used to be another but that seems to be changing now with the new GPT machines.

As to how much more automation we need to get to full automation. We will have to wait and see.
 
If everything is automated, how will the world work?

“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.” Voltaire, Candide 

Universal Basic Income is often proposed as a solution to the ‘need’ part. If most people don’t work then some sort of credit system seems likely. 

A credit system can make it so you don’t need to worry about basics like food, shelter and energy without having to work. 

An economist is likely to tell you this will not work in practice as it will be too expensive. 

Though they will be calculating this at today’s costs that include things like labour, building costs, and even profit. 

These may not really be that important in a fully automated world where all these costs will be negligible. 

It’s much more likely that we will need to find a way of stopping mass over consumption and manage resources.  

I quite like the idea that each person is given a cubic space allowance for living accommodation. 

Something like you have a minimum of 50 cubic meters per person, which will get you that size apartment somewhere. 

Partner up with someone and you can combine that allocation to a 100 cubic meter accommodation. Have a child then add another 50. 

So you are guaranteed a space to live and your basics covered. Obviously there could still be disparity in where your space is located and the facilities you have near you.

Boredom could be one of the biggest problems. We will have to relearn how to fill our days without the need to work.  

The main thing will be finding a lifetime of things to do, that will fill up each and every day.

We have more than enough movies, music, books and games to fill many lifetimes.

Social gatherings, live entertainment, sporting achievements and the like can help fill this time. 

It seems likely that some people might still want to work. 

Whether it’s for artistic release, to kill time or because they like interacting with people. 

There is most likely to be some sort of extra credit system where you can give credits to others in exchange for work. 

So you could still follow a career if you wanted to, most likely without the stress and pressure our current society inflicts on so many.  

Or maybe we develop a different sort of wealth. 

Some cultures have something like ‘a purpose in life’ that you are encouraged to discover. 

We may need something like this to make life not feel pointless. 

Education will also need to change to adapt and teach whatever life skills we need to cope with a world without work. 

Considering the current education system seems designed to make good workers for business, then this is going to be a big change and take time. 

Getting the right mix of food, exercise, social and entertainment in a world without work could take time to get right.

What could possibly go wrong?

Things like the prices dropping to zero is dependant there being low resistance from the people loosing profits and power. 

Just because something cost nothing to make, that may not stop people charging you to use or have it. 

There seem to be an ever increasing number of companies that would rather make more money than drop the prices they charge. 

The corporate thinking at the moment is, “you have to make more money every year”.

This of course is not sustainable as infinite growth is never sustainable. 

As these companies have more money, they then have more resources to pressure politicians into making favourable laws. 

So that’s the financial side of things but there is also the boredom threat. What do we all do with all that free time?

Could social crimes like household violence, sexual assaults and gangs become a bigger problem? 

Or ‘police state’ levels of control to keep people in check? 

Then there is the transition from the current world to the new world. 

This seems very unlikely to go smoothly. 

Do those with jobs and resources help those put out of work by automation or do we leave them to fend for themselves? 

Do we return to the feudal times where a few mega rich people control everything and the rest survive of their handouts? 

I imagine the flash point is when a few people are still needed to work but most don’t. 

I can see the ones that have to work resenting the people that don’t have to work.  

Then there is the question of how much resources should people have access to? 

Enough to just about survive, or more than enough to live comfortably? 

How equal should we all be? 

Oh, and of course the robots could rise up against us.   

So to wrap up.

Automation is nothing new. 

It’s a journey we have been on for a few thousand years. 

We do seem to be on the brink of technically being able to automate most tasks but will have to wait and see how long it will take to be practical.

The idea here is to explore what would happen if we did managed to fully automate all jobs. 

How society would change, what the issues are, potential problems and possible solutions. 

So why listen to me? 

Well I have no agenda. 

I am willing to change my mind and try not to be bias. 

While being fairly well informed I’m only a keen outside observer. 

I don’t work for anyone in the automation world and have no interest in working or investing in anyone that does. 

I don’t even care about monetizing this project.

The reason I’m doing this is because I have been intrigued but the subject of automation for a while. 

I love the idea of us humans never having to work again sometime in the future and want to start a debate on the subject.

So I encourage you all to share your views on the topics I discuss and am happy to revisit subjects if and when there is questions that need answering. 

Future episodes will not be weekly, maybe not even monthly. They will drop as and when I feel they are right. 

Finally I’d like to add that everything on this channel is free to use as you like. 

That means you can take the text of any episode which I’ll publish on the website 

You are free to read it to camera in your own voice and put your version up online. Or translate it into another language. 

Can use as many extracts as you like. Mix it up and mash it up as much as you like. Even make money off it if you want. 

Just as long as you don’t try to stop anyone else doing the same to my original content. 

If you do your own version then it would be lovely if you let me know and give a link back to the original. Though you are under no obligation to do so. 

But YouTube will not let me upload things longer than 15mins to start with so going to cut it into two parts. Might even try to keep all blog post less than 15 mins but we know how hard that might be to keep.

---

Hello

Welcome to the first instalment of Everything Eventually will be FREE.

We are currently in the era where Chat GPT is the thing that threatens to steal our jobs.

This is only the latest in a long list of things that replaces our jobs.

So far these advancements have started new industries and created as many jobs as they have replaced.

There are many people that will tell you this new era of Artificial Intelligence will be the same.

Though, if we do manage to make a machine that can perform tasks as well as a human, with as good a sense of the world, and enough intelligence to do the task.

Well. Then I think it’s quite plausible that one day all jobs will be done by robots or computers.

When that happens the cost of making most things could drop to zero.

To start with lets get one thing out of the way.

No, despite the title, not everything will be free.

There will always be things that are scarce, rare or unique in ways that will make them desirable and valuable.

I will explore this more in later episodes.

To start with I’ll concentrate on the things that are likely to be automated, and how that will effect the world.

I do think, most everyday things we need could become free, and we will eventually be able to live without spending any money.

Though there is likely to be some sort of credit system which I’ll also explore more in later episodes.

The other thing to clear up is that I’m not putting a time frame on this.
It could take 10 years, 100 years or thousands of years to get to a fully automated world where everything is free.

So I am not going to spend much time predicting when this could happen.
Instead I’ll be exploring the ‘how and why’ it might happen.

As well as looking at some of the potential pitfalls and benefits we may encounter along the way.

I feel that all the technology needed to make this happen, is starting to fall into place, and we are on the verge of a revolution.

Part 1: How everything becomes free.

Most of the costs in life come, from paying humans for their labour, in one way or another.

Artificial Intelligent systems like Chat GPT replace jobs by reducing the number of hours of labour needed to complete a task.

Machinery and automation have been replacing jobs in a similar way for a long time.

Like a worker with an electric screwdriver will secure a screw in a block of wood much quicker than someone using a normal screwdriver.

I think a lot of the current hysteria is because the Chat GPT type systems are replacing human hours, in well paid jobs. A lot in the media where the people with the biggest megaphones work.

To me the current predictive Artificial Intelligence is just better software running on better computers.

They are the office equivalent to the barcode revolution in large shops.

Before the scanners and barcodes arrived in shops you would have many more people working in retail.

After they were introduced the shopping experience has just continued to be more automated.

Nowadays you can buy something online and have that item shipped to your front door. This reduces the number of staff needed to almost it’s minimum.

It’s hard to get people concerned about the loss of a load of low paid workers. Unless you are directly impacted.

But, when it starts happening to the jobs that give people a lot of disposable income. Then it seems like a different story.

In both cases you lose jobs because of efficiency. A job that takes a tenth of the time to do with machinery, means one person can do the same work as 10 people used to do.

To get to a point where everything will be free, we have to create a fully automated world.

Where computers and machines can replace all jobs.

Just removing the cost of human labour, and the buildings they work in. This would remove a large chunk of the cost of any product or service.

Think of a product and how much of it’s cost is paying someone to mine or gather all the raw materials needed.

People to refine or process the materials.

To assemble the product.

Pack and deliver it.

Then all the people needed to move things from one place to another.

Then the cost of all the buildings needed.

People needed to service and supply these buildings.

The people to maintain all this.

This is where most of our ‘costs’ come from, it’s the cost of the humans that put in the labour needed to keep the system going.

The cost savings from the few decades around the millennium has mostly come from the manual labour savings.
Mass production automation, barcode scanners, electric screwdrivers and the like.

As computers have got better this automation has started to streamline more of the office jobs.

What happens if we automate all the jobs that make most of the money?

It used to take almost the whole output of the world’s human labour just to keep us alive, fed, clothed and with a place to shelter.

Throughout modern history we have increased productivity by using tools and machinery.

Things like an axe, windmills, electric drills, pipes, elevators, computers, cranes and many more.

These sort of things, have saved us humans many hours of labour.

Each time needing fewer people to complete the basic tasks that sustain our lifestyles.

We already have a world where some jobs are now fully replaced with either machines, computers or both.

Each year there are advancements in computers and machinery that makes automating more tasks cost effective and productive enough to replace humans.

If we carry on in this way then ultimately we will get to a point where either we hit a wall and can’t increase automation any further.

Or we end up automating everything.

Just like politicians will tell you a new business is good for the region because it will create jobs beyond the direct employment of their staff.

Like wise the automation of an industry will destroy more jobs than the direct ones involved.

For example self driving trucks could cause truck stops to close down as well as a local business that sold things to their customers.

At the moment it seems we are automating more and more each year. There does not seem to be any signs of it slowing down or hitting any wall we can’t pass.

If anything it seems we are finding complex automation increasingly easy as technology advances.

If you could make a physical product, where the first time a human is needed, will be when the customer picks it up off the floor of their home.

Then that physical product could be made for almost no cost.

I will go into this in more depth in later episodes but if you have full automation for everything from gathering the resources needed to processing them.

From making the item to shipping it.

Along with all the machinery needed to do this being made and maintained by robots.

Then once you have recouped the cost of setting up the initial system, everything after that is pure profit.

This would also mean the cost of living could also take a drastic drop in price.

We could move from a price dominated economy to a resource based economy. Where it’s more about making sure we manage the resources at out disposal than keeping everyone employed.

So basically once you have automated every part of production, we could care more about managing resources than production.

Maybe at the expense of profit.

Maybe something like the circular economy could come into effect along with a credit system to stop overconsumption.

Part 2: What we need to achieve zero cost automation.

There are a few things that help make automating everything cheap enough, fast enough and productive enough to replace a human.

First is renewable and abundant energy, in this day and age that means electricity.

We already have ways to make clean cheap electricity with wind and solar.

So it’s not to big a leap to get to a point where most things can be powered by cheap abundant renewable energy and whichever storage solution wins out.

Motors play a big part in automation.

From driving conveyor belts to turning a drill bit. As soon as they are fast enough, durable enough, and cheap enough, then they have replaced physical labour.

A robot is mostly just a combination of electric motors and computers.

Over the last few decades motors have improved vastly. Improving in speed, torque and efficiency.

There seem less and less tasks they can’t do each year and getting close to being as dexterous as a human in most tasks.

Next up is sensors.

Automation is limited if it can’t monitor it’s surroundings.

From lasers that count units produced in a production line, to cameras that provide a visual image of an object.

These really help you automate in an imperfect world, pick up potential problems and keep track of complex systems.

As with motors, these have improved a lot in the last few decades especially in things like object recognition and environmental monitoring.

Almost goes without saying that computers are quite handy too, and doubt I need to state how much they have improved over the last few decades.

From processing the sensor’s data to controlling the motors.

It’s the computers that makes automated systems all tick along nicely and deal with any problems.

They also run the artificial intelligence software that will control complex systems like self driving cars.

So to get to full automation, we mostly just need something that is at least as good as a human, and ideally something much better.

Things like optical circuits that can detect objects as well as a human. Or robotic arms that can pick up and manipulate objects, as well as your average worker.

As soon as they can perform as well as a human or better then they will start to take over human labour as the cost of the system becomes cheap enough.

The hardest things seems to have been recognising objects in a timely fashion or moving motors fast enough and precisely enough to do some complex tasks as well as a human can.

Once we have got the speed, accuracy and dexterity right then an automated system will get cheaper and become more and more common.

As soon as a task can be done by automation for less than a low paid worker cost for a few years work. Then that job will become redundant.

One of the common example tasks factory humanoid robots is shown completing is taking products off a conveyor belt and storing or packing them.

This is quite a surprisingly hard task for a machine but simple for a human.

You might need to compensate for a unevenly distributed weight.

Need good object recognition skills.

Need to be able to plan where to move and deal with the unexpected.

We are starting to crack this problem and do it about the speed of a human.

Obviously one of the big advantages is, the machines don’t need breaks or to be paid.

But the real advantage would come if we can get them so good you can speed up that conveyor belt and double throughput.

For each of these problems that are preventing full automation there is dozens of companies working on solving each problem.

Part 3: How far along the fully automated path are we now?

I think most people would be surprised by how much automation they encounter every day. Most of it seems so mundane that we take it for granted.

From washing machines cleaning your clothes to traffic lights changing on a schedule.

Elevators stopping at the right floor to automated sprinkler systems. There is already a lot of human labour that has been replaced.

There used to be wash houses full of people washing clothes.

Traffic police that directed traffic.

Elevator operators and gardeners that did jobs that have been replaced by automation.

There is a saying which goes along the lines of:

As soon as something is automated, then people stop thinking of that being part of the automation system.

Which means, people think of automation being things like robots that mimic human task, rather than machines that perform a part of a task.

If you had a factory worker that wanted to remove all this pesky automated stuff that is taking their jobs.

They probably would not want to walk up fourteen floors to where they parked their car in a multi story car park.

They would exclude something like an elevator from their list of automated things they want to replace.

One of the big challenges in complex automation has been speed.

Whether it’s reaction time when the unexpected happens.

Or how fast a task can be completed compared to a human doing it.

This is most obvious in one of the hardest tasks to automate.

Self driving vehicles.

For this task the challenge is to do the right thing in a very short time. Every time.

With current technology self driving works quite well at around 30 to 49 kilometres per hour speed, but there is low demand for vehicles with that sort of top speed.

This is due to the time it takes to capture the world around the vehicle, map the data, detect potential dangers and plot the right cause of action.

This is why the global drive to crack the self driving problem is being tackled like the space race.

The companies and countries that crack it first, are going to be, driving in the fast lane into the next era.

In manufacturing it’s all about the whole system producing the maximum number of units.

The automated parts have to be more productive than humans doing the same task.

We certainly have more automation than 50 or 25 years ago.

We currently have mostly automated quarries and other resource gathering systems.

Processing the resources has a huge amount of automation.

Assembly and production of the finished product is again already fairly automated.

Self driving vehicles to move things around, is one of the major bottlenecks.

Creating new products used to be another but that seems to be changing now.

As to how much more automation we need to get to full automation. We will have to wait and see.

Over time I want to look at some of the past automation challenges and how they played out.

How they were invented, how they developed, what popularised them and how they were received.

As well as looking at the end game and what’s currently stopping us getting there.

Part 4: If everything is automated how will the world work?

“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.” Voltaire, Candide

Universal Basic Income is often proposed as a solution to the ‘need’ part. If most people don’t work, then some sort of credit system seems likely.

An economist is likely to tell you, this will not work in practice, as it will be too expensive.

Though, they will be calculating this cost at today’s cost. That includes things like labour, building costs and even profit.

These may not really be that important in a fully automated world where all these costs will be negligible.

It’s much more likely that we will need to find a way of stopping mass over consumption and managing resources.

Universal Basic Income can make it so you don’t need to worry about basics like food, shelter and energy.

Maybe even help moderate the vice and boredom problem.

I quite like the idea that each person is given a cubic space allowance for living accommodation.

Something like, you have a minimum of 50 cubic meters per person, which will get you that size apartment somewhere.

Partner up with someone, and you can combine that allocation to a 100 cubic meter accommodation. Have a child then add another 50.

So you are guaranteed a space to live and your basics covered. Obviously there could still be disparity, in where your space is located, and the basic facilities you have near you.

Costs could also be slashed, when we adopt the circular economy, with a “reuse repair recycle” philosophy, and start making things that are durable, repairable and re-usable.

Boredom could be one of the biggest problems. We will have to relearn how to fill our days without the need to work.

Though we have more than enough movies, music, books and games to fill many lifetimes.

The old sayings of “you would not want to waste your life away watching telly all day would you?” seems less used these days. You are more likely to hear people say “I don’t have enough time to watch all the stuff I want to”.

Yet there already is a growing problem of so much choice, that some people can flick through pages of listings, and not find anything they feel like watching right now.

Maybe we learn to overcome this or maybe the world turns to violence and vice.

It seems likely that some people might want to work.

Whether it’s for artistic release, to kill time or because they like interacting with people.

There is almost likely to be some sort of extra credit system where you can give credits to others in exchange for work.

So you could still follow a career if you wanted to, most likely without the stress and pressure our current society inflicts on so many.

Or maybe we develop a different sort of wealth.

Some cultures have something like ‘a purpose in life’ that you are encouraged to discover.

We may need something like this, to make life not feel pointless.

There are lessons we can learn from history, where groups of people have not needed to work all the time.

Social gatherings, live entertainment, sporting achievements and the like all help fill up a lifetime.

Education will need to change to adapt to teach whatever life skills we need to cope with a world without work.

Considering the current education system seems designed to make good workers for business, then this is going to be a big change, and take time.

Getting the right mix of food, exercise, social and entertainment in a world without work could take time to work out.

We are adaptive creatures and I’m sure we will work it out.

Part 5: What could go wrong?

Everything I have stated so far, about the prices dropping to zero, is obviously dependant there being low resistance from the people losing profits and power.

Just because something cost nothing to make, that may not stop people charging you to use or have it.

The current trend seems to be getting people to pay monthly to use something rather than to own it.

If you have an apple tree then you can have apples for free every year. At least when they are in season.

For the rest of the year there will be someone selling apples you can buy, especially when there are none on the local trees.

If you started a campaign to get people to plant more apple trees and only eat apples when they are in season.

I’m willing to bet some company making money from selling you apples would put a lot of money into convincing you that your better off buying apples from your usual shop.

There seem to be an ever increasing number of companies that would rather make more money, than drop the prices they charge.

The corporate thinking at the moment is you have to make more money every year.

This of course, is not sustainable, as infinite growth is never sustainable.

As these companies have more money, they then have more resources to pressure politicians into making favourable laws.

Squashing the competition by denying them access to retail establishments, or just spending huge money on advertising.

We are already seeing this in the entertainment industry as the established markets that make money from books, movies and music are fighting back against the new artificially generated content.

The people that complain the most are the ones making the most money out of the current system.

It’s yet to be seen whether the people making money, eventually pivot to replacing all human labour, to make more money off of generated content, or whether they just carry on fighting the new changes.

I guess there will be winners and losers on both sides.

So that’s the financial side of things, but there is also the boredom threat. What do we all do with all that free time?

Could social crimes like household violence, sexual assaults and gangs become a bigger problem?

Or police state like levels of control to keep people in check?

Maybe people will just appreciate human contact more and do more things together?

Maybe we get more exercise and do more social things or we become reclusive and just watch videos all day long.

Then there is the transition from the current world to the new world.

This seems very unlikely to go smoothly.

Do those with jobs and resources help those put out of work by automation or do we leave them to fend for themselves?

Do we return to the feudal times where a few mega rich people control everything and the rest survive of their handouts?

I imagine the flash point is when a few people are still needed to work but most don’t.

I can see the ones that have to work resenting the people that don’t have to work.

How much resources should people have access to?

Enough to just about survive, or more than enough to live comfortably?

How equal should we all be, especially in cultures with a strong class system. How do we police the new order?

Oh, and of course the robots could rise up against us.

I’ll dive into some of these in more details too.

So to wrap up.

Automation is nothing new.

It’s a journey we have been on for a few thousand years.

We do seem to be on the brink of technically being able to automate most tasks but will have to wait and see how long it will take to be practical.

People like change that happens ‘overnight’ but this does not happen as much as you might think. Our collective knowledge has periods of striving forwards and then periods of stagnation.

Most people alive today have only known a rapidly changing world.

At some point, maybe fairly soon, this could all come to a halt. Or at least slow down quite a bit.

What feels like impossible today could well be a solved problem in 10 years time.

While other things that seem like they could happen next year might take 500 years to happen.

The idea here is to explore what would happen if we did managed to fully automate all jobs.

How society would change, what the issues are, potential problems and possible solutions.

So why listen to me?

Well I have no agenda.

I don’t think I’m right.

I am willing to change my mind and try not to be bias.

While being fairly well informed, I’m only a keen outside observer.

I don’t work for anyone in the automation world, and have no interest in working or investing in anyone that does.

I don’t even care about monetizing this project.

The reason I am doing this, is because I have been intrigued by the subject of automation for a while.

I love the idea of us humans never having to work again sometime in the future, and want to start a debate on the subject.

So I encourage you all to share your views on the topics I discuss, and am happy to revisit subjects if and when there is questions that need debating.

If you noticed, this is read by an artificial voice.

The main reason for this is that you probably would much prefer that, than hearing me read all this out.

It also forces me to write down my thoughts so, hopefully, they are more concise than some of the people that just set the mic up and ramble on for a bit.

This also means that these will not be weekly, maybe not even monthly. They will drop “as and when” I feel they are right.

Finally I’d like to add that everything on this channel is free to use as you like.

That means you can take the text of any episode, which I’ll publish on the website.

You are free to, make your own version of this and put it up online. Or translate it into another language.

Can use as many extracts as you like. Mix it up, mash it up, as much as you like. Make changes, corrections, comments and republish. Even make money off it if you like, or can.

Just as long as you don’t try to stop anyone else doing the same to my original content.

If you do your own version, then it would be lovely if you let me know, and give a link back to my original. Though you are under no obligation to do so.

Visit the website for more info and more of my thoughts on the subject.

Thank you for listening to the end.