When thinking about the economy we usually are told jobs are good. New manufacturing jobs, a big project that creates many jobs, 10.000 mining jobs lost etc. But if we look at what is required to keep ourselves alive we find that most work to achieve that is done by machines. We have big farming equipment, food processing, distribution systems, supermarkets for food, and on the energy side we have power lines and huge power plants that produce power for millions, delivered right into our rooms.
If you are warm, dry and well fed by a system that involves only a handfull of people, then what are we all fighting over jobs about? Does it make sense to need one? Of course this situation assumes fossil energy used to drive the food and energy production chain. But we can have the same production chain (although one many times cheaper and cleaner) with renewabels. Renewables + automation spell Roboeconomy.com, a world in which our essential needs are met by automated systems that require very little care or human intervention. The same goes for medical care as it moves into the genetic therapy and nano technology realm. Automated, with skilled people for sure, but how many?
.. to be completed 😉