Would a world without work be a utopia or a nightmare? An expert explains how the end of jobs is near
Imagine a time without work… it must be something human beings have been dreaming of for millennia.
We picture months spent lying on beaches, passing whole days in the garden, having endless hours to practise our hobbies and spend time with family.
But while this dream might have been around forever, it’s only now that it is starting to look like it might one day become reality.
And as it draws closer, on closer inspection could it turn out to be a complete nightmare rather than the utopia about which some have dreamed?
In this episode of the Big Money Questions, senior editor and economics columnist at The Economist Ryan Avent talks presenter Rachel Rickard Straus through what this new reality could hold.
He explains which jobs could go next and how people could respond.
Will those who still work still support those for whom there are no jobs? As increasing numbers of jobs are carried out by robots, will humans find something else far more exciting to do with their time?
And if this is all happening, what can we do now to smooth the ride?
Ryan Avent is author of a new book The Wealth of Humans: Work and its Absence in the Twenty-First Century.
