2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders, Automation, and the Fate of the US [View all]paulthompson
(2,398 posts)Not ALL the jobs are going to go away, at least not for the next few decades. Maybe half in a couple of decades, as a rough estimate. That still leaves a lot of people with jobs. Everyone economy has a middle class, even feudalism, communism, etc, it's just a matter of how big or small it is.
Besides, the very definitions of things like a "job," "class." or "wealth" are bound to change. Think about it. There's a potential big upside to automation. That runs mainly on electricity, and if we go solar in a big way (which also is something that's coming, the price drops every year and soon it will be well below fossil fuel costs no matter how the oil market is doing), we could have our robots and other gizmos running on "free" energy from the Sun, and doing all the drudge work. A lot of people could live a pretty nice life with a huge amount of free time. It's just a matter of having a UBI to pay for food, rent, and the bills.
If people like you say we're doomed, then we're doomed. But if people band together and work to make a better future, then we're not doomed. It's a matter of collective willpower.