I remember when I was a lad (I'm middle aged now) watching TV programs and reading stuff, where there was this idea that:
"In the future we'll all live a life of luxury. Computers and automation will do everything for us."
It is total bollockz though (with a z here and not an s because, well, that would make it a profanity ;-)). I think most people work longer hours now, and are more stressed, than they were 20 or 30 years ago.
So what went wrong?
The problem is the constant desire for more. Yes, you can automate stuff, computerize stuff, but someone has to look after the automations and computers, and this frees up other possibilities, and the "elites" (do the "elites" really exist!?) of course don't want people to be enjoying a life of luxury (that is for them), no, everyone must be working and earning money, and growing the economy (built on mountains of manufactured out of thin air money) to make the "elites" yet more and more powerful than the average person.
So whilst computers and automation (and maybe in the future robots and androids), have taken a lot of work away, more work has been introduced than has been lost to computers and automation. And there is no such thing as a free-ride.
Will we just get busier and busier and busier, or will the 4-day week proponents win the battle to make a much better work/life balance?
Personally, I'd love to just work 3 days a week, but I cannot afford to do this. Having said that, sometimes I would happily work 7 days a week if I am really interested in what I am doing (and then it is more like play than work). And often I volunteer for overtime, so end up not working my normal 5 day week, but more like a 6 or 7 day week, because I want extra money to spend on crap I don't really need, or I simply think "I can either sit at home earning no money, or I can go out and earn some cash - let's earn some cash", and that thinking all comes down to the idea the productivity = making some money (this is not so.)
Anyway, end of rant on the bollockz of futurists predicting "we'll all be living a life of luxury in the future" - they are full of crap!
And I'll go back to doing my 60+ hours a week!
Image: The future is the most expensive luxury in the world - Thornton Wilder
