“When Aristotle described “the complete happiness of man”, he thought it would include, among other things, “self-sufficiency, leisureliness and unweariedness”.”
“Unfortunately the philosopher concluded that “such a life would be too high for man” – it was suitable only for the gods. All the same, he encouraged humanity to keep striving to get as close to “complete happiness” as possible.”
“I reckon he’d be proud of where we’ve got. Today, the fourth industrial revolution – which ranges from artificial intelligence to genetic engineering and automation – promises almost total freedom from weariness and uninterrupted leisure time as demands of work are taken away from us by better, cheaper and more efficient artificial technology.”
“The robots are coming and apparently they’re here to work.”
“But will all the free time we’re being promised actually make our lives any better? Is a life without work one we’d actually want to live?”
“The obvious answer is that we don’t only work for income, we do it because it adds meaning to our lives and gives a sense of purpose. Even though I insist I wouldn’t work if I struck it rich, what I mean is that I’d choose the type of work I would do and how often I’d do it. For instance, I would still write and give talks on subjects I’m passionate about.”
“It’s not necessarily because “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”. Writing, preparing talks and doing research are all work but it’s work I think is worth doing and the financial wealth would mean I could balance it with everything else I value in life. To put it simply, I’d do it because it would bring me closer to Aristotle’s “complete happiness”.”
“roles – it’s going to replace entire industries. Experts say 47% of jobs in America are likely to be replaced by robots and other automated processes and researchers reckon the situation is likely to be similar in Australia.”
“There are almost undoubtedly people who find purpose or pleasure in the work they do and will not be happier having their jobs replaced. But automation looks likely to capture the satisfied and dissatisfied alike across a range of industries – cabbies, surgeons, accountants, artists – the list goes on.”
“This paints a compelling picture: CS Lewis once described friendship, philosophy and art as being meaningful precisely because they were unnecessary and had no survival value. They were, instead, “things which give value to survival”. If the fourth industrial revolution is able to help people focus on those things that give our lives value, robotic workers almost present as a moral imperative.”
“we don’t know if people will be able to see their lives as meaningful without work. Even if automation provides people with the opportunity to find purpose elsewhere, it’s not clear whether we’ll be ready or able to conceive of a life of meaning which is totally disconnected from work.”
“This concern was raised by Hannah Arendt in her influential work The Human Condition. Decades ago, Arendt predicted that the rise of automation would mean humanity would be “liberated from its oldest and most natural burden, the burden of labouring”. For her, this wasn’t something to celebrate. She feared that a variety of economic forces had effectively changed the way people saw themselves so that it was their labour that defined them.”
“Given the central role work plays in psychological wellbeing – unemployed people report feeling less satisfied with their lives than those who have jobs – it seems Arendt might have been on to something.”
“Given the strong connection people make between their work, identity and sense of meaning, Arendt was concerned about the implications of automation on their lives. She believed “nothing could be worse” than being told meaning could only be found in a certain thing – like work – and then having that source of meaning taken away.”
“Paul Dolan makes a similar argument. He suggests there’s no such thing as an objectively pleasurable or meaningful activity; rather, each individual defines what purpose and pleasure mean for themselves.”
“Automation might not make us all lazy and apathetic – as I’ve already said, there are other meaningful and purposeful activities that can fill the void of work. But the general shift away from human labour and toward a robotic equivalent might have consequences for those humans still engaged in work.”
“While we’re all workers, it’s easy to remember the importance of work to be dignified, safe and fairly compensated – our shared experience of work creates a solidarity between one another.”
“Once work is performed by robots – to whom we don’t (and shouldn’t) assign the same moral rights as we do humans – the associations we have between work and dignity are less easily recognised.”
“Our bond of solidarity to fellow workers is broken. For this reason and many others – like the rise of the gig economy – the dignity and rights of workers needs to continue to be a centrepiece of our conversations about the future of work.”
“How we approach automation, the lines we draw and the principles we use to govern our decision-making need to be shaped by a clear sense of purpose – the same is true for the entire fourth industrial revolution. If all we seek is a state of decreased labour, increased innovation or more progressive ways of living, all we have to do is wait. But there’s no guarantee we’ll like what we get.”