Employment in the Automation Era: Forced Labor is Dystopian
mhutter42 · x · 2026-07-29
The author shares in-depth views on employment and economic distribution in a highly automated society:
- Unemployment is a feature, not a bug: Full employment isn't the primary goal of an economy; providing a decent standard of living is.
- Forced employment is dystopian: Artificially maintaining full employment in automation traps humans in low-paying hyper-competition and socially wasteful (BS) jobs.
- UBI is economically affordable: It can be financed directly or indirectly via automation taxes, luxury taxes, land taxes, etc., even cost-neutrally.
- Alternative safety nets are inferior: Conditional welfare and job guarantees re-introduce surveillance and conditionality.
- Meaning exists beyond employment: The psychological need for traditional employment is a product of modern cultural conditioning; humans naturally find purpose in family, community, and learning.
Related event: Rethinking Employment in the Automation Era(3 posts)→
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