Let’s take a look at what I believe our society will become in the next few hundred years, when we see computers and robots take over human jobs.

Before I talk about what our future holds, let’s take a quick look at the past: the industrial revolution. In the second half of the 18th century, the world saw a huge rise in technology in manufacturing and industry. A consequence of this was the rise to domination of our modern economic structure, capitalism. Workers, who at one time could only contribute as much as their feeble hands could produce, were now aided by machines of all sizes and functions. The per capita GDP spiked:

The industrial revolution really secured that idea that money and individual worth should be assigned based on the ability to work, or more generally to contribute to our economic structure. People became rich beyond comprehension (e.g. Vanderbilt, Rockefeller), but most people earned a living harnessing the power of machinery. Communism and socialism saw their demise, as a few poor economic and political decisions, along with the massive gains capitalism enjoyed, gave reason for change.

Things are starting to look a little different. The wheels of change are in motion. One of the most obvious places we can see automation taking hold is in the automobile factories that were once an icon for labor. Robots have replaced virtually all of the low-skill jobs that once dominated the industry. Bank tellers are being slowly phased out with ATMs. Physical mail is irrelevant with the rise of e-mail. The question we should be asking now is, what other jobs can robots and computers do? All of them? If so, where will that leave us?

It’s an alluring and magnificent future – allow me to paint a picture of what it could look like. A future where an individual’s worth won’t be based on their job (that they hate). In fact, most people won’t even have jobs – the vast majority of them have been automated away. Self driving cars and trucks, robots, computers, artificial intelligence have all been generating goods and wealth without the need for humans. Wealth – of which there is plenty – is spread relatively evenly. The average person lives an incredible life, aided by automation. You can travel anywhere in the world at will. Capitalism, laboring, working hard and earning an honest dollar, which was a great system for a long time, no longer has much of an incentive. If you could be rich by any time-period’s standard, why bother laboring for other people’s gains? Instead, people will find what makes them really happy, pursue the arts and craftsmanship. Education will be important, but people will learn what they want to and have a passion for, not necessarily what will make them money. People will explore the world and beyond – out of curiosity and the want to contribute to society’s future. It’s a utopia, and automation has brought us there.

However, people are resistant to change, and the road to utopia is steep and uphill. Before we reach a Utopian future of automation, what has to happen? Well, for one capitalism will see it’s end. Capitalism thrives on the ability to work, or contribute to the economy. The problem is – if all of the jobs – both low and high skilled are replaced via automation, nobody will be able to earn a living based on labor. The overall wealth of society – even the per capita GDP will increase dramatically, but most of everyone will be out of work. This will create a wealth gap the likes of which have never been seen. The last people to hold jobs – business owners, programmers, therapists, entertainers and athletes, to name a few, will hold all of the new wealth generated by automation. There will have to be a revolution. The people who have seen their jobs, along with their livelihoods, pushed aside by computers and machines that can outperform them in every way, will have to stand up and demand a share of the newly generated wealth. We just have to hope that the revolution won’t be violent and destructive. But how else do revolutions happen?

What sort of economic structure will exist in the future? If capitalism can’t work in a future where virtually nobody works, what sort of system will we use to assign value to people? I believe it will be a centrism, a golden mean between communism and capitalism. The sharp increase in per capita GDP means that everyone can be supported by a generous living wage. People also have the opportunity to earn more on top of that, based on their contributions to the arts, entertainment, sciences, education, or the maintenance of our automated system. “But who will decide who gets what if it’s not decided by their contribution to the economy?” Well, we’ve automated everything else, I’m sure we can write a program to do that as well.

People who are genuinely curious, intelligent and want to contribute will have an economic incentive to do so. People who want to simply live off of the creations of their ancestors – the machines and computer programs that run society – can do just that. Everyone will be happy, rich, healthy, educated and civil. This is my dream for a perfect future.

Other predictions I have for the future:

Self driving cars and trucks, as well as container ships, airplanes, basically every form of transportation will be one of the first sectors to be automated. Roads will be extremely safe when human error is removed from the equation.

Agriculture will be automated quickly as well. No need for farmers, machines will be able to do all of their work much more efficiently.

English will become a global language.

Political borders will become obsolete, we will have one global nation.

Religion will slowly fade out as education and access to information rises.

Standard of living will increase dramatically.