IBM is somewhere on the leading edge of this revolution with Watson, and here’s an article looking at the economics of that. But the particulars of the economics of Watson don’t matter. Watson and similar are busy working on their resumes, and you can be certain they’ll look vastly more impressive than yours.

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And someday (apparently it will be after the election) we will be having a discussion about building an economy that reflects this new reality. Ordinary supply and demand was fine in its day, but it’s about as relevant now as horses are to transportation.

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What will the new economy look like? Nobody knows, but anyone is permitted to guess. And here’s my guess. Fewer working hours per year for most people, and maybe radically fewer. A lower birthrate, and maybe a lot lower. More education, but as a cultural good as much as for job training. More federal involvement in organizing the brilliant robots to do and make things for people who aren’t necessarily earning a lot of money, because people will be increasingly superfluous to traditional production. An economy that is oriented to restoring natural ecosystems rather than continuing to destroy them. An economy that is focused on fulfilling human spirits, rather than draining them dry. This is where we are heading., and it can be a great new phase in human existence.