Income Disparity in the Face of Labor Displacement by Technology

Or

What Happens When/If There Aren’t Any Jobs Left for People?

In his essay, “Manna”, Marshall Brain presents two very different scenarios for society in a “post jobs” era. Both scenarios share one important theme: The “post jobs” era doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to develop. That time can be used to continue down the “jobs = resources” path that defines the lion’s share of today’s economy. Or it can be used to define a new path that allocates resources to the world’s citizens even when they do not need to work.

1. Briefly describe a “post jobs” economy that you would like to see develop. You may describe something like Terrafoam or something like the Australia Project or something completely different.

2. What would we have to start doing in the near future in order to make the economy you describe in question 1 happen.

3. If we stick our heads in the sand and do nothing about this issue for the next few decades, what do you think is likely to happen? Why?

You should be able sketch answers to all these questions in 1 or 2 pages.