R.U.R. response 1

One of the topics that the play Rossum's Universal Robots brings up is the idea that machines may make most of our jobs obsolete and will lower the costs of production for most industries to close to 0, and work will then become optional. In some areas, this has already happened in real life, a good example is factory farms: whereas 50% of the population used to work on farms, now that number is below 5%. At the same time, the prices of basic food items have dropped drastically. Now some stores are even starting to have automated checkout. The only jobs that aren't at risk are those requiring creativity, but artificial intelligence is advancing quickly. Will the end of work be a positive thing? I'm not entirely sure. Some imagine a society where everyone invests their energy in becoming cultured and spiritually advanced, but I think its likely that the majority of the population will just indulge endlessly in drugs, entertainment etc, not having any real direction in their lives. Everyone that I know who retires or becomes unemployed for a long period of time ending up feeling like there's a big gap in their life, with no way to fill it.