Artificial intelligence: Elon Musk’s words about a world without work are appreciated

Oscar Wilde saw hard work as a “refuge” for those with nothing else to do, while he envisioned a society of “cultivated leisure” in which machines would perform necessary and unpleasant tasks, writes The Guardian, commenting on Elon Musk’s remarks about that AI will allow the world to eliminate the need to work.

Karl Marx’s dream was a state-regulated common production that would allow freed workers to “hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, raise cattle in the evening, criticize in the afternoon” without being tied to one job.

19th-century socialist activist William Morris advocated for more enjoyable work, believing that once the profit motive disappeared from the factory, less necessary labor would lead to a four-hour workday.

So Elon Musk’s suggestion to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that society could reach a point where “work is unnecessary” and “you can do the work if you want… but artificial intelligence will do everything” is reigniting the debate. on the issue of how we work, which has been discussed for a long time.

However, experts doubt that a world without work may be more dystopian than utopian.

“It’s an old, old story that never actually happened,” said Tom Hodgkinson, co-founder of Idler magazine, which has been a platform for exploring work and leisure issues for three decades.

“There was a poem in ancient Greece that said, “Isn’t it wonderful that we invented the water mill so we wouldn’t have to grind corn anymore? From now on, women can sit back all day and do nothing.” It’s kind of a recurring idea.

“People like Bertrand Russell talked about this in the 1930s. What would we do without work? One point of view is that people wouldn’t know what to do… That they would just sit and watch daytime TV or porn all day.”

In fact, by having more free time, such as on holiday during Covid, “they are starting to live better,” says Hodgkinson. “They form neighborhood groups, do more gardening, clean the house, spend more time with family, do art, play music, write poetry, all the things that are part of what I would call a good life.”

Despite this, he said, research has shown that paid work is good for mental health, status and identity.

“I think we need to do some work. We must move towards a shorter workweek and a more leisure-rich society,” argues Hodgkinson, adding that it will take a radical overhaul of our economic and education models to eliminate work on the scale Musk has predicted.

One significant 2019 study led by Brendan Burchell, professor of social sciences and former president of Magdalen College, Cambridge, found that eight hours of paid work per week was optimal in terms of mental health benefits, and that no additional benefits accrued subsequently did not have.

Leaving aside “horrible jobs that really stress you out,” Burchell said “your regular job is good for you” in terms of social interaction, teamwork, structure and a sense of identity.

A world without work “is a terrible idea of ​​what society would look like for a variety of reasons and also in terms of people’s mental health,” the professor notes.

The labor market, as the way money is distributed throughout the economy, needs to be transformed, as does the education system, “to teach people to fill their days by writing poetry or going fishing or whatever, instead of going to a factory or an office,” – continues Burchell.

The move to shorter working hours has been shown to bring “huge benefits to people,” Burchell said, but added: “If we move to a society where many people are completely excluded from the labor market, then I’m very worried that it will be a very bleak future.” .

In his book Making Work Easy: The End of Hard Work in the 21st Century, David Spencer, professor of economics at the University of Leeds, also makes the case for reducing work, but not eliminating it. “It would potentially take away from what we value in work,” he said, referring to community entrepreneurship, personal relationships and skill development.

So, in essence, we would be a poorer, sadder, less skilled society. “Yes, there will be some losses due to job losses,” Spencer said. “I understand that not all work is good. Therefore, we must automate the hard work, strive to use artificial intelligence to reduce the burden of work, and therefore keep the work that is good.”

David Spencer takes inspiration from Morris, who talked about bringing joy to work. “Good work is good work and plays an important role in creating a better society,” Spencer said. “We must use technology to create less and perform better. In this sense, the future can be truly positive.

This was, he added, the future envisioned by “Oscar Wilde, William Morris and a host of positive-thinking utopians, where technology makes work easier. It doesn’t take away the work—it brings light to the work.”