Automation and Achieving a Higher Calling

Let’s talk about automation and (not to sound like some kind of propaganda flyer) what it can do for you.

First, a quick tangent.

Creation and Automation

I personally believe creation–by which I mean engaging with art (in all its forms), either generating or consuming it–is humanity’s highest calling. What are we here for if not to create? That will of course look different for different people, but fundamentally, I believe that the purpose of society should be to fulfill all basic needs so that people are free to engage in this higher calling.

Whatever art means to you, you should be able to indulge it

https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/why-creating-art-for-a-specific-audience-benefits-your-business

And that’s where we get into automation. You see, I think automation sounds wonderful. There are so many difficult, back-breaking jobs that could be filled by automation. Theoretically (and ideally), that should mean freeing up those workers to pursue what they want.

An Automated Utopia

Karl Marx envisioned much the same. He believed that automation should reduce “necessary labor time”. He believed in a future in which it is “possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.”

I’m right there with him. Why shouldn’t we be able to use our free time to explore whatever interests us?

… And a Sobering Reality

But in America? It would almost certainly be a death sentence.

And why is that? Well, frankly, because we live in a capitalist society. A society in which the highest calling is not creation, but to throw yourself into the system and labor until you no longer can.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/177vapg/corporate_america_work_until_you_die/

So, the next time you hear some fear-mongering about automation, about how it’s going to replace all our jobs and leave us destitute, consider what it could mean. Because it could mean something great–if only we built a society in which we could let it. John Danaher’s 2019 book Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World without Work is just one imagining of such a world. What do you think it would look like? What would you do if you could pursue anything you wanted? Regardless of your answer, I believe it’s a worthy goal for our future. So, let’s embrace automation–as long as we provide for everyone’s basic needs.