General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We must do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. [View all]tkmorris
(11,138 posts)Actually no there isn't always a street to be swept. The cleaning of public streets used to employ hundreds in a fair sized city as it was strictly manual labor. Now, streetsweeping machinery means one person can do the work that formerly took a dozen or more.
This phenomena has been increasing productivity and eliminating jobs for decades, and really we're just getting started. 3D printing and it's assorted applications to manufacturing is just getting started for example, and that alone will eliminate literally MILLIONS of jobs across the globe. Software algorithims are replacing expert consultants and analysts in a wide variety of industries. Even fast food restaurants are becoming more automated.
On the whole I agree with you that "No one gets to sit on their ass all day because they want to", however finding useful things for everyone to do to avoid that is going to be a huge problem that will only ever get worse with time.