Derek Thompson for the Atlantic discusses a possible future with a much reduced workforce due to technology.

Now, it has been the case that every time in the past, when people have predicted that technology would reduce the number of jobs, they were wrong—it’s just that the jobs shifted to things previously unknown. I’m not willing to fully lay bets that the rapid computerization of blue-collar jobs won’t do similar; who knows what other jobs or economies might develop?

But I do think it is very much worth considering: what does our world look like when only ten percent of the population needs to work to produce enough everything for everyone?

I’m not sure I agree with all the proposals Thompson gives (nor all of the assumptions that seem to underlie them), but I welcome the discussion.