There are literally countless number of things that could be done to help our fellow humans and/or the planet, if people had the time and inclination.And I expect the inclination would develop if people weren't worried about putting a roof over their heads or food in their family's bellies. Would everyone help? No? Does that matter? No. When it switches from "I have to work to feed myself,why shouldn't he?" to"I'm helping clean up the environment, he's wasting his life,too bad for him" jealousy "free" work will bloom.

"The same technology that renders humans useless might also make it feasible to feed and support the unemployable masses through some scheme of universal basic income. The real problem will then be to keep the masses occupied and content. People must engage in purposeful activities, or they go crazy. So what will the useless class do all day?"

The assumption must be that people cannot "engage in purposeful activities" unless they are engaged in some sort of organized labor. I am retired and I keep busy and I don't feel like I'm involved in useless activities all day. People are essentially and I think necessarily productive. I have always enjoyed setting goals and achieving them, and I think the future will be amazing.

So PPTHHPTHPFFTHPPPT to Yuval Noah Harari

Instead of being tricked/forced into the Matrix, we are lining up to get in. But I guess we always were. (There are religious folks now whose contribution to society is next to nothing, but are paid anyway.)

I thought the article was going to talk about storytelling, lol. How much money have we thrown at movies, books, tv, etc, that ended up giving us no entertainment and nothing new to learn? (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace made over $1 billion dollars world-wide, and 20 years later...can anyone, anywhere seriously claim it is a "good" movie on any level? We marched out to see it out of religious devotion to the original trilogy and a near 20 year anticipation.)

I do think the less interaction we have with each other in "real life" or "meat space", the easier it will be to dehumanize each other, be cruel to each other, lie about each other, and abuse each other emotionally, psychologically, and eventually physically if we ever leave our houses again.

I also think there is a connection between labeling people a "useless class", and hinting that jobs that REQUIRE human interaction to be effective are also useless. We are redefining the human experience to serve an economy, rather than redefining the economy to serve human experience. There may be cheaper ways to write humans out of the future of teaching, medicine, care giving, policing, etc., but how will we feel about the meaning of being human and alive if we know that none of those machines/computers replacing those jobs really cares whether we learn or not, live or not, die or not?

And at what point do all humans become useless to the overall economy, and what will replace the people? Corporations that are "people"? Robots that are "people"? Sectors of the economy that trade with each other?

A lot of people point to the science fiction genre as a precursor to future events and technologies. Much of what is described in science fiction stories becomes a science fact at some point after wtitten.

Science fiction, cinema and written has attempted to tackle the problem outlined in the article. Some very dark and bleak, some more uplifting and optimimisric. The truth most likely exists somewhere in-between of coarse.

Here's the question that occurs to me. It seems that humans seek validation for there existent through work (exceptions exist of course). Is this a necessity for the species? That is to say, an innate need for an avenue for the species to direct their ability for abstract manipulation (intellectual or tactile).

Or is the need to work simply cultural. A shared learned value that serves to provide basic subsistance for survival or a mechanism for filling time.

So flash forward, a world where the majority of work is accomplished by robots. What happens to the human need for validating their existance? Where do they put that energy, that need (cultural or innate)? I suggest we look to the science fiction writers and cinema for potential answers. Some lucky (tongue in cheek) author or screen writer goingvbe anmble to look back and say, "Told you". Lol