Existential Questions on the Future of Work (Part 1: People & Civilization)

6 min readSep 4, 2017

One focus of my job is to transform how complex products are designed and built by harnessing newly abundant and affordable computer technology. As I look to the future from this vantage, I am convinced it will not be possible for my children to experience what we presently consider a career. We talk not about what they want to be, but the many things they can be. One constant ahead will be change and at minimum we must think about the tools people will need in that future of work.

The thoughts that follow in these writings intend to stimulate discussion around questions we already face or will likely confront within our lifetimes.

If work provides social order and affords human beings identity and purpose in life, what might be the socio-economic impact of labor over-abundance due to advances in automation technology?
Do our systems now place greater importance on the interests of institutions than on the well-being and advancement of humanity?
Who are the “Makers” and “Takers” and how are rewards, incentives, liabilities and penalties structured to promote human civilization?

Considering these questions in turn leads to further existential questions for our governments, our companies and for people as a whole:
Part 1: People & Civilization
Part 2: Institutions & Economics
Part 3: Technology & Automation
Part 4: Makers & Takers
Part 5: Values & Questions

Acknowledgements include (links provided throughout):
Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson (sequence of books on topic),
Ryan Avent: The Wealth of Humans,
Heather McGowan (starting with Jobs Are Over) and
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Player Piano.

From Individuals to Civilization

At the dawn of the human species, our first organizations were composed of individuals seeking to better survive and overcome fear and hunger.

We have become familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a potential formalism for the maturation of the human condition. Each individual initially first sought to satisfy as best he or she could being safe, comfortable and healthy — with access to food, water and shelter.

By way of families to extended families to tribes to villages, individuals and their community mutually provide for each other. This includes when very young and very old, when sick or injured and in mustering combined resources against greater hardships (such as natural disasters).

The development of friendships & family are reinforced by feelings of love and belonging, further advancing the progression up Maslow’s hierarchy. The voice of Mother Culture is indeed “so pervasive we don’t even hear it anymore, but it informs every moment of our lives” — and many of us raised in the Puritan Work Ethic feel the need to toil, to earn, to sacrifice before reward in the fiber of our being. So much so that we impose guilt on ourselves and loved ones when not investing in labor.

Consequently, a perspective of “Makers vs. Takers” is deeply ingrained into ancient value systems. Cultural Work Ethic emerges as tribal norms for community survival — to the point of imposing societal penalties on freeloaders, including apathy for misfortune or explicit punishment for drawing from the efforts of others while insufficiently contributing. These may even be encoded into tribal law. Mother Culture is telling us: “Devote yourself to your work/job/career first, or you will suffer either the indignity of others providing you such charity or the struggle of poverty.”

Dignity = “I earn my place in the community”

Human aptitude for learning & adaptation results in the development of tools and know-how (building, agriculture, textiles, cooking,etc.) Trade becomes a means of enabling specialization & sharing overall roles through the Barter of goods and services: I cook, you hunt, he builds, she makes tools. Occupations arising from specialization compose the roles individuals take in their community. To appreciate the significance of these roles in defining personal Identity, simply consider surnames such as Smith, Miller, Baker or Tailor.

Purpose = “why I am here” — derived from Identity and bestowing Esteem

Occupation-driven innovation advances tools and systems to improve on mankind’s capability & efficiency to extract & utilize energy and matter from the world around us. These are harnessed even further as shared practices and technological advances develop machines and systems to fulfill the growing needs of a successful community. Civilization results from the prosperity of the community. Hallmarks of a civilization include celebration of individual and group works of science, engineering, art, music, storytelling, etc. contributing to sense of pride for the individual and groups — contributing to the definition of culture.

Pride = “satisfaction from doing” (and/or receiving admiration)

Paying occupations, although essential, are not the only element of our lives and we individually seek to balance our obligations to earn a living with obligations and longing to:

raise (properly feed, educate, exercise, love) children
care for the elderly, sick, handicapped, mentally ill
pursue personal interests — like entertainment, hobbies & play
explore new ideas & make new art: visual, music, stories, etc.

How might dedicating our time to such activities be sufficiently valued by society as a whole to tolerate absence from the “respectable grindstone of work” to earn the wages to support our basic needs and afford reasonable wants? We hold similar obligations and goals as a society to obtain, sustain and improve:

Environment: Clean, Safe, Biodiverse, Comfortable, …
Public Infrastructure: Roads/Rails, Bridges/Tunnels, Ports/Airports, Water, Waste, Energy, Telecom, Schools, Markets, …
Public Safety Services: Law Enforcement, Emergency Response, Medical/Pharma, Disease/Food Supply, Military Defense…
Pursuit of Justice: Courts, Judges, Attorneys General, Public Defenders, Forensics, Criminal Investigators, Trade/Commerce…
Pursuit of Discovery: Medicine, Science, Engineering, …

Human beings regard Dignity, Purpose and Pride as foundational components for an individual to feel fulfilled in society. While activities not associated with “professional work” (such as raising children or being an exceptional chess player) may also provide satisfaction, these expectations underlie fundamental assumptions about what people should be doing . Assumptions that drive not only individual behaviors, but collective behaviors in economics and politics.