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Infuturology,political science, andscience fiction, apost-work society is asociety in which the nature ofwork has been radically transformed and traditionalemployment has largely become obsolete due totechnological progress.[1]
Some post-work theorists imagine the completeautomation of all jobs, or at leastthe takeover of all monotonous, rule-based, predictable and repetitive (and thus unworthy of humans) tasks in the future by ultimately cheaper, faster, more efficient, more reliable and more accurateintelligent machines.[2][3] Additionally, these machines can work in harsher conditions and for longer periods of time without stopping than humans,[4] which is expected to lead to a transition period of rapideconomic growth, despite high rates of ever-increasing humanunemployment.[5] Overall, this development is expected to lead to an enormous increase in prosperity, provided that the wealth is redistributed.[6][7]
Future directions include the reshaping of the human role in the workplace, stressing the relative strengths of humans capable of adapting and integrating technology into their work and interaction.[8] In addition to these capabilities, scholars emphasize the importance of humans taking advantage of these relative strengths, offering several areas which humans can remain competent in a rapidly developing workplace. These include emotional intelligence, service orientation, resource management skills, communication skills, and entrepreneurship skills.[9]
Scholarly literature defines such areas where machines may surpass humans as "task encroachment".[10] "Task encroachment" presents an issue of growing encroachment of AI and automation into human work, especially in manual and cognitive tasks. It is estimated that approximately 40% of all working hours will be affected by AI models.[11] It has been proposed for humanity to pivot towards roles that requireemotional intelligence andinterpersonal skills, assumed to be more uniquely humans. However, studies show that in some contexts, modernchatbots generate answers that are rated as more empathetic and qualitative than human ones.[12][13]
Some theories of a post-work society focus on challenging the priority of thework ethic, and on the celebration of nonwork activities.[14] These theories also underscore the importance of developing community-based activities and self-improvement programs to fill the void left by traditional labor structures.
Near-term practical proposals closely associated with post-work theory include the implementation of auniversal basic income,[15][16] as well as the reduction ofthe length of aworking day and the number of days of aworking week. Increased focus on what post-work society would look like has been driven by reports such as one in 2018 that states 47% of jobs in the United States could be automated.[17] Because of increasing automation and the low price of maintaining an automated workforce compared to one dependent on human labor, it has been suggested that post-work societies would also be ones ofpost-scarcity.[18][19]
According toNick Bostrom, advanced artificial intelligence has the potential to not only automate jobs and create abundance, but also undermine the purpose of many leisure activities, such as shopping, gardening, or even parenting.[20]