Who will be identified as those in the “useless class?” You read that correctly.
A Guardian article a few weeks ago examining technology entitled, “The meaning of life in a world without work,” used this terminology. Anticipating a group of people, by 2050, who are not only unemployed but also unemployable, the author, Yuval Noah Harari, who lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote about a world where algorithms and robotics render most jobs obsolete.
Specifically, Harari declares, “The crucial problem isn’t creating new jobs. The crucial problem is creating new jobs that humans perform better than algorithms.” The piece posits the future task will be to “keep the masses occupied and content” to “engage in purposeful activities” in this widespread state of unemployment.
The discussion included the need for some type of “universal basic income” or welfare. It also explored the parallel of teenage boys who don’t work and live happily with minimal needs in a virtual world of gaming to deeply devout men of orthodox religions who don’t work, are dependent upon government sustenance and are content living immersed in a daily routine of ritual without work.
Robin Smith
But, let’s reject this “useless class” premise. Instead, let’s understand who will be the “useful class” for sake of argument.