I think the part that blows my mind is “who will pay for your product if no one has a job or money?” Part. It’s like they’re so stupidly blinded by their greed they can’t put it together
It’s so much worse than that. The top 10% are already currently responsible for the absolute majority of all goods and services consumed in the country. Just imagine that share growing and growing. And imagine that 10% number shrinking. The people who own the bots and all the natural resources trade bot-produced goods and services to each other. Industrial civilization continues on, but only producing goods and services for the top few percent of the population. Everyone else becomes homeless, completely shut out of the economy. Rebellion is suppressed by robotic security forces and automated mass produced propaganda. What little employment does remain are roles that the wealthy would prefer an actual human perform, like childcare, sex work, and child sex work.
Alternatively, if they’re feeling generous or not confident in robot security guards, the wealthy will take the approach used in Manna by the late great Marshall Brain. There, the wealthy owners of the robots don’t let people starve. The wealthy in the US build giant cheap government dormitories, enough to house hundreds of millions. They’re built, maintained, cleaned, etc entirely automatically. Food is produced in automated kitchens, and plenty of AI slop entertainment is available to occupy the time of residents. Vagrancy laws are harshly enforced. So if you don’t have employment or independent wealth, you’re forced to live in one of these vast human warehouses. Imagine college dorm rooms. Imagine sharing a space that size with someone indefinitely. And imagine a single building with a hundred thousand people living in spaces that size, all in tiny windowless rooms. That was the standard of living. Or really, a clean well-maintained prison cell. The rich threw the poor into vast complexes of cheaply built and run government dormitories. And you were only allowed to leave if you could prove an offer of employment or if someone on the outside was willing to accept financial responsibility for you.
And birth control was added to the food supply. So the wealthy didn’t plan on having to maintain this state forever.
It’s so much worse than that. The top 10% are already currently responsible for the absolute majority of all goods and services consumed in the country. Just imagine that share growing and growing. And imagine that 10% number shrinking. The people who own the bots and all the natural resources trade bot-produced goods and services to each other. Industrial civilization continues on, but only producing goods and services for the top few percent of the population. Everyone else becomes homeless, completely shut out of the economy. Rebellion is suppressed by robotic security forces and automated mass produced propaganda. What little employment does remain are roles that the wealthy would prefer an actual human perform, like childcare, sex work, and child sex work.
Alternatively, if they’re feeling generous or not confident in robot security guards, the wealthy will take the approach used in Manna by the late great Marshall Brain. There, the wealthy owners of the robots don’t let people starve. The wealthy in the US build giant cheap government dormitories, enough to house hundreds of millions. They’re built, maintained, cleaned, etc entirely automatically. Food is produced in automated kitchens, and plenty of AI slop entertainment is available to occupy the time of residents. Vagrancy laws are harshly enforced. So if you don’t have employment or independent wealth, you’re forced to live in one of these vast human warehouses. Imagine college dorm rooms. Imagine sharing a space that size with someone indefinitely. And imagine a single building with a hundred thousand people living in spaces that size, all in tiny windowless rooms. That was the standard of living. Or really, a clean well-maintained prison cell. The rich threw the poor into vast complexes of cheaply built and run government dormitories. And you were only allowed to leave if you could prove an offer of employment or if someone on the outside was willing to accept financial responsibility for you.
And birth control was added to the food supply. So the wealthy didn’t plan on having to maintain this state forever.