re: #362 lostlakehiker

The ones whose work cannot be automated will, for some time yet to come if not indefinitely, include scientists, authors, stars of the performing arts, and athletes. There is really no way that these people can do their work at all unless they do it full bore.

Various sci-fi authors have tried out solutions, in thought-experiment form. Larry Niven’s projection is a world in which people are free to pretty much not lift a finger, and are assured a “living wage” albeit quite modest. But you only get two birthrights for free. If you want a large family, you have to find a way to make a big contribution to society.

Just carrying a gene that confers, say, immunity to heart disease would qualify you, (the gene exists, confined to one little village in Italy), but mostly you’d need to actually do something.

David Brin’s Uplift War had all citizens follow strict guidelines about with whom they could have children with based off of both genetics and contributions to society.