Work is “optional” and irrelevant money: Musk’s creepy utopian dream
Elon Musk is once again predicting a future that sounds more like Isaac Asimov s idea of Speaking at the U S -Saudi Venture Forum this week Musk claimed that rapid advances in artificial intelligence and humanoid robots will make human labor optional within years and that money will stop being relevant at chosen point in the future Musk argued that AI-powered robots including Tesla s Optimus prototype will eventually handle all the work that necessities to be done leaving humans to focus only on hobbies or creative pursuits He compared this hypothetical world to Iain M Banks sci-fi Practices novels where abundance is so extreme that traditional economies disappear But Musk s comments raised more questions than answers If money becomes irrelevant what replaces it And how would people access essential services like healthcare training transportation that don t function like growing vegetables his analogy for voluntary hobby-based work Analysts and economists fleetly pointed out that Musk didn t offer any plan for how society would transition to this post-work post-currency model or how such a system would be governed Experts also noted that extreme automation could concentrate wealth further not eliminate it unless governments enact aggressive redistribution or universal basic income systems Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Class Others focused on the unsettling idea of near-total robotic labor As one tech researcher reported Fortune Musk s scenario would require a level of robotics dominance that brings more risks than benefits echoing classic sci-fi fears about machines overtaking human roles For now Musk s predictions remain speculative But they highlight a widening gap between Silicon Valley s utopian automation fantasies and real-world questions about inequality access and who controls the future of work Read more about this topic Elon Musk company accused of nearly environmental violations Tesla s futuristic diner fizzles Incredible blunders Cybertruck recall shows same slapdash approach Musk brings to DOGE The post Work is optional and irrelevant money Musk s creepy utopian dream appeared first on Salon com
