As society and the technological landscape progress more and more towards autonomy, automation, and artificial intelligence assistance, we see the overall productivity rise, but the role of human labour diminishes. According to a study by the World Economic Forum, by 2025, over half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines. As lower-skilled jobs are replaced by robots, which started at the turn of the Industrial Revolution, causing the workforce to retrain and be displaced.
With the industrialisation of production and the start of technical displacement, we saw the emergence of higher-paid jobs, a highly educated and skilled workforce, and the rapid growth of the creative & administrative sectors. Bringing with it a higher standard of life. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, this transition has contributed to a significant increase in GDP per capita in many countries.
Though there is only so far we can progress automation until it doesn't require humans in or on the loop. But you may say, this is a natural progression of the workforce and that it just requires people to retrain and reapply themselves, as before. But unlike the past 200 years, we find the level and intelligence of automation to be outpacing a human workforce.
This isn't inherently negative; we needn't adhere to a model where long work hours are required for survival. The reduction of the need to work will start to bring around a new human utopia and should start to create a more equal and even society. - This is where Capitalism breaks.
I am not saying that capitalism is a bad thing; it has been the catalyst for unprecedented growth, innovation, and human technical exploration for the past century. But with it comes a bunch of inherent downsides. These are by-products of how humans interpret and game the system and the methods in which it rewards participants; -
- It encourages the buildup and hoarding of wealth in central places. According to Oxfam, the richest 1% of the world's population currently holds more wealth than the rest of the world combined, creating massive separation in society.
- It rewards wealth with wealth. Thus increasing the incentivization for wealthy entities to hold and store and not redistribute into the economy.
- It is easy for bad parties to game and cheat the system. From offshoring to Ponzi schemes and stock manipulation, investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission have shown that it is easy to hide and manipulate money and ownership, adding to the wealth divide and removal from the general economy.
- Self-serving regulatory. Governmental regulation is built and pushed forth by self-serving capitalists who keep the status quo of rewarding wealth with wealth.
As automation displaces a broader spectrum of the workforce, including the highly educated, administrative, and managerial roles, this system of wealth monopoly, private centralisation, and inequality risks leaving many behind.
While I may not have all the answers, It is obvious that straight communism or socialism would not be successful let alone entertained as a progression of capitalism. However, there are elements that should be looked at, to allow for a globally reduced workforce while bringing a higher standard and quality of life. Yet we cannot stifle the ambition and fierce determination & competition that drives innovation.
We need to remove the incentive to hold mass amounts of wealth, while still rewarding innovation and net-positive contribution. The metrics of success need to be realigned with what is positive for society, not what drives profits. With this, the creation of foundational social care institutions that provide for the displaced but also give the general population a choice - to work, or not. Redefine social and economic values towards welfare and human stability while rewarding those who contribute to the greater good.
In the future, humans will be used for their thoughts and ideas. There will be very specific skill sets that will be required to work alongside the autonomous systems. This will not require the vast amounts of humans in the world to participate in the workforce. This will be the new human utopia. This is what we need to plan for.
So why does it break Capitalism? Because too many people will be left behind.