I think people who worry about technological unemployment don't adequately weight other implications of cheaper, smarter, and faster robots--lower costs, greater speed, and more capabilities than could've existed before.
At the limit, every robot would be a genie, capable of satisfying our every material whim, instantly, at no cost. Wouldn't everyone in such a world be fantastically wealthy?
Now dial back the robot's capability by 5%. Now whim-satisfaction takes a few minutes, and costs a few pennies, and there are a few things the robots can't do. Still a great world, right?
Keep dialing back. What about a half genie? A quarter genie? A tenth genie? At what genie fraction would humanity be better off without the robots? Why there?
EDIT:
I don't think I sufficiently made the connection between fantastically increased wealth and technological unemployment. Which is that vastly increased wealth and new capabilities mean that things that it would be uneconomical to pay for now suddenly become economical.
Likewise, labor that can be done more economically by robots frees up human labor to do other things.
Hiring someone to file and paint your nails seemed like an absurd extravagance 100 years ago. Now it's so affordable that nail salons are in even the poorest neighborhoods.
New inventions mean that people can make a living doing things that were impossible just a short while ago. In the 1950's, producing and distributing a national TV show was something that requiring millions of dollars, and hundreds of people. Now teenagers can make thousands of dollars making their own shows in their bedrooms.
At the limit, every robot would be a genie, capable of satisfying our every material whim, instantly, at no cost. Wouldn't everyone in such a world be fantastically wealthy?
Now dial back the robot's capability by 5%. Now whim-satisfaction takes a few minutes, and costs a few pennies, and there are a few things the robots can't do. Still a great world, right?
Keep dialing back. What about a half genie? A quarter genie? A tenth genie? At what genie fraction would humanity be better off without the robots? Why there?
EDIT:
I don't think I sufficiently made the connection between fantastically increased wealth and technological unemployment. Which is that vastly increased wealth and new capabilities mean that things that it would be uneconomical to pay for now suddenly become economical.
Likewise, labor that can be done more economically by robots frees up human labor to do other things.
Hiring someone to file and paint your nails seemed like an absurd extravagance 100 years ago. Now it's so affordable that nail salons are in even the poorest neighborhoods.
New inventions mean that people can make a living doing things that were impossible just a short while ago. In the 1950's, producing and distributing a national TV show was something that requiring millions of dollars, and hundreds of people. Now teenagers can make thousands of dollars making their own shows in their bedrooms.