Isaac Asimov promised me a robot that would obey the 3 laws of robotics.
Many other promises were made.
Westinghouse promised me a robot that could walk, talk, smoke, and sing.
The Japanese promised me a robot that could fly.
The Germans promised me a Maschinenmensh (“robot human”).
Or maybe a robot with a glass bubble head and pincer like hands.
Superman said the robots would be good.
Robots would make life easier.
For only $22,000.
Housewives wouldn't have to be housewives anymore.
Robots could even be grandmothers
Robots would do all of the chores around the house.
A host of push-button servants … that's what we were told.
Look. This should be me.
Or at least this.
What happened?
Once upon a time technology was going to make our lives better and lead to a life of leisure. This was the promise.
We built the robots. They help us on average produce $140,000 in goods each year. Yet only a few people seem to be enjoying the benefits.
David Graeber reminds us of Keynes prediction in 1930 that we would have a 15-hour work week by the end of the century.
What happened to the 15-hour work week? Why aren't more people benefiting? Where’s our leisurely life? For that matter, what happened to the 40-hour work week?
If anything, it seems like we're competing more and more to do more work just to get by. Any time anyone even suggests that maybe we shouldn't be working so hard or maybe we should be benefiting more from the work that we do, they’re called “lazy”.
Shouldn't we all be working less and benefiting more?
Or at least working towards spending more time with our families and doing things we enjoy.
I. Want my. Robots.
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David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy.