With robots, is a life without work one we'd want to live?
With robots, is a life without work one we'd want to live?
   Is this the future of work for Australia? Illustration: Sarah Gleeson
   Main image: Is this the future of work for Australia? Illustration:
   When Aristotle described “the complete happiness of man”, he thought it
   to “complete happiness” as possible.
   weariness and uninterrupted leisure time as demands of work are taken
   The robots are coming and apparently they’re here to work.
   any better? Is a life without work one we’d actually want to live?
   I’ve often debated the merits of continuing to work after winning the
   circle – a 2013 Gallup poll found 68% of people would keep working
   The obvious answer is that we don’t only work for income, we do it
   though I insist I wouldn’t work if I struck it rich, what I mean is
   that I’d choose the type of work I would do and how often I’d do it.
   work a day in your life”. Writing, preparing talks and doing research
   are all work but it’s work I think is worth doing and the financial
   Aristotle’s “complete happiness”.
   economist Paul Dolan’s recent book Happiness by Design shows the
   pleasure over time. All work and no play might make Jack a dull boy but
   all play and no work isn’t going to make him happy either.
   Of course not all work is going to provide us with a profound sense of
   happiness suck. Someone in a role they hate, working for a company
   off isn’t going to be nourished by their work. Assuming their financial
   leaving the work to a robot.
   work they do and will not be happier having their jobs replaced. But
   freed of meaningless work and therefore happier, they’re doing the
   newly found unhappiness?
   actually have a negative impact on your happiness. If automation meant
   you were able to use the time you’d previously spent working doing
   people (about 5.3m) work 35 to 44 hours a week. Each hour spent at work
   happiness bump for the simple reason that not all activities are
   equally pleasurable or meaningful. Unless work was the single most
   This means a robot workforce might actually provide people with more
   meaningful work. Plus it will provide those whose jobs are making them
   robotic workers almost present as a moral imperative.
   into less meaningful work.
   lives as meaningful without work. Even if automation provides people
   totally disconnected from work.
   This concern was raised by Hannah Arendt in her influential work The
   Given the central role work plays in psychological wellbeing –
   long was it before you told them what you do for work? Was it the first
   Given the strong connection people make between their work, identity
   being told meaning could only be found in a certain thing – like work –
The future of work: 'Computers are good at the jobs we find hard, and bad at
   enjoyed if they are recognised – that is, if workers are able to see
   thing that can provide meaning in their lives is work, then it doesn’t
   workaholics among us, many people do find joy, meaning and identity
   the elderly, parenting, volunteer work and other forms of support for
     The dignity and rights of workers needs to continue to be a
     centrepiece of our conversations about the future of work
   being naked and vulnerable in front of a care worker. Robotic care
   difficult, boring or frustrating work to robots, this might change our
   ability and appetite for more stimulating or meaningful work. Humans
   true for everything else in human behaviour: every time you work at
   fill the void of work. But the general shift away from human labour and
   still engaged in work. While we’re all workers, it’s easy to remember
   the importance of work to be dignified, safe and fairly compensated –
   our shared experience of work creates a solidarity between one another.
If robots are the future of work, where do humans fit in? | Zoe Williams
   Once work is performed by robots – to whom we don’t (and shouldn’t)
   between work and dignity are less easily recognised. Our bond of
   solidarity to fellow workers is broken. For this reason and many others
   – like the rise of the gig economy – the dignity and rights of workers
   future of work. While, for many, work might become redundant, its value
   means to have a job but they will need to know how to work. Work isn’t
   sport and exercise are all kinds of work. But if robots are taking care
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