Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“In ancient Greece and Rome a leisured class could pursue philosophy, politics and the arts because slaves did the work. … A similar transformation happened much more recently, and to far more people, without anyone being enslaved at all. It happened in the twentieth century, in the ordinary home. Before the washing machine, doing the laundry for a family could take the best part of a day: hauling water, heating it, scrubbing, wringing, hanging out to dry. Before the vacuum cleaner, carpets were beaten by hand. Before the dishwasher, someone stood at a sink after every meal. … We are now entering a new phase of the same process, and it is set to be larger than anything that came before. Robots and artificial intelligence are beginning to do the work that used to require a person.” (09/03/26)