A World Without Work

Christopher L. Holland

christopher.holland@slu.edu

Saint Louis University

April 7, 2026

Today’s Topic

Should we fully automate most economically valuable work?

• I will share some examples of automation.
• Full class pros and cons brainstorm.
• We will look at an argument against automation.
• We will divide into groups to discuss the argument.

after last bullet (we will divide into groups) say: by the time we are done with class, you will have a chance to think critically and clearly about

• some of issues surrounding automation
• and about the value of work
• and about the relationship between automation and well-being

Then immediately open the video on the next slide

Berry Picking Robots: Wish Farms is going all in on AI and automation

click link and start video
close window when video finishes and advance

CES (formerly Consumer Electronics Show, kept the initials) in Las Vegas is the world’s largest and most influential annual tech trade show

• Self-driving tractors
• See and Spray uses cameras and AI reduce the amount of herbicide used (only spray the weeds)
• goal fully automated farm

Miso Robotics

• Ran a fully automated fast food restaurant in Pasadena called CaliExpress by Flippy
• Partnered White Castle

In 2025, a team from John Hopkins trained a robot to perform a lengthy phase of a gallbladder removal without human help.

 
Work: Any activity (physical, cognitive, emotional etc.) performed in exchange for an economic reward, or in the ultimate hope of receiving an economic reward. (p. 28)

Pros and Cons

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a. We should fully automate most economically valuable work because …

 
 
 
 
 

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b. We should NOT fully automate most economically valuable work because …

Pros: - work sucks - work is stressful - robots are faster - robots are safer - stuff cost less - more free time: family, friends   Danaher’s 5: Dominating influence, Fissuring and precarity, distributive injustice, temporal colonization, job dissatisfaction

Cons: - mass job loss/how do people get $ - increased inequality - jobs provide identity and meaning - people who don’t work get lazy - take things for granted

a. We should fully automate most economically valuable work because …

• Work is often harmful: stress/anxiety, dominating influence, “temporal colonization”
• Increased efficiency and safety: fewer errors/accidents; better outcomes
• Abundance: cheaper goods/services; higher baseline standard of living
• Free time: More time for leisure, family, friends, hobbies, creative pursuits

b. We should NOT fully automate most economically valuable work because …

• Deprivation problem: if income is tied to work, mass unemployment risks poverty
• Power injustice: owners of machines may capture most benefits; inequality increase
• Meaning and purpose: many people find identity and pride through work
• Increased Dependency: loss of skills, increased passivity; vulnerability if systems fail
• Severance worry: less connection between effort and outcomes

The WALL:E Objection

1.

If we automate most economically valuable work, then it will be very easy for us to satisfy pleasurable and immediate desires (e.g., food and entertainment).

2.

If it is very easy for us to satisfy pleasurable and immediate desires, then we will become lazy and stupid.

3.

If we become lazy and stupid, then we cannot flourish.

∴ 4.

If we automate most economically valuable work, then we cannot flourish.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

See pages 94–95 of John Danaher, Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World without Work (Harvard University Press, 2019), https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvn5txpc.

The WALL:E Objection

1.

If we automate most economically valuable work, then it will be very easy for us to satisfy pleasurable and immediate desires (e.g., food and entertainment).

2.

If it is very easy for us to satisfy pleasurable and immediate desires, then we will become lazy and stupid.

3.

If we become lazy and stupid, then we cannot flourish.

∴ 4.

If we automate most economically valuable work, then we cannot flourish.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

See pages 94–95 of John Danaher, Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World without Work (Harvard University Press, 2019), https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvn5txpc.

Sources

Danaher, John. Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World Without Work. Harvard University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvn5txpc.

Schmidgall, Samuel, Justin D. Opfermann, Ji Woong Kim, and Axel Krieger. “Will Your Next Surgeon Be a Robot? Autonomy and AI in Robotic Surgery.” Science Robotics 10, no. 104 (2025): eadt0187. https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adt0187.