The moderate left’s manifest approach to the issue of automation is absurd.

Technology has been developed which allows for humanity to produce the things it wants and needs without the demand for as much labor. Artificial intelligence is the latest, greatest chapter in this narrative, with the potential to affect it in ways more significant than previously considered by all but the most hardcore science fiction aficionados. The shareholders of industry see this as their benefit to claim, while workers lose jobs.

The left has responded with strikes against automation. They have told the companies to stick their robots where the sun don’t shine. It has been commendable for workers to become organized enough to prevent employers from replacing them, in any cases where it might have occurred. But it would be far more commendable to endeavor to make the boon of humanity’s technology run a more progressive course. Decreasing the labor needed for humanity to exist is a good thing. But the proceeds must be claimed by all. Let’s not find ourselves in the position of attempting to retain the right to toil so that those certain individuals–whose wealth is beyond the need for renewal for, in some cases, tens of thousands of lifetimes– might continue to suffer our existence.