This document discusses perspectives on technological unemployment and its implications from multiple sources. It begins by exploring the idea of technological unemployment replacing human jobs with machines. It then examines concerns that this could undermine traditional work and family dynamics. However, it also notes that immersive video games may offer alternative rewards and development opportunities for young men. The document considers whether technological unemployment is inevitable and whether it should be welcomed or lamented. It outlines debates around ensuring meaningful work and purpose in a post-work world, suggesting games could help envision a post-work utopia that allows for plural conceptions of the good life.

1. John Danaher, NUI Galway
Technological Unemployment
and the Search for Meaning

2. ”
“When I play a game, I know if I have a
few hours I will be rewarded… With a
job, it’s always been up in the air with
the amount of work I put in and the
reward.
Danny Izquierdo
Source: Washington Post 23rd Sept 2016

3. Source:Ana Swanson ‘Why
AmazingVideo Games Could
be Causing a Big Problem for
America’ Washington Post, 23
Sep 2016

4. ”
“Immersion in these alternative
realms is playing havoc with young
mens’ cognitive development, their
ability to concentrate and their
social development…
Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Coulombe
Source: Man Disconnected

5. 7
Million
Men between the ages of 25-54
no longer looking for work

6. ”
“The male exodus from work also
undermines the traditional family
dynamic, casting men into the role
of dependents and encouraging
sloth, idleness and vices perhaps
more insidious.
Nicholas Eberstadt
Source: Time Magazine 22 September 2016

7. And yet…

8. Source:Ana Swanson ‘Why
AmazingVideo Games Could
be Causing a Big Problem for
America’ Washington Post, 23
Sep 2016

9. Sample: 2463 male and 2463
female children aged 10-15 years,
42.3% of boys and 40.4% of girls
reported playing between 1 and 3
hours of computer games per day.
Andrew Przybylski
Electronic Gaming and Psychological Adjustment 2014 Pediatrics 134(3):1

10. QIs this retreat from work
inevitable?

11. QIs it to be welcomed or
lamented?

12. An guide to the
technological
unemployment debate
Technological
unemployment and the
crisis of meaning
start here

13. We should worry about the crisis of
meaning that will result from
technological unemployment, but
games may be the solution not the
symptom.
Games and the
Postwork Utopia

14. Philosophical Disquisitions
philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com

15. 1
Technological
Unemployment

17. Job = A task or collection of tasks
(physical, emotional, cognitive
etc) performed in exchange for
economic reward.

18. Technological
Unemployment
= Widespread replacement of
human task performers by
machine task performers,
resulting in many fewer jobs.

19. (1) If machines can perform more and more job-
related tasks at cheaper cost than human workers,
there will be technological unemployment.
(2) Machines can perform more and more job-related
tasks at cheaper cost than human workers.
(3) Therefore, there will be technological unemployment

20. (1) If machines can perform more and more job-
related tasks at cheaper cost than human workers,
there will be technological unemployment.
(2) Machines can perform more and more job-related
tasks at cheaper cost than human workers.
(3) Therefore, there will be technological unemployment

21. 40% 2%

27. Luddite Fallacy: We’ve had this
kind of argument before…
Lump of Labour Fallacy: There
isn’t a fixed amount of labour to be
divided…

28. G A S P !General
Purpose
Accelerating
Change
Superstar
Effect
Present
Indicators

29. GGeneral
Purpose

30. Artificial intelligence is a
general purpose technology

31. AAccelerating
Change

32. Source: Ray Kurzweil The
Singularity is Near (2006)
You ain’t seen
nothing yet
Outpacing problem

33. SSuperstar
Effect

34. ”
“The phenomenon of superstars
wherein relatively small numbers
of people earn enormous
amounts of money and dominate
the activities in which they engage
seems to be increasingly important
in the modern world
Sherwin Rosen
Source: The Economics of Superstars (1981)

35. PPresent
Indicators

36. Stagnant real
wage growth

37. Decoupling of
productivity
and wage
growth

38. The
Polarisation
Effect

39. Decline in
labour force
participation

40. Not true
everywhere

41. But that’s
due to fall in
real wages

42. C1 It’s probably just a matter of time…
C2 It will have a dramatic impact on the type and
quality of work available.

43. 2
Crisis of
Meaning?

44. Basic Income Guarantee as a solution?

45. Excellence
The mastery of cognitive,
physical and emotional skills
Source: Gheaus and Herzog ‘The Goods of Work (Other than Money)’

46. Contribution
Make a meaningful contribution
to the society in which you live
Source: Gheaus and Herzog ‘The Goods of Work (Other than Money)’

47. Community
Provides for collective agency,
i.e. working together for some
common end.
Source: Gheaus and Herzog ‘The Goods of Work (Other than Money)’

48. Recognition
Allows people to achieve status,
social respect and approbation
Source: Gheaus and Herzog ‘The Goods of Work (Other than Money)’

49. Hang on…

50. 13%
Enjoy work
Source: Gallup State of the Global Workforce 2013

51. Good Trying to make the
world a better place
True
Searching for
truth/knowledge
Beautiful
Creating and appreciating
works of art/literature etc.

52. Good Trying to make the
world a better place
True
Searching for
truth/knowledge
Beautiful
Creating and appreciating
works of art/literature etc.
Machines better at solving
moral problems?
Machines better at finding out
the truth?
Machines can create art, but
will they replace us there too?

53. 3
Games as
utopia?

54. Utopia
What is the best possible
world? What world should
we be trying to create?

55. Games
The voluntary attempt to
overcome unnecessary
obstacles.

56. Prelusory Goal
The point or outcome
of the game.
Constitutive Rules
The rules that impose
unnecessary obstacles.
Lusory Attitude
The willingness to accept
the constitutive rules.

57. If machines can do everything
for us in the most efficient,
least costly, way, then anything
we do is, by definition, a game.
Therefore, game playing is the
highest ideal of human
existence.

60. Utopia = The world that is judged to be
best by its members, i.e. none
can imagine or desire a better
world.

61. Plurality
Problem
= There is (probably) no single
standard of bestness; people
will disagree about the ideal
world.

62. Meta-
Utopia
= A world that allows people to
create and join worlds that
correspond to their own
standards of bestness.

63. Virtual reality as meta-utopia?

64. Is Danny right?