For anyone employed and under the age of 55, the next decade may reveal a job landscape unlike anything ever seen since the beginning of the Industrial Age (circa 1760): a world without work.

Historically, technology has often displaced workers. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century, for example, displaced thousands of clerical workers who were then employed to manually write book copies. And the invention of the automobile displaced an entire economy of horse-based transportation in the early 20th century. But these past job displacements were nearly always mitigated by equal or greater job replacement. Even as advancing technology made certain jobs obsolete, it created new jobs that were generally safer and higher quality. It was messy and disruptive, but it was still progress.

For the first time, however, we now face a technology change that will not merely displace certain jobs but perhaps even displace the entire need for human labor. Although much of the current attention to this risk is rightfully centered on the financial consequences—how will we pay for food and shelter, for instance—far less discussion is directed toward the equally large impact on human psychology.

The purpose of this post is to understand the psychology behind why we work and what we can do to prepare for an AI and robot-powered future........

© Psychology Today