I am not familiar enough with medicine to state with certainty anything. However, I have recently read that medical science is/has reached the point, in relation to heart disease, that they are considering announcing victory.
In the book, "Live Long Enough to Live Forever" by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman They present the idea that if you live for another twenty years you can live forever. This idea is that within twenty years, medical science will conquer all infectious diseases, all genetic malformalities, etc. Advances in medical science are coming at faster and faster paces. Some cancers have essential been beaten, I recently read that one type of breast cancer is now 100% curable.
I spoke of airline travel in comparison to 50 years ago is now essentially free, that from personal experience.
I spoke of electronics, because electronics is what I know best, and it is in the field of electronics that the advances in technology that will replace human mental work(as the steam engine, to the internal combustion engine, to electric motors) has replaced most human physical work.
It doesn't matter in the least if there are some jobs that machines will never replace (The most obvious is prostitution) the fact is nearly all human employment will end over the next 20, or 50, or 100, or even 200 years and be replaced by machine. The time frame doesn't matter, it is inevitable that it will happen.
The problem lies in the transition. Our present labor based economic system is inadequate for the future. The second problem is that no one is even studying the problem.
The only way I can imagine getting from our present capitalistic society and distribution system to what ever evolves is a world wide class war. Owners (us as stockholders) will not willingly give up our advantages, the masses will not starve willingly, someone please tell me how we transition from today to that tomorrow where there are no gainful human occupations. People who only have their labor be it physical or mental, will not peacefully starve to death.
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