Looking to have my mind changed here. It seems like there are a lot of jobs that most people would rather not do if they had the choice, yet are still necessary to provide a lot of the amenities of first world life. Who would do these jobs if work was abolished?
Going through the FAQ, some apparent answers which I don't think are complete:
- Automation – but not everything can be automated easily; automation works best in a closed, controlled environment, which doesn't apply to everything. Saying something like “AI” isn't really an answer yet, and might not be for a long while – especially if Moore's law is petering out preventing us from easily throwing more transistors at the problem.
- Most jobs are bullshit – The Wikipedia article on Graeber's “Bullshit Jobs” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs seems to disagree (or at least points out fairly reasonable criticism); in particular, Wikipedia cites https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170211015067 which takes refutes Graeber's theory with empirical survey results. Moreover, some of the examples of bullshit jobs given by Graeber (as listed by Wikipedia) seem to still be useful for at least some people; e.g. receptionists are useful for directing visitors to who or where they're looking for.