If one machine can cut necessary human labor by half, why make half of the workforce redundant, rather than employing the same number for half the time? Why not take advantage of automation to reduce the average working week from 40 hours to 30, and then to 20, and then to ten, with each diminishing block of labor time counting as a full time job?
如果机器可以压缩半数的人力劳动，为什么要让半数劳动力沦为过剩，而不让同样这些人工作一半的时间？为什么不利用自动化将周平均工作时数从40小时降低到30小时、再到20小时、10小时，从而缩短全职工作的劳动时间？实现这一目标需要实现自动化的大部分收益不被富人和当权者攫取，而是以平均的方式加以分配。