&gt;There is the idea of universal income, but then that theoretically just keeps this sort of insanity going longer.<p>Yeah, that&#x27;s the real issue, at some point, AI will likely render capitalism as &quot;unmaintainable&quot; - but humans aren&#x27;t very good at changing, and switching from capitalism to some kind of post-scarcity Star Trek economy is going to &quot;hurt&quot; too many of the rich and powerful for them to agree to it - so it will be fought. It will be fought with the armies that the rich and powerful control - and it will be very, very bloody. I don&#x27;t think I&#x27;ll live to see it (I&#x27;m almost 50), but I think it will happen.