Right.  The usual counter is the following: &quot;This was predicted every time we had technological upheavals, and it never happened.  Therefore it won&#x27;t happen this time either.&quot;<p>Although there is some truth to this, the past tends to be only a limited predictor for the future (&quot;It&#x27;s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.&quot; -- Yogi Berra ), and of course logically this stance cannot be supported.<p>Also, there is some grounds to believe that this time actually is different:  whereas production and consumption used to expand to soak up new found productivity, we&#x27;re reaching both resource limits in terms of what can be produced, and at least in the west saturation in terms of consumption.  We already consume way more than we really want&#x2F;need, and more and more people are realizing that their stuff is not liberating them, but rather taking them hostage.<p>Furthermore, there also is evidence that this is already happening.  Blue collar wages are stagnating or in decline, same though to a lesser extent for the middle class.  Debt has soared as people try to maintain their standard of living.<p>Robots have the capacity to help us bring about the 15 hour work week Keynes predicted, or maybe even the 4 hour work week, but we probably will have to restructure our wealth distribution mechanisms somewhat to achieve it.