Alquist: …all the workers in the world will be out of a job.
Domin: Yes, they will be, Alquist. They will be, Miss Glory. But in ten years’ time Rossum’s Universal Robots will be making so much wheat, so much material, so much of everything that nothing will cost anything. Everyone will be able to just take as much as he needs. Nobody will live in poverty. They won’t have jobs, that’s true, but that’s because there won’t be any jobs to do. Everything will be done by living machines. People will do only the things they want to do, they can live their lives just so that they can make themselves perfect.
-R.U.R. by Karel Capek (1920)
*** Sources & ***
BOOKS
Working by Studs Terkel
Science And Technology In World History by James E. McClellan, Harold Dorn
Leonardo To The Internet by Thomas J Misa
ARTICLES
Lice & Clothing
AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs
Why Studs Terkels Working World No Longer Exists
If The Robots Steal All Our Jobs Then Wages Will Be Rising At 200% Per Year: What Problem Is That?
Is Work Good Or Bad by Gary Gutting
A World Without Work by Derek Thompson
The Satire Of The Trades
Luddites
Court Jesters
Sploot Review
The Development and History Of Horticulture
DATA
The End Of Extreme Poverty by 2030
American Time Use Survey
USDA Disposable Personal Income Spent On Food
GDP Per Person
Labor Force for Historical Statistics of the United States
Retail Prices Of Selected Foods In U.S. Cities 1890-2015
Our World In Data
Consumer Goods And Hours Of Work
Number Of Jobs Held In A Lifetime
BRITISH PATHÉ FOOTAGE
Blacksmith: Edison Kinetoscope 1895
Horse Drawn Fire Engine
Steel Works Factory
Factory Girls On Strike
Staff Going Into Gate of Varnish Factory 1920-1929
A Century Of Progress – First Locomotive
Weaving 1952
Weaving 1940-1949
Women Bakers 1914-1918
Iron Foundry Workers Required 1947
Greece – Prior To De Gaulle’s Visit 1963
Skeleton Tailor 1949
Gold Beaters 1952
Electric Car In 1940
Gentle Giant Aka Robot 1958
Brave Fire Fighters 1918
Down And Outs 1950-1959
A Day In The Life Od Hungarian Fashion Model 1965
Guard Shoemaker 1943
ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE
Humans Need Not Apply by CGP Grey
THANKS TO EXPERT ADVISORS
Thanks To British Pathé
Steven Horwitz
Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Paintings by Giovanni Caselli
Vsauce2
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Website:
Written, Produced and Hosted by Kevin Lieber
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Production Assistant Michael Watson
VFX by Eric Langlay
Additional Animation by Lulu Jiang
Sound Design/Mix by Jay Pellizzi
Contributing Editor Matthew Tabor, Koala Fight Media
Music by Jake Chudnow