In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted in his essay "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren" that by now, we'd be working 15-hour weeks, satisfied with our basic needs met and having no desire for anything beyond food and shelter.
This prediction was a relic of thinking from the hard times of the Great Depression. Because to the drowning man, getting on land is the dream; to the man on land, getting to space is the dream.
The new popular prediction echoes Keynes' mistake from a different angle: that technological advancement will drive the value of human labor down to zero. Ironically, both the optimists of yesterday and the pessimists of today share a common misconception that, in the future, there won't be enough work to fill our week.
What these predictions miss is that the needs of humans will keep expanding to match the level of available production. If technology is created that allows people to do a weeks worth of work in 15 hours rather than 40, human needs will expand and new valuable things will be done in that time.
While technology evolves rapidly, human behavior remains remarkably consistent. Our desires expand in lockstep with our capabilities. We don't bask in the glow of progress or become satisfied once we have "enough" – we adapt to need the tools we have created and continue to seek advancements and new needs.
