[randomdata]

> but given that most of every material and cultural need is already satisfied

Couldn't that be said in every point in history?

Were the farmers losing their jobs in the early 1900s thinking to themselves, "man, I could really go for an interconnected network of computers right now"? I'd be surprised if it even crossed their mind. But eventually, with not having to work on the farm anymore, they had the time to sit back and come up with the idea and implementation. Now, in 2016, it is difficult to imagine living without it.

I find it hard to believe we've reached the pinnacle of human achievement.

[dota_fanatic]

The pinnacle of human invention will be that which our (automated, intelligent) children invent. We will be indirectly responsible, but we won't be able to compete. We can already this happening eg in healthcare technology, or with AlphaGo. It's not hard to imagine many of the greatest discoveries will be via abstractions we can't even grok, and will need to be "translated" for us to even begin to understand, much like with the cutting edge of mathematics and physics.

For the vast majority of humans, what they can reasonably accomplish in their lifetimes is surpassed by automated systems today, at least that which pertains to the things that in the past were requisite for everything to function (farming, transportation, common services like cooking, cleaning, etc).

It's not hard to imagine the need for paying jobs will drop to zero as everything humans normally need is captured by monopolistic automated systems. From whence comes the need to take care of our own? What's to stop most humans from becoming like the horse, that which no longer has capitalistic meaning? Our overwhelming love for each other (/sarcasm)?