[Fricken]

Karl Marx anticipated the machines would allow us to live lives comprised largely of leisure by now, but here we are all working. The thing is, if we were content with middle class living standards of the 19th century we'd be working a whole lot less. So when it becomes possible to do something crazy like build out an asteroid mining industrial complex, or something, will we say 'ahh, we don't need to do that, let's put our feet up', do you think we'll take it easy or will we keep working? I think we'll keep working.

[DonaldFisk]

Not just Marx: John Maynard Keynes thought we'd be on a 15 hour week: http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf