[AJ007]

One of the phrases I've started using is, in the future you don't have to talk to anyone.

You see this already with the self-checkouts at stores. You walk in, grab what you want, check out and leave without talking to anyone. This is just the start of a torrent of low level automation. At some point there is not a lot left to do.

[kb101]

What amazes me is that we are seeing this happen around us so rapidly; near-total automation is on the visible horizon.

"At some point there is not a lot left to do" reminds me of the story "With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson. http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780312852535-0