[lkbm]

This is true, and a very good analogy, but I'm not sure it holds up when every form of productivity has shifted from fun+challenging+useful to just fun+challenging.

Maybe this is a mindset we'll get over. The degree to which many of us evaluate ourselves based on our own usefulness seems like it's a bit too much but it's a normal human desire to be useful.

I certainly believe we should work towards a post-scarcity world where no one depends on my coding skills any more than they do my rock climbing skills, but it would be a psychological adjustment if every way I can be useful were now just a fun hobby.

[exceptione]

You can be really useful to people by not having hard skills.

I keep hearing from people that trying to give up on getting and starting to give instead, makes them receive more.

[lkbm]

I foresee AI eventually replacing the need for soft skills as well. What happens when we have indistinguishable-from-human androids, or wireheading?

But yes, the shorter(?)-term "all physical and intellectual work can be achieved by AI/machines" leaves us with caring for each other, and that's the most fulfilling task.