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Some day no one will have to work more than two days a week... The human being can consume so much and no more. When we reach the point when the world produces all the goods that it needs in two days, as it inevitably will, we must curtail our production of goods and turn our attention to the great problem of what to do with our new leisure.

Julian Huxley#3

FutureAutomationEconomyLeisureProductivityWork

About this quote

What does it mean?
Huxley predicts a future where automation reduces work to two days a week, forcing society to confront how to use leisure productively.
In plain terms
Eventually we will work less, so we need to figure out what to do with our free time.
What can you take from it?
Prepare society for leisure by finding meaningful activities beyond production.

Where it applies

  • policy making
  • urban planning
  • education reform

Putting it to work

  • design leisure programs
  • reduce work hours
  • study automation impacts

Questions to consider

  • What defines a meaningful life without work?
  • How do we prevent boredom in a post-scarcity world?

Another view

Assumes production capacity will always outpace consumption without addressing distribution inequality.

More from Julian Huxley

  1. In man, personality is usually defined with reference to self-consciousness rather than to individuality; but the power of reflection and self-knowledge is lin…

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  2. We all know how the size of sums of money appears to vary in a remarkable way according as they are being paid in or paid out.

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  3. In the actual duration of his life, the individual ranges from the bacterium's hour to the the big tree's five thousand years. Man in this again stands at the …

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