The Robots Are Coming for Phil in Accounting: Workers with college degrees and specialized training once felt relatively safe from automation. They aren’t.

When the world is automated we assume we'll be free. It's entirely possible we'll live in a Wall-E sort of future where people are lulled into a constant state of consumption by megacorporations who have total control over the minds of the people. When everything, even art and entertainment, are procedurally generated, would people really want to make the effort to 'make art'?

At the end of the day, art is all about seeing your emotions and ideas represented in the real world. It's about saying your piece, because you have something to say. Once a person can hit a few buttons to accomplish that, would they even want to pick up a paintbrush? If the world is automated, would they even struggle enough in their day to day lives to even have anything to say other than 'entertain me?

/r/Futurology Thread Parent Link - nytimes.com