People have dreamt for many years about a world without work. In an essay in 1891, Oscar Wilde imagined a future where, “just as trees grow while the country gentleman is asleep, so while humanity will be amusing itself, or enjoying cultivated leisure — which, and not labour, is the aim of man — or making beautiful things, or reading beautiful things, or simply contemplating the world with admiration and delight, machinery will be doing all the necessary and unpleasant work”. This year, rapid developments in artificial intelligence have reignited questions about whether machines might one day replace the need for human labour entirely. I am sceptical, not least because we humans have a remarkable ability to make work for ourselves. But let’s suppose for a moment that technological progress did usher in an age of leisure. Would we actually be able to cope with it?
多年来，人们一直梦寐以求一个没有工作的世界。奥斯卡•王尔德(Oscar Wilde)在1891年的一篇散文中想象了这样一种未来：“就像树木在生长，而乡村绅士却在休憩中，因此当人类在自得其乐、享受文雅的闲暇（人类的目标是它而不是劳动）、创造美丽的事物、阅读美好的东西，或仅仅是怀着赞美和喜悦沉思这个世界时，机器就会在做一切必需的和令人不快的工作。”