For capitalism to thrive, labor must be maintained and profits continue being accumulated. The problem, however, is the contradiction of which arises within the capitalist system when automation becomes involved. The more automation increases, the less relevant labor becomes within the mechanism of production.

Believe it or not, this understanding was in consensus between two radically different economic theoreticians: Karl Marx and Adam Smith.

Whether it was Marx's emphasis in Das Kapital on "living labor" (human) being replaced by "dead labor" (machines) or Smith's own emphasis in Wealth of Nations that "the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour...enable one man to do the work of many," it was agreed that automation will eventually result in the mass decrease of human labor within the workforce. 

Neo-luddites believe this to be a detrimental move in the wrong direction. I, on the other hand, believe this to be one of humanity's ultimate steps toward progress. The goal is a completely automated society, whereby all management and production is maintained via artificial intelligence (AI) and/or automated machinery. At this point, society will have reached what economics theorist Jeremy Rifkin refers to as zero marginal cost. 

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