Episode · EconTalk · 2024-05-20
Books mentioned on Purpose, Pleasure, and Meaning in a World Without Work (with Nicholas Bostrom)
If you didn't have to work to enjoy material abundance, would you do it anyway? If an algorithm or a pill could achieve better results, would you bother shopping or going to the gym?
Russ Roberts discussed Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren by John Maynard Keynes and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren
Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren by John Maynard Keynes is a famous 1930 essay examining technological progress, productivity, and the future reduction of the workweek.
Discussed“I just want to mention uh K's famous essay uh economic possibilities for our grandchildren which he wrote in 1930 which is you know was one of the things it's interesting about”
Where to get it
-
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a chilling dystopian masterpiece that envisions a technologically advanced future society sustained by pharmacological distraction, engineered conformity, and the systematic eradication of deep human emotion and critical thought.
Discussed“one of the things I worry about and you know the dystopian view of I think the future is is Brave New World where people sit around taking this drug soma and medicating themselves”
Where to get it
