keynes on the scene

Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren- John Maynard Keynes

i ran across this essay while reading small is beautiful. this was written during the depression and this is the essay were keynes outlines his “famous” 100 years prediction for developed nations. this has more or less come to pass. the improvements outlined have been concentrated in ever more hands.

there’s an interesting tension in here about the human capacity to deal with the post scarcity world that he envisions. the references are culturally dated. but we haven’t really run into the post-scarcity world problem that he envisions.

notable here … you know what hasn’t come to pass? the 15 hour work week.

Thus for the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem—how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure, which science and compound interest will have won for him, to live wisely and agreeably and well.

this essay is useful reading in the context of where we find ourselves with the advent of AI and what appear to be serious disruptions already here (if one reads AI into the jobs reports) or on the horizon.

sidebar: in chatting with “woke claude” about this essay, it was pointed out that keynes frames this discussion in a colonial baseline and does not acknowledge the extractive nature of the collection of drake’s booty.

touche.