Google's Larry Page Envisions A World With Less Work

Do you dream of pursuing your passion, but find yourself hindered by a daily work schedule? That might not be a problem in the future, at least not in the future envisioned by Google's Larry Page, where humans are required to work less while having their needs met.

In a Fireside chat with Vinod Khosla, both Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin talked a lot about Google and the world surrounding it, with the entire chat (featured in the video below) lasting a bit over 40 minutes. Among the different topics was discussion about our working future.

When discussion turned to workforce numbers and employment changes over the centuries, said Page:

"I totally believe we should be living in a time of abundance, like Peter Diamandis' book. If you really think about the things that you need to make yourself happy – housing, security, opportunities for your kids – anthropologists have been identifying these things. It's not that hard for us to provide those things. The amount of resources we need to do that, the amount of work that actually needs to go into that is pretty small."

He goes on to talk about employment issues in the UK, the need for people to work on a perhaps psychological level, and more. Brin tossed a "quibble" into his talk, saying, "I don't think that in the near term, the need for labor is going away."

The discussion snowballs into talk about economics and various issues these ideas for the future pose, including the possibility of "lopsided" income distribution in the future. If you're not up for watching the entire video, you can read the full transcript here.

SOURCE: ABC News