Why should humans continue to work if machines can do it better?
Writing for The Atlantic, Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld explores the relationship between humans, technology, and labor, specifically in the context of artificial intelligence and its potential to replace human work.
Drawing insights from Jewish religious texts, Wolkenfeld highlights the importance of meaningful, creative labor and its connection to the divine. She distinguishes between two types of work in ancient Hebrew …
melakhah (creative labor)
avodah (menial toil)
… and suggests that most tech tools aim to reduce avodah and free up time for melakhah.
Worthwhile labor allows individuals to channel their best selves and shape the world, an ability that should not be ceded to robots. Technology should enable individuals to devote more time to creative labor and that tools which replace meaningful work should be rejected.
Wolkenfeld further explores melakhah as the category for prohibited work on the Jewish Sabbath, emphasizing its intentionality and divinely given ability to shape and change the world.