Value comes from design efforts, manufacturing, production, distributing, advertising... all the factors from creation to consumption... and then disposal.

There is always more work to be done. It doesn't get done with minimum wages, rules and regs, welfare, or any other edict of our Rulers.

Transhumanists would argue this presentation is archaic, in that it represents an "us versus them" view of robots and humans. Humans are increasingly becoming an integral part of an "information society," composed of a network that is rapidly linking and making universally available all information compiled by humanity.

Rather than machine intelligence being an isolated element of society in opposition to humans, it seems to be headed in the direction of a fused human/machine social structure. The next hundred years will be a kind of revolution, but not a repeat of the industrial revolution this presenter envisions.

I think you need to read Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics" book, 4th or 5th edition, for a starter.

The government did not "let" this happen. They engineered it.

Answer: man produces value through invention and creation. A robotized society would be a society of inventors, designers, architects, novelists, painters, sculptors, and composers. And secondarily, managers.

The one thing not mentioned is the economics required to make this happen and support it. It will take immense amounts of capital to make this happen and when it does the cost of living will plummet and the dynamics of the economy will change and opportunities for future investment are unimaginable today. i disagree with the commentator that this time it is different. There is a whole universe of opportunity out there. We have barely scratched the scratch of the surface.

Who makes the robots?
who makes the machines that make the parts for the robots?
who makes the machines that make the machines that make the parts for the robots?
who gets the materials out of the ground necessary to make the parts for the machines that make the parts for the machines that make the parts for the robots?
man would be the answer however the way the government is doing things men will not be available to do any work because they will be taken care of by the government or so they think.
The stark reality is that things are winding down at a slow pace and the government will have accomplished their objective which is to make us all equal.
Ayn Rand related a comment from an actress who went to russia I believe in the 50's who said everybody was equally shabby. That my fellow Americans is the direction we are heading in.
So don't fret over a new robot here and there they to will come to a halt when the power is turned off.

It does pose a conundrum but no matter how far up-line you might go in the process humans would have to build and create the robots that make the robots...somewhere in this process there must be human intention.
It would seem that for the rest of us, we might have to redefine what it is to create value most of which might be merely from our minds.
I don't see, as many propose that there would be a "Complete" take over by robots..."We" in a sense, would still be their "Gods".

Those that cannot think and adapt, die.

Humans are, for the most part already helpless to meet our basic needs without a complex social structure that produces all the goods we use to live. Left to ourselves most of us would perish, and certainly the environment wouldn't support many as hunter-gatherers. Imagine making a toaster -- starting with ore.

I frequently think about the coming "age of plenty" where pretty much everything that humans need to live, all food, clothing, shelter and various products are produced without the need for human labor. If human labor is no longer a necessity, is it still a virtue?

And what does the economic system look like then. Do we embrace a form of universal income where everyone gets a fund that they can use to buy things? If we don't need the labor to have the products there is no need to require it to get them.

Some will still do creative tasks, but the vast majority of the population works on jobs that are only fulfilling in that they allow one to earn a living. We will not all become painters and musicians. Will a large percentage of the population become video game addicts? In Star Trek, I wondered why anyone would leave the holodeck.

I don't know what the economics of this looks like. I don't want a centrally controlled economy, even if money is sufficiently common that no one wants for the necessities of life, there will still be the market forces of what people choose to purchase to guide where to develop productivity.

And what is a "robot"? You are thinking of a hard machine. What about nanobots? We have been putting lifeforms to work for us - far beyond the draft animal, though there is that - for thousands of years: bread, beer, wine, sauerkraut... Do you imagine people otherwise employed pumping air into dough unemployed by yeast?

And what about all of the converses, robot hands, bionic implants, even eye glasses and hearing aids, all "robots" - are they taking away work from human helpers who read or listen for you?

I would have more to say, but I have to go shopping, and gratefully, I do not need to literally "run to the store" my robotic "horseless carriage" is waiting.

Robot design...

We continue to create values in the future by doing things not perceived now, just as we create values by the production of things not perceived 100 years ago, such as iPhones.

I mean, 100 years ago, we had phones, cameras (and photo albums to share), calendars, notepads, compasses, maps, weather reports, stock market tickers, books, newspapers, and games. ... but they did not all fit in your hand at the same time. Who saw that coming?

And the Rolling Stones playing in Cuba. 100 years ago, it was common to learn a musical instrument, rich or poor or in the middle, the piano in the parlor was ubiquitous. Other instruments were also encouraged. They have not gone away, but we have "robot musical instruments" now - YouTube and Pandora and MySpace; CD players, tapes, even vinyl for aficiandos - on the shoulders of FM Stereo in portable radios, even in radios in automobiles.

Television was theoretically possible in the 1890s. No one (few) predicted the current state. Among the "few" was socialist Edward Bellany's Looking Backward. It is a heck of a read...

Cinema... Indies!

But look what has not been mechanized. We may never have robot barbers and beauticians. I have all kinds of little tools for my grooming, including a cute electric clipper to keep my "high and tight" within specifications at drill. But I still goto the barber. Social grooming runs pretty deep. Even in Asimov's "Robot" stories, one of the characters on a Spacer world is a "stylist."

My favorite example: White-Out - invented by a freelance typist.

You never know what the future will bring.

Robot Repair and Refinishing, Inc.