Elon Musk has often predicted that advances in artificial intelligence and robotics will soon make conventional jobs optional. In his vision, people would receive a universal high income and spend their time on personal pursuits in an age of abundance.
The prospect of leaving the daily grind behind may sound appealing. But would a life built around comfort and leisure be good for people?
That was the question Allie Beth Stuckey put to Jonny Ardavanis, pastor of Stonebridge Bible Church. His new book, Get to Work: Seeing Your Daily Grind as God’s Good Gift, argues that work is a gift from God, not simply a burden to escape.
Ardavanis said he expects Musk’s imagined AI utopia to be a deeply unhappy way to live. He argues that people have an instinctive sense that work belongs to the human experience, pointing to the familiar satisfaction of finishing a job well.
“You mow the lawn, you see the stripes in your lawn, and you put your hands on your hips,” he said, describing the feeling as something with a connection to Eden.
In Ardavanis’ view, that satisfaction reaches back to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were given the task of caring for the garden. He said people have a deep longing for that original purpose, citing Ecclesiastes 3:11, which says God has placed eternity in the human heart.
If AI removes the need to work, Ardavanis warned, it could deprive people of opportunities to pursue a sense of purpose. Having a robot take over a task such as mowing the lawn, he said, might leave people “stripped and starved” of chances to reflect God through their work.
Work also involves the mind, he said. If robots begin thinking on people’s behalf, Ardavanis asked, what becomes of the human mind, which he sees as part of being made in God’s image?
“It means we have a mind. It means that we are to engage that mind,” he said, adding that much of the New Testament’s guidance for Christian life concerns how people use their minds. “Your mind is God’s gift to you, to employ it.”
Ardavanis said the value of human experience is not recognized only by Christians. He pointed to actor Tom Cruise, who, when asked about AI’s effect on filmmaking, said, “There is nothing like human.”
Though Cruise may not share Ardavanis’ faith, the pastor said, people are made to reflect God. Doing so, he argued, can bring joy, purpose and meaning.
Ardavanis said he is concerned by enthusiasm for a future with less work, including proposals for a three-day workweek. He believes that vision is difficult to square with the idea that people have been given a mission by God.
