First, there is always work to be done. Look around you. There is work to be done nurturing and educating children, caring for the elderly, replacing and modernizing decayed public infrastructure, expanding research, and transitioning to a green economy. Imagine all of the constructive work that humans could be liberated to do if machines displaced even more jobs.

Some of those jobs are unglamorous and underpaid. But jobs taking care of the elderly could be upgraded to living-wage careers. Others are already part of a middle-class economy. If we got serious about our transition to a post-carbon economy, that would include everything from R&D jobs to manufacturing to skilled construction and installation work.

We could also translate all of that increased productivity into more leisure time, long a dream of labor reformers. Oddly, as automation has increased, many Americans find themselves working longer hours, not shorter ones — because pay levels have declined.

Critics of a $15-an-hour minimum wage have warned that fast-food workers could be displaced by machines. Let’s bring that on — and provide better opportunities for fast-food workers to enjoy richer lives doing something more fulfilling than flipping burgers.