by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright July 2014
Money is going to change its meaning and function. In a world where most manufacturing and service jobs are automated, "jobs" as we think of them today are going to be scarce. This means that getting paid for a job will not be something everyone routinely experiences, and yelling "Get a job!" at someone to indicate they need to stop being a loser is going to have a different meaning.
In addition to all of the above, the function of money will change. Since people are going to find other ways to show their value to the community besides jobs, they are going to get paid for something they do that isn't a job in the classic sense. Example: volunteer work. They will get compensated in some new fashion, it will be a new kind of money. Think of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies today, only with even more variety.
As the basic necessities of life become rights rather than something that has to be earned, these will drift out of the world that conventional money pays for. These "rights items" will be paid for with other payment systems. There will become different kinds of moneys -- two among them will be "rights" moneys and "covet stuff" moneys.
Money in its classic sense will continue to serve to pay for things which people covet. These are things that people want, but aren't given to them as part of any right. A contemporary example of this is high school kids who want outrageously expensive footwear. They will have a right to shoes, and use some sort of coupon to get those. But if they want high-priced Nikes they are going to have to use "real money" to get those. That kind of money will come from a different source.
This change in what money means is going to be part of a wrenching change in what work means. This loss of "a job" as an indicator of solid social standing and income generation is going to be a harsh dislocation from our present-day values. Work and money are both going to be affected in surprising and sometimes painful ways.
Investing will change too. The concepts of saving to make money in the future and investing in business are going to become more and more exotic to average humans.
Hand-to-mouth loaning will grow. This style of dealing with money is instinct fueled. But how it is handled will change. There will be even more safeguards in the future to keep people out of the "deeper in debt" cycle. Likely, the kinds of money which can be borrowed will be limited.
Gambling is instinct-fueled entertainment. It can be partly compensated for with video-games. For many people gambling is sitting for hours in front of a machine and pullling a lever. Video games can handle this ritual quite easily. The question becomes what kind of "money" will be at stake?