We already have systems that create unprecedented wealth: industrial economies. And yet we let billions live and die without proper healthcare, nutrition, housing, and so on. The promise you make -- that with increases in productive capacity will clearly come an end to want -- has already been shown to be a lie. Please stop peddling it.
Quality of life has greatly improved since the 1970s.
Consumer goods have generally fallen in price (adjusted for inflation) while improving in quality relative to the 1970s, so we have become wealthier (using PG's definition of wealth):
Televisions, computers, smartphones, clothing (mass-produced apparel is cheaper due to global supply chains and automation), household appliances (items like refrigerators, washing machines, and microwaves are less expensive relative to income), air travel, telecommunications, consumer electronics, automobiles, furniture have fallen in price and gone up in quality.
Housing and healthcare are two items that have gone in the opposite direction. I think this is where AI and robots will make a difference. Houses can be 3D printed [1] and nursing and medical advice can be made cheaper using AI/robots as well.
Great, but what about the people who still starve to death? The ones who are left to die on the streets? Yes, those homeless now have phones, but I imagine that does little to mask the hunger pains. And unlike housing, food has not gotten significantly more expensive -- so what gives? The fact that we let this happen, even in the very heart of the richest nation on Earth, the richest nation in history, is proof positive that regardless of how rich the world gets, there's no guarantee that those riches will be used equitably. I agree that we've made massive strides; as such, making more massive strides is unlikely to change this dynamic.
