Is there any part of us that will never be replaced by automatic devices?

For some decades now, the development of cybernetic machines has been leading to the suppression of millions of jobs in the areas of production and services, to such an extent that many economists estimate that we will never return to a society of full employment. without a drastic reduction in working hours.

It is often remembered that some philosophers, such as Karl Marx or Bertrand Russell, had foreseen this situation, but it is forgotten that something quite similar had been proposed by Aristotle, Descartes and even Nietzsche himself. In the 4th century BC, the first had assured that if machines could work alone and obey the orders of their masters, they would no longer need to use slaves or workers as "animated instruments." When the division between those who rule and those who obey disappeared, a city of free and equal citizens could be founded. Two thousand years later, Descartes would not propose anything different. Scientific and technological progress would allow, in his understanding, the advent of a society of gentlemen dedicated to study and creation. But this promise began to be put into crisis when other philosophers made an obvious objection: if automata can replace us, isn't it because we are also obedient automatons? Is there any part of us that will never be replaced by automatic devices?

From its very origins, philosophy linked the problem of freedom and equality with the question of machines, and this conceptual legacy continues to have consequences today.