On Wed, 18 Sep 2013 06:27:25 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

snip
This will go on on the scale of decades, the food will go stale.

Suit yourself, Mr. Ostrich.
snip

-- coming soon to your community, or even your household...

While both long-term multi generational and abrupt processes
certainly occur, history seems to indicate self-generated
changes in the human environment are rapidly increasing in
both frequency and rapidity. The shift from hunter-gatherer
to farming took thousands of years, and there are still
small hunter-gatherer bands, excluding the urban "dumpster
divers." The digital social media change did not require
even a decade. Therefore it seems an abrupt "tipping point"
change is more likely than a gradual socio-economic
mutation.

The key question seems to be that if in our current
socio-economic environment, almost everything from social
status to material possessions depends on "work," what
happens when it "disappears," and how large of a fraction of
the population which is unemployed/dispossed can be
tolerated before gross instability occurs? Detroit,
Chicago, LA, and Philadelphia are the canaries in the coal
mine.

Although somewhat dated, you may find these books of
interest, as these contain actual data and not just
opinions/ polemics:

http://www.amazon.com/End-Work-Decli...end+of+work%22

http://www.amazon.com/When-Work-Disa...+disappears%22

and many new publications

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...ymen t+issues