We could end up living “the bad dream of an economy in which robots do all the production, including the production of robots”, says the 1987 Nobel laureate Robert M. Solow. People may become better at emotional skills – the one realm where they might out-compete robots – but face-to-face interaction may continue to lose relevance. Instead of Skyping someone, writes Roth, you might invite their hologram into your living room. “Actual physical proximity may matter (perhaps) only for sex.”

Epicurus offering his view from the next world: “I am so glad I died when I did”, says he, “More divorce, fewer jobs, everything being done by faceless machines, little companionship, holograms coming to dinner(!), and all that is left will be sex! You are all welcome! Right mess you lot have made of the world!”

The beneficiaries of this grim new world will, of course, be the super-rich, so admired by
right-wing commentators, whose imaginations seem to be in dubious working order.