Yes, Zeitgeist is
communism in another skin. Adding computers and robots does not make a planned economy work.
Actually the idea of "machines doing all the work" wouldn't be a too alien idea to the people leading the industrial revolution. The machines are indeed doing almost all of it now if you take into account what "work" meant back then.
The problem is that no technology can take away human drives. Notice that since the industrial revolution people don't work that much less, they just work on other things than machine work.
Computers were supposed to do all the rest of the work that machines couldn't do but in the end that didn't lead to less work for the humans. Burn out is a word that was invented quite recently and used extensively during the past few decades.
Our relation with machines is not as simple as 'they do all the work'. We are in a cybernetic loop with society. You cannot easily transplant that to another system of our liking.
Hey guys, I just thought of a brilliant idea, why don't we let children learn whatever the hell they want and form their own opinions instead of force feed them bullshit from either side? Because I've got to tell you, I've been on the receiving end of that and it's exceptionally unpleasant when morons tell you to learn something or accept it without giving any reasoning behind it.
Yeah, THERE is a sure-fire way to destroy society...
Let's produce a generation of people whose skills completely do not match societies demand.
You're reasoning from a very privileged position. Not all humans on earth can do just what they like because the whole thing would collapse.
It is not something you could do without brutal consequences.
You lose specialized people and gain people who can in fact think. I don't know what the consequences would be though.
No, it doesn't work that simple.
For one, MOST people on earth do not feel the need to think for themselfs on this scale very much.
So you won't get back a lot 'thinkers' for those uneducated workers.
Then the thinkers, they would thin out as well.
They would become unappreciated and noone would want them around.
Being dumb would become the prevailing local maximum.
It would create a disaster as companies wouldn't be able to hire people with the right skills.
Now i agree that there are exceptions. There are always exceptions.
And a human cannot continue personal development without a certain degree of freedom.
But most people don't care about reaching this kind of enlightment and just want to work for food so they can have kids and support their family.