Op-Ed: It's time to shift our society to robotic labor and a basic income

The economy is in between gears right now, and that's a growing problem because as is true with all higher gears, we could be accomplishing so much more with so much less and prosperity could be greatly increased for not only the lucky few, but everyone. Well, let's look at the gears of capitalism, of which there have so far been three, before moving on to what fourth gear is, what's stopping us from it, and how we can achieve it. First gear was made possible by the invention of the steam engine, which allowed for the beginnings of industry and the bridging of great distances with trains and steam-powered ships. Second gear was made possible by the invention of electricity, which allowed for industrialization to go into overdrive while bridging even greater distances with the telegraph and telephones. Third gear was made possible by the invention of the computer, which allowed for full globalization and the connection of everyone to each other all over the world with information technology and the internet. So what is fourth gear?