Necessity is the mother of invention. Bringing in mass slave labor will disincentivize the need to improve automation and make it less likely to be invested in, stifling technological progress. We can come up with clever ways to improve productivity and the standard of living, or perpetually live in a stagnant society kept comfortable on the backs of the underclass.
Actaully, that's what Carl Sagan accused the Greeks of, irl that story about them having some semblance of a steam engine, but no need to use it for anything other than a piece of religious theatre/entertainment/a novelty/tourist attraction/gimmick.
On the other hand, one might argue that things are starting to look more like Ben Elton's Stark,
And they keep failing to put increasing automation/advancing technology into their equation. I've already lost a trade or two to it.
You don't need so many warm bodies to do work when you have machines. The car liberated the horse, and the Bobcat liberates ditch-diggers.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Bringing in mass slave labor will disincentivize the need to improve automation and make it less likely to be invested in, stifling technological progress. We can come up with clever ways to improve productivity and the standard of living, or perpetually live in a stagnant society kept comfortable on the backs of the underclass.
Actaully, that's what Carl Sagan accused the Greeks of, irl that story about them having some semblance of a steam engine, but no need to use it for anything other than a piece of religious theatre/entertainment/a novelty/tourist attraction/gimmick.
On the other hand, one might argue that things are starting to look more like Ben Elton's Stark,