I disagree about the "finite number of high paying jobs", and the "finite number of houses".
You can always build more houses.
As for jobs... have you noticed that thing where programmers tend to create work for other programmers? The creation of a database engine means now you need db admins. The creation of an open-source OS means now you have sys-admin jobs.
Docker/Kube get created, now DevOps jobs are a thing.
LLMs get invented, people become 'prompt engineers'...
in a post-industrial society, where you have an entire country being fed by like 5% of the population working in agriculture, the majority of work isn't 'necessary' - if all Rolex advertising executives were to disappear tomorrow, life would go on just fine. But somehow, people are willing to pay for these jobs, which creates a demand for jobs that help the Rolex ad execs live better lives (high end sports coaches, fancy TVs/electronics, annoying smartphone apps...), and then you have demand for those newly created jobs to have their own set of 'useless' luxury goods and services...
so long you have enough people handling the 'basic' jobs - food, construction/trades, clothing, there's no reason I see that would prevent the rest of the society from engaging in self-indulgent, overpaid intellectual work.
You can always build more houses.
As for jobs... have you noticed that thing where programmers tend to create work for other programmers? The creation of a database engine means now you need db admins. The creation of an open-source OS means now you have sys-admin jobs.
Docker/Kube get created, now DevOps jobs are a thing.
LLMs get invented, people become 'prompt engineers'...
in a post-industrial society, where you have an entire country being fed by like 5% of the population working in agriculture, the majority of work isn't 'necessary' - if all Rolex advertising executives were to disappear tomorrow, life would go on just fine. But somehow, people are willing to pay for these jobs, which creates a demand for jobs that help the Rolex ad execs live better lives (high end sports coaches, fancy TVs/electronics, annoying smartphone apps...), and then you have demand for those newly created jobs to have their own set of 'useless' luxury goods and services...
so long you have enough people handling the 'basic' jobs - food, construction/trades, clothing, there's no reason I see that would prevent the rest of the society from engaging in self-indulgent, overpaid intellectual work.