> Own the robots
Assuming the following generalization is true:
(Energy + Material) → (Human + Time) → Yield
...and that this monadic generalization can be referred to as “Transmutation”, then:
(Transmutation) → Yield → (Transmutation) → Yield → (Transmutation) → …
...is also true, forming a transmutation chain.
These transmutation chains intersect upon world lines, forming trade networks. Humans currently have a monopoly on the transmutation process, and thus, all subsequent structures that process allows. That will not always be the case.
The industrial age increased the energy, material, and yield of transmutation while also reducing time. It also increased the speed on which yield is passed to the next transmutation process by while increasing the chain length. The overall network expanded because of these contributions. The fundamental human component remained the same, however. The delays between transmutation and critical bottlenecks of yield distribution in this network are where financial institutions reign.
With robotic transmutation, the energy variable changes dramatically. “Time value” is no longer a required energy input. Robotic transmutation has no concept of time, and thus, has no valuation upon it. This is not because the robot can't measure time, but because the humans that need the robot isolate the effects of time and decay from it. If the robot breaks down, a human fixes it, not the robot. Therefore, as long as the human/robotic symbiosis remains, the robot will never evolve to resolve the pressures of time value. Therefore, robots cannot establish the skill sets to manage time value pressures.
Humanity, for the foreseeable future according to my theories, will specialize to become a robotic workforces immune system. There will not be a revolt (Sorry social justice junkies, capitalists win again!) because robotic labor will provide access to frontiers previously inaccessible by today's configuration, specifically, deep earth mining and local space colonization.
