Back to the Middle Ages

Imagine a world in which almost everything is done by a machine. Machines make cars, TVs, MP3 players. Machines harvest crops, process and package food and send it to supermarkets. Machines diagnose and treat illnesses, and service customers over the phone (or web, whatever). The only things left for people to do are things that either can't be done by machine or that, for some reason, people prefer to have done by other people. Prostitution, for example. Waitering. (They can make robot prostitutes and waiters, but somehow it just isn't the same). Gardening.

What kind of an economy do we have when this is all achieved? It's what they call a feudal economy. There are a few barons of industry who own all the machines, and a lot of very low-paid workers slaving away in the service of the barons. The old feudal economy was based on land ownership. The new one would be based on ownership of machinery.

How are we going to avoid ending up like this? We're going to need a new system.