Editing Magnifica Humanitas: A Plain-Language Overview (section)

== Work is more than income ==

This is one of the most important parts of ''Magnifica Humanitas'' for the '''Virtuous Programmer Initiative'''.

Leo XIV strongly rejects a view of work in which the worker is merely another component in a production system.

Work provides income, but its importance is much greater.

Through work people develop abilities, exercise responsibility, cooperate with others, support families, contribute to society, discover aspects of vocation, and participate in the creation and maintenance of the human world.

For this reason, work itself has dignity.<ref name="MHWork">Leo XIV, ''Magnifica Humanitas'', especially nos. 149–169, on the dignity and value of work during digital transformation.</ref>

This changes the question we should ask about automation.

The question cannot simply be:

<blockquote>
“How many workers can this technology eliminate?”
</blockquote>

A better question is:

<blockquote>
“How can this technology help human beings perform good work better?”
</blockquote>

Leo warns specifically against a situation in which workers must increasingly adapt themselves to the speed and demands of machines instead of machines being designed to support workers.<ref name="MHWork" />

That is an extremely important distinction.

Technology should be adapted to humanity.

Humanity should not be redesigned to fit technology.