I don't think it is a matter of the smartest minds of our generation trying to solve long term unemployment, but rather solving the problem of human effectiveness and happiness.
The idea is that we don't have to waste peoples lives on everlasting drudge work.
We've created this economic system collectively. We can change it. We have before. Around 1900 we were, on average, paying 40% of our wages for food and working a hell of a lot of hours to do it, mostly with farm work. Now we pay an average of 6% of our wages for food and work around 40 hours a week to do it.
It is better than it was and there is no reason it can't get better still.
There are people who will still work a lot -- I'm sure I'll be one of them, but we shouldn't really have to with how productive we are per capita and how truly cheap it is for people to live.