Five Phases of the History of Labor

The first phase is the Manual Phase. In this phase human beings performed all labor using only their bodies. This phase probably never existed.
The second phase is the Wielder Phase. Such tools include hoes, shovels, swords (for warfare), hammers, bows (that is, archery), and so on. These tools had no source of power but the physical exertion of the wielded.
The third phase was the Operator Phase, brought on by the advent of power tools. Such tools include chainsaws, guns, cars, etcetera. They perform tasks far greater than question human can and they're powered by a legit power source, but they can do nothing without a human manipulating and holding the device in question at all times. By this point it can be said that guns are the driving force of battlefields and humans are only present on battlefields to operate the guns.
The fourth phase is the Manager Phase. Robots are directly the force doing the work. They don't require operators. However, humans are needed to give them instructions, maintain them, and so on. An example would be a semi-autonomous drone which run without an operator but are given instructions and mission information by human beings and activated by human beings.
The fifth and final phase is the Independent Machine Phase. Humans are not required for any part of the labor process, not even maintenance and production. These machines are autonomous and they may quite possibly be sentient.

Thoughts?

Dassault Papillon: Why do you believe the manual phase probably never existed?

admin: Because human beings have probably always been using tools of some kind, be it a rock or a stick found on the ground or something made from bones.

Dassault Papillon: See, I seem to recall there was once a time when we didn't.

OK, I'll admit, it's debateable if we were really "humans" then. Neanderthals had already pretty much spread around the world, while our ancestors were living in a single valley in Africa. Then all of a sudden, we find humans started producing a whole bunch of tools and such, and began conquering the world. Archeology is cool like that.

The leading theory, from what I've read, is that there was some mutation that allowed the human brain to make use of recursion. Does that small mutation disqualify us from being the human species though? No. We just weren't very self-aware.

Despite that, humans do plenty of work without tools of any kind. Just now I pulled some weeds from the garden with my bare hands. Manual phase of labor is alive in swinging in some ways.