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No-One Escapes the Permanent Underclass
18 hours ago
- AI will replace all human workers if it surpasses human capabilities at lower cost, leading to a permanent underclass with no social mobility.
- The wealthy and corporate owners (permanent overclass) are also vulnerable because they become economically unnecessary and can be expropriated by the state when conflicts arise.
- Governments themselves will be replaced by AI due to faster decision-making and superior intelligence, leaving humans as ceremonial or obsolete.
- Even perfect AI alignment does not preserve human autonomy, as humans become dependent on vastly more powerful machines with no real control.
- Equity in AI companies or property ownership will not protect anyone from eventual disempowerment by machines and the state.
Gen Z is pushing back against AI – a reminder that the future isn't written
11 days ago
- Gen Z is showing significant backlash against AI adoption, contrasting with baby boomers who view AI as a revolutionary tool.
- Younger generations perceive AI as an existential threat to jobs and learning, feeling disenfranchised in a system that engineers their obsolescence.
- Baby boomers, having benefited from a stronger labor market, often dismiss concerns, but structural conditions have shifted, reducing opportunities for Gen Z.
- Gen Z faces an unavoidable AI-integrated society, with algorithms shaping daily life, leading to a loss of self-worth and agency over their futures.
- The article calls for alternatives to an AI-dominated future, emphasizing the need for dialogue and reclaiming control over technological integration.
How Should We Prepare Our Children for AI?
11 days ago
- The article highlights that despite AI advancements, AI tutors have not significantly improved education because learning requires a 'human in the loop' for meaning-making.
- It proposes rethinking education with a two-track system: a curriculum track for traditional credential-driven paths and a child-led track for portfolio-driven pursuits that foster motivation and perseverance.
- AI is commoditizing structured and mechanical tasks, but meaning must come before mechanics to prevent boredom and disengagement in learning.
- The concept of 'cognitive apprenticeships' is suggested as a practical approach with AI, combining human guidance and real-world projects to simplify expertise and encourage entrepreneurship from a young age.
- Overall, preparing children for AI involves focusing on meaning first through real-world projects, balancing structured curricula with child-led interests to equip them for a rapidly changing future.
There is no AI in Team
13 days ago
- AI may allow companies to stay productive beyond traditional team size limits (e.g., 10 and 150 people), reducing the need for team coordination.
- The vision is shifting from teams of humans to individuals working with AI, exemplified by tools like Claude Tag for Slack and the move away from team-centric software like Cursor.
- Solopreneurship is growing, supported by AI filling capability gaps, lowering startup costs, and enabling solo founders to manage tasks that previously required teams.
- China is rapidly advancing the 'One Person Corporation' model with government support, including subsidies and dedicated hubs, leveraging dense supply chains and AI tools.
- Despite AI's productivity gains, human collaboration (e.g., code review, pair programming) may remain crucial in small teams to catch errors and optimize workflows, especially as AI costs rise.
What will be left for us to work on?
15 days ago
- The AI as Normal Technology framework is useful for understanding AI's economic impact unless a future discontinuity like recursive self-improvement occurs.
- Recursive self-improvement (RSI) is unlikely to suddenly cause mass unemployment, as economic transformation from AI will be gradual over decades.
- Future jobs will change significantly, shifting from executing tasks to evaluating and controlling AI systems, emphasizing judgment and domain knowledge.
- AI currently excels at verifiable technical tasks but struggles with creativity and reliability, making it more a collaboration tool than a replacement for workers.
- The adoption of AI involves four stages: capability development, product innovation, early adoption, and slow structural adaptation taking decades.
- Historical examples like electricity show that realizing a technology's full potential requires reorganizing work and society, not just drop-in replacements.
- AI evaluation is becoming crucial and resistant to automation, shifting community focus from building AI to steering its development and ensuring alignment.
- Human roles will evolve toward operating and understanding AI systems, similar to how crane operators control machinery, rather than doing cognitive work directly.
- Superintelligence is unlikely to emerge solely from computational advances due to external bottlenecks like clinical trials, regulation, and societal integration.
- Personal adaptation involves balancing productivity gains with continuous learning and maintaining control over AI to avoid skill atrophy and dependence.
The Myth of the Solo Unicorn
20 days ago
- Ronald Coase's paper 'The Nature of the Firm' explained that firms exist because transaction costs (like finding talent and negotiating) make it cheaper to organize work internally than in the open market.
- AI dramatically reduces production and coordination costs, fueling the myth of a one-person billion-dollar company, but it does not eliminate trust costs, which are crucial for business survival.
- A product can be built solo, but a company requires trust systems for procurement, enterprise sales, compliance, and accountability—areas where a solo founder often fails.
- Procurement in large organizations prioritizes confidence and risk management over product demos, making it difficult for one-person companies to scale due to perceived single points of failure.
- AI can generate infinite content, but effective marketing relies on judgment, resonance, and timing—skills that remain scarce and valuable despite automation.
- The future lies in 'fractional enterprises': small, leveraged teams of full-stack executives orchestrating agents, contractors, and tools, balancing automation with human trust and accountability.
- Key metrics shift from headcount to revenue density (revenue per employee), as companies like WhatsApp demonstrated high value with minimal staff, signaling a new business model.
- AI enables more people to start companies with lower costs, likely increasing the number of firms and jobs, contrary to predictions of job loss from automation.
The Shape of Enshittification
20 days ago
- A study by University of Maryland and Google DeepMind analyzed 61,608 stories and found AI-generated writing has a distinct 'shape,' identifiable with 93% accuracy. Key differences include AI over-explaining themes, being more linear, relying heavily on bodily metaphors for emotion, referencing fewer specific texts/brands/places, and having less narrative diversity.
- The modern world excessively rewards left-brain analytical work (e.g., spreadsheets, KPIs) while squeezing out right-brain activities (meaning, beauty, awe), leading to a sense of emptiness and unreality as we try to quantify inherently qualitative human experiences.
- Cory Doctorow's term 'Enshittification' describes the predictable decline of digital platforms: starting with early adoption, scaling, critical mass, then degrading with ads and business model dominance, and finally decline as users leave.
- Social media is in advanced stages of Enshittification. Platforms like LinkedIn are filling feeds with ads and AI content, reducing organic reach. The rise of AI-generated interactions diminishes the human connection that motivates posting, pushing real sharing to private chats.
- How-to nonfiction book sales are plummeting (e.g., Tim Ferriss's sales down ~80% since 2022), as AI chatbots provide instant, tailored advice. However, books offering unique perspectives, big ideas, or personal transformation are thriving, indicating a shift from information to transformation.
- The internet is being mutated by content engineered for AI scraping rather than human readers, exemplified by companies like Shopify publishing self-serving listicles to manipulate chatbot answers, creating a feedback loop of low-quality, self-referential information.
- AI-generated 'slop' is infiltrating private conversations, with people using chatbots to craft messages, leading to impersonal and 'gross' interactions. This raises concerns about authenticity and the erosion of genuine human communication.
- The future of work is bifurcating into three areas: orchestrating AI systems, skilled trades/craftsmanship in the physical world, and human-to-human work requiring trust and discernment. Real, human-centric value will become rare and highly valued amidst an ocean of AI slop.
People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age
23 days ago
- AI adoption has led to increased work intensity and multitasking, not reduced workloads.
- People often use time saved by AI to take on new tasks, leading to crowded schedules and reduced focused work.
- "AI brain fry" describes a state where mental effort declines, with brain connectivity dropping by up to 55% when using AI tools.
- Individuals with a low need for cognition may become more productive but risk diminished mental capacities due to over-reliance on AI.
- Those with a medium need for cognition may intend to avoid AI dependency but often succumb to its seductive efficiency in stressful daily life.
- High-need-for-cognition individuals thrive on mental challenges and use AI strategically to enhance their capabilities without surrendering agency.
- AI can foster cognitive surrender, where users accept AI-generated content uncritically, undermining critical thinking and motivation.
- Strategies to resist AI entropy include asking for hints instead of answers, starting tasks independently, and rotating AI-assisted and non-AI tasks.
- Education systems should shift focus from content delivery to cultivating volition, curiosity, and the desire for cognitive complexity.
- AI lacks intrinsic desires, a self, and the capacity for growth through struggle, highlighting human uniqueness in aspiration and effort.

future of work

No-One Escapes the Permanent Underclass

Gen Z is pushing back against AI – a reminder that the future isn't written

How Should We Prepare Our Children for AI?

There is no AI in Team

What will be left for us to work on?

The Myth of the Solo Unicorn

The Shape of Enshittification

People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age