When we think about a future with widespread AI-caused unemployment, many of us worry about the loss of meaning and purpose that comes with not having a job. But this concern might be misplaced. Historically, there have been classes of people who didn’t need to work, like the aristocracy, and they seemed to do just fine. They spent their days attending parties, playing games, and socializing. They didn’t suffer from angst or feelings of uselessness.
The problem isn’t that people won’t know what to do with themselves without jobs. The problem is that without jobs, people will struggle to survive. We need to worry about the poverty and civil unrest that will come with massive job loss, not the lack of meaning.
Our society has conditioned us to think that jobs are essential to our well-being, but this is a relatively recent development. For most of human history, people have struggled to make ends meet. And even today, many people around the world lack access to basic necessities like clean drinking water.
So, when AI takes our jobs, we won’t suddenly find ourselves living in a world of leisure and luxury. We’ll be more likely to struggle to get by. We need to focus on finding ways to ensure that everyone’s basic needs are met, regardless of whether they have a job or not.
## The Aristocracy: A Model for a Jobless Society?
While the aristocracy might seem like a model for a society without jobs, it’s not a very good one. The aristocracy was a small, privileged class that lived off the labor of others. They didn’t contribute to society in any meaningful way. In a post-work society, we need to find ways to ensure that everyone contributes and everyone benefits.
## The Real Danger of AI-Caused Unemployment
The real danger of AI-caused unemployment isn’t that people will be bored or lack meaning. It’s that people will be poor and desperate. We need to start thinking about how to create a society that provides for everyone, regardless of whether they have a job or not.