✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

No-One Escapes the Permanent Underclass

borretti.me · 2,951 words · saved by 7 readers

Capital won't save you from disempowerment.

Shall I end this life a pauper? If AI can do all work at human level or better, what stops corporations replacing us all with AI? This is the permanent underclass meme. The idea is: within a few years, all white collar work will be automated by AI, at which point there is no social mobility. The main way people cope is, they tell themselves: if I work hard, accumulate capital, maybe join one of the big AI labs, I might secure my place in the future. I want to argue this is a fantastically short-sighted view: if there is a permanent underclass, you won’t escape it by owning property, or shares

Explore this link on the map →

saved by

related reading