The Job of the Future
Finding Purpose
Brisbane, December 2024
TL;DR: When machines do everything perfectly, the only job left is being imperfectly human. Finding purpose is the one role AI can’t automate.
The job of the future isn’t a specific role – it’s the capacity for purpose itself. When AI handles every task that can be described, the only irreplaceable skill is knowing what’s worth doing.
To Be or To Do?
Is the future something that happens to you (”to be”) or something you create (”to do”)? We can’t predict the tsunami of change coming our way, but we can decide how we swim.
The question isn’t “what will happen?” but “what will you do about it?”
This hinges on a fundamental choice: Determinism vs Free Will.
The future is either written or improvised. I’m betting on improv – mostly because it helps me sleep at night.
I believe we inhabit a world where individuals act freely, randomly, and often contradictorily. The future is a patchwork of choices, shaped by billions of people bending the timeline every day.
Even if you lean toward the deterministic camp, let me ask you this: Life happens to all of us, sure. But isn’t how we deal with it the only thing that separates a protagonist from an NPC (Non-Player Character)?
We have to act as if the future is at least 50% ours to create. Because if we don’t... well, what else is there to do? Sit on the couch and wait for the credits to roll?
Rethinking Utopia
Indulge me in a thought experiment.
What if the elusive promise of abundance –the Marxist utopia where we picnic in the park, create art, and joyfully sing “Kumbaya”– isn’t realized by seizing the means of production?
What if it is realized by Silicon Valley?
Imagine a world where machines handle the drudgery. GDP runs on autopilot, managed by AI systems that self-improve while we sleep. The economic pie expands until it is so large that scarcity becomes a choice, not a default.
In this scenario, what do we do with our “expensive human meat computers?”
Would a Universal Basic Income emerge to cover our Maslow hierarchy? And if it did, how would we spend our days? Would we paint masterpieces? Would we debate philosophy? Or would we just doom-scroll into oblivion while eating synthesized grapes?
Did I just argue that late-stage capitalism might accidentally usher in the communist dream?
Motherfucker… ain’t no way.
Hold that thought.
When Shift Happens
If the tech giants hoarding Nvidia GPUs like dragon’s gold are correct, AI will be the most transformative technology in human history. They are literally building the brains and bodies right now.
I know. Haters gonna hate, potatoes gonna potate.
Our brains aren’t wired to think in exponentials. We are wired to hunt deer and avoid lions. But ignoring the exponential curve doesn’t stop it from hitting you.
With this transformation comes a litany of questions:
What seemingly solid “sandcastles” will be washed away by the digital tide?
What does white-collar work look like when your pocket assistant has an IQ of 200?
What blue-collar jobs survive when humanoid robots become a reality?
What happens if natural language becomes the new programming language?
The promise of a stable, predictable life has never been a given. Just ask your grandpa when he was high on amphetamines and power-walking through the Ardennes in 1944 (there’s a book suggestion for ya).
Bet he didn’t see that one coming either.
Just Imagine
Consciousness is the superpower that allows us to simulate the future. Show me a squirrel that worries about the stock market in 2030. I’ll wait.
With great power comes great anxiety. Civilizations rise and fall. Things can go south. Believe me, the doomsday prophets have plenty of material.
But what if things go right?
So what will my job be when my personal robot does the laundry and the superintelligence in my pocket answers every email?
“Finally, time to pursue my true passions,” you might say (if you can’t think of any right now, you should probably start brainstorming).
If there’s still any doubt, here’s my favourite meme to the rescue:
My Piece of Advice
When machines do everything perfectly, the only thing left is to be imperfectly human. The future doesn’t hinge on predicting the next tech trend. It hinges on finding purpose.
Purpose is a job only you can fill. A vacancy that will always be open just for you.
Your job title is a rental. Your character is what you keep.
What I do: wake up and ask “why?” like a toddler – but aim the question at myself instead of my parents. Critical thinking, basically. When you step back from certainty, patterns emerge. I’m a sucker for that feeling. Some people chase adrenaline on rapids. I chase it in ideas.
Conclusion
We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that uncertainty is the only constant.
The future isn’t something to passively await; it is something to be done.
So, ask yourself: What will you do when the world turns upside down?
One thing’s for certain: In the end, cultivating your purpose will always be your job – no matter how the world evolves.
It’s the one job only you can do. It’s the one job AI can’t automate.
Thumos as the engine of purpose: ⬇️
Router Brain as the anti-thesis: ⬇️
What freedom from work actually requires: ⬇️
