Today, as we stand in 2026 looking back, we don't see it coming, or maybe yes. But no matter whats the future looks scary for human labor. Most people are already in poverty, what will look like when AI and automatization be the prominent labor force?
This time it really is different
Let's be honests, since 2010s automation is entering a phase fundamentally unlike anything before it. Not just replacing our muscles, it also beginning to replace our brains.
For example, in the past, technological revolutions made horses obsolete because “there is no work a horse can do that a machine cannot do cheaper and better.” Now, human beings are becoming the new horses. And it is not because people are lazy or have degraded, but because automation (including physical robots and software algorithms) is penetrating, at an unprecedented pace, fields long considered the exclusive domain of humans.
This is the automation of mental labor, and its reach goes far beyond blue-collar jobs.
Why we should genuinely be worried
1. Automation is the inevitable result of economic logic
There is a cold formula:
Better technology + lower cost + faster speed = unstoppable automation.
Economics has no sentiment. When a robot can work 24/7, demands no salary (or maintenaince is lower than pay humans to work), and never complains, any profit-seeking organization will find it hard to resist. From warehouse transport robots to AIs that can draft text and analyze data, the cost advantage will inevitably lead to their large-scale deployment.
2. The traditional “safe” jobs are no longer safe
Don’t assume only assembly-line workers will be affected. Due AI the most vulnerable will be the white collar jobs because a great deal of white-collar work is also highly repetitive and predictable, exactly what AI excels at. Legal document review, preliminary medical image screening, basic coding, even some creative writing: AI is already making inroads in all these areas. In the future, an ordinary office clerk may be more likely to be replaced by AI than a plumber who has to handle complex, unpredictable situations on site.
3. This time, there’s no safety net of “new jobs”
In the past, agricultural mechanization freed up labor that moved into factories, and manufacturing automation gave rise to the service and information industries. But this time, there is an unsettling question: When the demand for labor in almost every sector is being eroded by automation, where will the new, abundant jobs for humans come from? We may be sliding toward a society of structural unemployment, not just cyclical, temporary job losses.
Where is the way out? From “must work” to “can choose”
Faced with this seemingly bleak future, let's review some deep-seated solutions.
The core idea is to radically change society’s concept of “work”: to transform work from a survival necessity into a freely chosen way of life.
It's look like "communism" will come from the development and abundance made by the capitalism and that the URSS and other dictatoril experiences was not necessary at all.🤣
Ok joke asside, here are the options:
- Universal Basic Income (UBI) is the most frequently mentioned policy tool. It refers to the government unconditionally giving all citizens a regular sum of money, enough to cover basic living costs. This would give people the freedom to pursue creative work, care for family, or retrain.
- Wealth redistribution. Some commentators note that such redistribution could be designed “without taking anything directly from the rich,” for example by using monetary policy innovations to fund a UBI. Or maybe taxing AI work and ending corporations loopholes to avoid tax.
- Redefining “value”. In a post-scarcity society, human value is likely to be found increasingly in interpersonal interaction, emotional empathy, artistic creation, and community service — areas that machines find hard (or should not be allowed) to fully replace. Handmade objects, live performances, face-to-face care: this “human warmth” will become incredibly precious.
- A new type of economy. Made by Humans can become a brand or economic area soon, the same way that organic or vegan products are today.
- Fewer humans. Already birth rates are diminishing around the world. It labor automatization can acelerate this trend and whitin decades humanity will find an equilibrium between amount of humans and labor. Someones consider the lower birth rates as a catasthrophy but they are seeing a world before AI and automatization. Mega cities can be a outdated thing in the future when humanity become rural again as more peoole go to live in rural areas or in social plots of land.
Conclusion: The choice still lies with humans
The true is that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. The fate of the horse came about because horses couldn’t actively shape their own future. We, as Humans, still have the capacity to make collective choices and to design a society where technology serves people, rather than discarding them.
Now it’s our turn to think: What kind of future do we want to live in?
Imagen from Unsplash