The value of human work

Ok another drift off my usual topics this week … but I just had to write this post after being completely inundated by ‘a message’ last week about … sorry about this in advance … but yes, it’s AI again! … No … Don’t tune out just yet, I promise this has absolutely nothing to do with the latest NVIDA this or [insert competitor here] that … hmmmm … Do NVIDIA even have a competitor? … That’s for another time!

Anyway … I was sent this article by Bernie Sanders on a DM (thank you James Bunton ) … Link to the Instagram article here.

TLDR: Bernie paints an undeniably bleak (think Blade Runner) picture of the future. He highlights the risks of AI and Automation being controlled by a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals and the social consequences that might follow if the benefits aren’t shared.

This struck a chord with me, because I also stumbled over an article last week by author and videogame enthusiast Joanna Maciejewska:

"I want Al to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for Al to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes." - Joanna Maciejewska

Ok … so with that in mind, we have to zoom out from Bernie’s article to then start asking the big question, what is the value of human work? What does that look like in an AI world?

Are we reaching a point in our existence when it’s not about the money? (sorry Jerry McGuire 🤣) … but that’s right … right? Shouldn’t it be about purpose, identity, and what society chooses to reward.

For all (well … most) of human history, you are what you do … Think of all those families with occupational surnames: Smith (blacksmith), Cooper (barrel maker), Carpenter (woodworker), Baker, Miller, Taylor, Fisher the list goes on!

Now think of the last time you went to some sort of event (family or work, it makes little difference) … How long into a conversation with someone new do you get: “What do you do” … “I’m a teacher” … it’s like a comfort blanket, the title we get from a job gives us structure, pride and belonging.

But … as Bernie is rightly drawing attention to … AI and automation are tugging at these social norms … (not wishing to sound too ‘John Connor’ in Terminator) …. But If the machines can teach, write, design, and even empathise, we humans have to ask:

What’s left that only we can do?

Just putting it out there nice and early it’s …  creativity, care, curiosity, humour, empathy, and the messy, magical bits of being a human living on the 3rd rock from the sun.

This is going to sound soooo orchestrated but as Mo Taufiq will testament, last week he told me I needed to read a book “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” … it’s like the stars are aligning for this article, as Naval talks in that about ‘leverage’ … and in Naval’s sense, leverage is how you multiply your effort without increasing your time.

In Naval’s writings there are three types of leverage:

Human : “You can scale your time by hiring people”

Money: “You can scale your time by putting your money to work.”

Permissionless: “Code and media are the new forms of leverage. They don’t require permission.”

So you can see Naval’s philosophy dovetails beautifully with our earlier discussion.

As AI and automation handle the labor part of leverage (robots) and the capital part (algorithmic investing, predictive models), human value shifts toward the code and media side … ie: creative leverage.

So going back to Bernie’s original bleak dystopian future … I know … I’m jumping around a lot … but bear with me … is there anything positive we can take away from this? (Instead of resigning ourselves to the possibility that the world will soon be ruled by billionaires and their AI factories?)

Actually, yes … several, if we zoom out and look at the broader picture:

The shift from “labour” to “leverage.”

For centuries, economic value came from labour … your physical or mental effort translated into money. Now, with AI, value might increasingly come from leverage: your ability to use machines, not compete with them.

The person who knows how to guide AI, (to ask the right questions, apply the right judgment, and create something meaningful with it) will be far more valuable than the person who can simply complete a task faster.

Like it or not, we’re moving from a world that rewards repetition and compliance to one that rewards creativity, discernment, and emotional intelligence.

A new social contract might emerge.

If automation takes over many of the jobs that currently keep people fed, society will have to rethink how it distributes wealth and dignity.

That’s where ideas like universal basic income (UBI) … which is already being considered by think-tanks here in the UK (and likely other countries too), shorter working weeks, and citizen dividends come in.

It’s not about “getting paid for doing nothing”, it’s about recognising that people have value beyond their economic productivity … think about, raising children, caring for relatives, creating art, or volunteering. These are vital contributions that capitalism hasn’t historically compensated, but AI may finally make room for them.

Imagine if work became less about survival and more about self-actualisation. That’s a pretty radical (and beautiful) future vision.

Human work as meaning-making.

Machines can process data, but they can’t find meaning in it. They can generate a poem, but they can’t feel the ache that inspired it. They can make decisions, but not moral ones.

The “value of human work” in an AI-driven world might not be in output, but in context.

We’ll be the interpreters, the storytellers, the bridge between cold logic and lived experience.

We might end up doing less work in the traditional sense … and who doesn’t want that … but the work we do will carry more emotional and cultural weight.

In summary

Bernie’s tone is alarmist, but that alarm might be exactly what pushes us to make AI serve people instead of the other way around.

The paradox is: as machines get better at being “productive,” we humans might finally get the chance to be more … well …. er … human.

Less time spent grinding out spreadsheets (yes please! 🤣) … more time nurturing relationships, ideas, and communities.

That’s my optimistic version of Bernie’s post, and it’s entirely possible … but only if we design our economies and values around it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts … what does meaningful work look like in an AI-powered world? And What does ‘work’ mean to you when machines can do almost everything?

#AI #FutureOfWork #Leadership #Humanity #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #MeaningfulWork #TechnologyAndHumanity