This article was featured in PALLADIUM 17: Universal Man. To receive your copy of the latest print edition, subscribe now.| Palladium Magazine
Advances in AI raise the question of human flourishing after employment. Can we be happy without work? History and psychology shed light on the answer.| letter.palladiummag.com
I am 25. These next five years might be the last few years that I work. I am not ill, nor am I becoming a stay-at-home mom, nor have I been so financially fortunate to be on the brink of voluntary retirement. I stand at the edge of a technological development that seems likely, should it arrive, to end employment as I know it. | Palladium Magazine
In A Study of History, Arnold Toynbee the Younger says that every big religion or ideology starts as esoteric mysticism with profound, transformative insight that’s understood only by a handful, which gives its followers immense spiritual power. The ones that get huge do it by dumbing down the core insight into something accessible to the masses, who lack the early adopters’ rare intellect and intense devotion, so the mass version also lacks the initial core of genuine insight.| www.benlandautaylor.com
“Honey, don’t worry,” I said, reassuring myself as much as her. “I see a big crowd up ahead. It’ll be fine.” We were wandering down Market Street in San Francisco, after sundown. Despite the towering buildings looming over us, designed to host tens of thousands of people, the streets were quiet and empty. Except, of course, for the shadowy figure shuffling around without direction on the other side of the street, and the occasional and deeply unnerving scream.| Palladium Magazine