Pulling Up the Ladder
The American Dream was always based on a simple bargain: the future will be better than the past if you put in the effort. But the new narrative coming out of the tech world suggests that the bargain is being canceled.
The “AI Anxiety” described in the WSJ isn’t just about robots taking jobs. It’s about the calcification of class. If intelligence - the one thing that allowed a smart kid from nowhere to compete with a tycoon - becomes a commodity owned by a few trillion-dollar companies, social mobility freezes.
A World Without “Next Year”
We are looking at a potential future where the gap between the “AI Haves” and the “AI Have-Nots” isn’t just a wealth gap; it’s a species gap. The insiders see a world of “universal high income” (a nice way of saying “allowance for the obsolete”) for the many, and god-like power for the few.
It is a chilling vision. The tech world thinks the American Dream is dying because they are the ones designing the replacement: a feudal system with better Wi-Fi. The question is no longer “Can I make it?” but “Will they let me in before they lock the gates?”