Birth rates were already falling for economic reasons. Now the uncertainty is existential. College grads watch entry-level jobs vanish before they even start. The first rung on the ladder disappears as they reach for it.
We’re too busy to notice what’s happening. Most at risk are those least able to lift their heads. We’ve outsourced our bodies, our fitness, our minds. Jobs as we know them will shrink. The transition will be chaotic, stressful, and long enough to reshape a generation’s view of life’s purpose.
Work is more than a paycheck. It’s structure, identity, community. Remove it and you face a civilization-scale identity crisis. Many of today’s jobs are already empty. We sit in meetings that don’t matter, produce things that don’t last, pretending productivity is real.
The future won’t be simple. Optimists say new tech creates jobs. Pessimists say collapse. The truth lies in between, and it’s worse than either side admits. We’ll live there. Five, ten, maybe more years. In a world where some have work and others don’t, with no rules.
As a VC I watch “fundable projects” shrink in real time. Which sectors are AI-proof? None. Perhaps this is my last job. Saying it out loud makes the fear smaller.
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