The Possible Utopia Of Wall-E
Or how we need to play our cards to prevent a dystopia
I loved the Pixar movie Wall-E when I saw it in 2008. But there was one piece that I resented about the movie. How it presented the upcoming advent of AI as bad for humanity. Although I have to admit a part of the resentment was in knowing that the likelihood of it being true is more than I would like.
Where Are We Now
Over the last decade the predictions have in some ways started coming true. We are more glued to our devices than ever. Netflix binge watching became a thing. In fact I have to admit I have a series streaming on Netflix as I type this. But that’s not the full picture.
For example there is a huge shift away from owning to experiencing. I have to agree that some of it is a different way of consumption. For example leasing vs purchasing cars. But there is also more of an interest in traveling and seeing new places. And experiences are more concerned with curiosity and respect of others. So we’re changing, but we should not look at it as a doom and gloom scenario.
Will We Be Able To Not Work
Let me put it this way. What is the one thing that we absolutely need? It has been true since the dawn of humankind, well dawn of life. Sustenance. Civilization has allowed roaming bands to move from a state where everyone is devoting their time to collecting and producing food to being able to sustain a population to where fewer can sustain more. To put how much we have advanced in this area. In The United States the population involved in agriculture has dropped from 60% plus in the 40s to 4% now. And the United States exports food. So restating the point, a negligible amount of human time can sustain our basic needs.
We as human beings are no longer working for fundamental survival, we are working because we don’t know of an economic system that can work with our caveman mind to give us meaningful lives without the struggle to survive.
What Do We Want
There are two questions. This first is the individual question on what makes life meaningful. And the second is the collective question on how we get there as a group. Since the first is difficult enough as it is, I’d like to talk about that for today. Some of the things related with happiness are:
- Sense of purpose and progress
- Community and belonging
- Physical exercise and nature
The first point is critical to us in the AI apocalypse. A large part of it is derived from our work life. And being able to redirect our desire for purpose would be the key to managing a new reality with work being optional.
In The Search Of Purpose
I don’t think anyone would question if it is possible to have a purpose outside of work. But most of us don’t go through the hard work of defining it for ourselves. Many of us do. Some of them are written about in history books. Most of us seek part of our purpose in family. For myself I know it has changed a lot over the last few years. From an obsession with solving problems, to leading organizations, to the present where it is a balance between family and helping others grow. It’s okay for it to not be fixed. After all if you are fulfilling your purpose how would it not change. But it has to be something that you can dedicate yourself to. But we need to change the equation so we can find our purpose at scale, otherwise we are looking at the dystopia presented in Wall-E. I don’t know how but I do know that without purpose we will never have the drive to do the hard, boring stuff that we need to do accomplish any enterprise. Almost as if we are hard-wired to take pride in the challenges we have overcome.
Sorry for not having any simple answers, although I think I did gain some more understanding for why I can get so addicted to strategy games.
