What to do in the age of AI and robotisation
By Simon Kaiwai | Kaiwai permaculture blog
For decades, we were told the same story: Go to school, get a degree, find a stable job, work until retirement. This was supposed to be the path to success and security. But in the age of artificial intelligence, automation, and economic instability, this path is not just failing—it’s disappearing entirely.
AI can now write better than journalists, code faster than engineers, and diagnose patients more accurately than doctors. Jobs that once lasted a lifetime are vanishing in months. The truth is, if a career can be automated, it will be.
So what does this mean for those entering the workforce today? Is there any secure career left? The answer is both unsettling and liberating:
The only secure career in the age of AI is not a job. It’s building a life.
The Illusion of Career Security
Most people today still believe in the career myth—the idea that if you work hard enough, get the right degree, and follow the right path, you’ll be safe. But this belief is built on a foundation that no longer exists.
Consider the reality:
The majority of university graduates end up working in fields unrelated to their degrees, many saddled with debt they can’t escape.
Automation is replacing jobs at an exponential rate—not just low-skill labor, but high-skill work as well.
The economy is built on artificial scarcity—jobs, wages, and resources are controlled by centralized entities that benefit from dependence, not independence.
The real crisis is not just job loss—it’s the dependence on a system that no longer guarantees survival.
The problem isn’t just that AI is replacing jobs. The problem is that humans have been trained to depend on jobs for survival instead of learning how to live without permission from a collapsing system.
Why the System Wants You Dependent
The modern economy is not designed for your independence—it’s designed to ensure that you remain a worker, consumer, and dependent.
The formula is simple:
You’re trained to rely on external systems for survival—wages for food, rent, and basic needs.
You’re placed in debt before you even start—student loans, mortgages, and bills that keep you locked in wage slavery.
You’re told that success means participation, not autonomy—choosing a career path rather than questioning the system itself.
But what happens when the system collapses? What happens when automation eliminates millions of jobs, and centralized control tightens its grip?
The ones who thrive will not be those who scramble for new jobs—they will be those who never needed the system to survive in the first place.
The UBI Trap: Why Universal Basic Income is Not the Answer
In response to job loss from automation, some advocate for Universal Basic Income (UBI)—a system where the government provides a guaranteed income to every citizen. On the surface, it sounds like a solution. But in reality, it’s just another mechanism of control and dependence.
🔹 UBI Disincentivizes Creativity and Productivity
Work is not just about income—it’s about purpose, contribution, and engagement with the world.
When people are handed money without producing value, they lose the drive to create, innovate, and build anything meaningful.
Studies have shown that when people are given free money without purpose, they often experience depression, stagnation, and loss of direction.
🔹 UBI Creates Total Dependence on the System
If your survival comes from government handouts, you are completely at the mercy of the conditions they impose.
Governments can restrict access, demand compliance, or cut off payments for “wrong” behavior.
What happens when inflation skyrockets, and the “basic income” is no longer enough?
🔹 Historical Warning: The Bitter Harvest and the Dangers of Government-Controlled Resources
A perfect example of the dangers of total dependence on the state can be found in The Bitter Harvest, which documents the Soviet Union’s forced collectivization policies in the 1930s.
Food was not scarce—Ukrainian farmers (Kulaks) were producing more than enough grain to feed the population.
However, the Soviet government seized their harvests, taking the food in exchange for a worthless fiat currency that could not buy real goods.
Farmers were left with nothing to eat, and when they tried to resist, they were labeled "enemies of the state."
The result? The Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed millions in 1932-1933—not because of food shortages, but because the state-controlled all distribution and withheld it from the people.
This is the true consequence of UBI and centralized economic control. When you rely on the state for survival, you are at the mercy of whoever controls the system—and history has shown that control is rarely benevolent.
UBI is not a safety net—it’s a cage. The only real security is owning your life and resources, not waiting for a paycheck from a collapsing system.
The Only Real Security: Building a Life of Abundance
The true solution is not another career shift—it’s a complete paradigm shift.
Real security is not found in a paycheck. It’s found in:
Owning your time—not selling it.
Growing your food—not buying it at artificial prices.
Building resilient communities—not relying on centralized supply chains.
Creating value that cannot be automated—skills, relationships, and knowledge rooted in natural intelligence.
The goal is not just survival—it’s abundance. A life where you have more than enough, so you can give freely and reject any imposed authority that seeks to control you.
The Future is Not Something You Enter—It’s Something You Build
Most people will wait for the system to fix itself. They’ll hold out hope for another job, another government program, another false promise of security. But the truth is, the system is not broken—it was built to keep you dependent.
The ones who thrive won’t be those waiting for a paycheck or a handout. They’ll be the ones who take responsibility for their own existence—those who cultivate land, master valuable skills, create networks of abundance, and refuse to be ruled by artificial scarcity.
The only secure path forward is not a career—it’s a life that no one else has control over.
So ask yourself: Will you remain a product of a collapsing system? Or will you rise and become the creator of your own future?
The choice is yours. But the time to act is now.
