One of the most damaging assumptions in modern society is that someone has to lose in order for someone else to win.
The further back in time you look, the more common this assumption was. But it’s still around, even though it’s completely outdated.
But imagine a world in which win/win arrangements were the only arrangements.
Imagine a world in which the best way to get what you want is to give others what they want. This is the world I live in, and I’m going to lead you to it in this section of Freetirement Foundations.
Another of society’s great lies is that employment is inherently stable.
But more and more people are realizing something profound: the same technologies that are disrupting the employed workforce can enable you to create your own stability (without leaving your couch).
Technology has been putting people out of work since the plow was invented in 3000 B.C.
One instance of this occurred in the music industry, when the drum machine was invented in the 1980s.
Before then, music producers had paid human drummers $50 an hour (which could add up to thousands when recording a whole album).
But suddenly those producers could buy a Roland TR-808 for just $1195. This thing could potentially record infinite albums for that price (and it’d never bring cocaine onto their premises). This is why so many 80s records feature that digital drum sound—there’s no arguing with economics like that.
In 2024, job security is actually lower than ever.¹
And if you’re a freelancer, you’re not much safer.
Regardless of what work you do, unless you do it differently to everyone else*,* you have a big problem. Because if another person can do what you do, AI will likely be able to do it within the next decade too. And it will do it more efficiently, for no pay, and without ever needing a vacation.
For most employers, replacing humans with AI is—or soon will be—a no-brainer.
So what should you do?