What do you do if you don’t need a job?

Imagine a future where all your basic needs were met and you didn’t need to earn a living. You could be intentional about all the time you had.

What would you do?

Take a 5 Minute Break…

INSIGHT ^{_{(what we need)}}

With basic needs met, would you pursue meaningful contribution?

You may no longer need to work.
We are standing at one of the most consequential forks in human history. For centuries, our economy was built on extraction — first of land, then labor, then attention. Then, once that model was proven, how to scale that extraction to the tilt: economies of “more,” fueled by a veil of despair amplifers to keep people hooked. But as artificial intelligence accelerates toward its own maturity, we are approaching a tipping point where our economic engines may no longer need us for productivity. Bypassing the dystopian or utopian outcome of Ai’s maturation, we will likely hit a scenario where many people (the estimates range from 40% - 99%) will no longer be productive agents of the workforce. And if governance forces get organized, we could have our basic needs met with a universal basic income (UBI).

A fork doesn’t mean binary choices.
The ‘coulds’ are many but the camps are essentially binary: we are destroyed or saved. And I don’t know about you, but binary thinking doesn’t tend to hold up. The white paper AI 2027 warns that by the end of this decade, AI systems automate much of their own research & development, leading to rapid gains in capabilities. The paper lays out consequences of skimping on AI safety, laying out two plausible endings: The “Race”: a high speed, geopolitical competition, shortcutting safety, and adding more risk towards our eventual demise. Or, the “Slowdown”: where we exercise more caution, safety checks, players who put the future of humanity before personal greed and power — and humanity is saved, yey.

We could build a ‘Meaning Economy.’
Let’s assume for a moment that we come to our senses with some perspective, and fall somewhere along that binary spectrum closer to the “Slowdown” route. Where we hold our humanity precious and relegate AI to its ingenious narrow functions to free us up towards more meaningful interactions, at a very low distributed cost. We could build an economic framework that suggests that the next great source of value won’t come from what we produce but from what we make meaningful. This isn’t my term, but one that traces back to early sociologists and futurists exploring post-scarcity economies (but its relevance has never been sharper with the recent predictions of how fast AGI and ASI could be upon us). Without the need to ‘make ends meet’ and work jobs, and with AI safety measures in check, we could find ourselves reprioritizing our intentions.  

Meaning-making becomes the last differentiator.
In a world where generative systems can write, paint, compose, and code at near-zero marginal cost, what becomes scarce is not content but context. It will matter less that you can produce, and more that you can guide, frame, connect and integrate. In a Meaning Economy, our ‘job’ is to metabolize the firehose of possibility into something that enhances collective wisdom and connection. We need to get real about how to harness AI as a meaning multiplier rather than a doom maker. Aaron Ginn (who recently wrote a Washington Post op-ed called “AI extremists are peddling science fiction”) sums up this meta meaning-making beautifully: “The question is not whether AI will “wake up.” The question is whether we will meet it with paranoia or perspective. If we choose realism, AI can remain a tool for progress, not a canvas for dystopian fears or utopian dreams.”

Not promising unicorns and rainbows.
This perspective shift is existentially important because AI will happily accelerate us toward distraction, noise, and hyper-novelty if left unguided. Then who knows where we go from there if we lose the kill switch. The question is whether we let this artificial arbiter flatten us into consumers, or whether we put humanity first — and possibly use it to buy back time to focus on what we are capable of doing when we don’t need to earn: find coherence and alignment, make sense of who we are without being production units, and intentionally look for shared meaning and connection while we are still here.

INSPIRATION ^{_{(what i want)}}

I purposefully choose a simple, principle-based analog example for my inspiration on this one because it highlights the value of someone’s story-making (and not their salary-making).

Storyworth: a keepsake collection of the stories and images that make up real life.

Capturing the notion that ‘everyone’s story is worth sharing.’

One of my favorite examples of this meaning-making impulse in action is this deceptively simple platform: every week, it sends your chosen loved one a single question about their life. They reply in their own words, and at the end of a year, Storyworth turns their answers into a keepsake book.

It’s a ritualized process of meaning retrieval — helping people stop chasing the future and instead articulate and preserve their lived experiences. This is exactly what the Meaning Economy calls for: a slowing down to reflect, a reclaiming of narrative, a turning point where we start asking not “what’s next?” but “what matters?”

INNOVATION ^{_{(what i wish for)}}

JoyCraft: a vocation that makes your life rich through contribution. 

The opposite of a job; the anti–side hustle.

A platform that connects citizens to a curated menu of meaningful contributions — caregiving shifts, micro-learning cohorts, local repair projects, mentorship circles — all designed to amplify human presence, not just output. In the coming age of automation and universal basic income (UBI), we will need ways to opt out of the endless chase for productivity and opt into what is most nourishing and contributive.

At its core is a companion AI layer — what I call Ambient Intelligence(TM) — that functions less like a personal assistant and more like a sense-making partner. It would learn your values, energy rhythms, and interests, then gently surface opportunities that match your unique form of contribution. Instead of doomscrolling, you might get nudged to call an elder, plant a tree, or participate in a community dialogue about regenerative policy.

The point isn’t to maximize earnings but to maximize aliveness. In the Meaning Economy, work becomes a way of weaving significance into the fabric of our days. Where we offer or trade joy.

What’s your JoyCraft?

Caveat: with a healthy dose of skepticism (and occasional cynicism), I write the below examples with some wincing - while recognizing I am well conditioned with fear-stricken tendencies not to lean into joyous possibilities because they seem ‘naive.’ Why can’t this be our future though?

🌱 Regenerative Acts

• Plant a Microforest: Join 10 neighbors to create a pocket of native biodiversity on a forgotten corner of land.

• Compost Club: Host a monthly kitchen-scrap drop-off for your apartment building to turn waste into soil.

• Repair Café: Volunteer to fix small appliances and clothes for community members — saving them from the landfill.

🤝 Relational Care

• Wisdom Calls: Spend 20 minutes on a call with an elder who wants to share a life lesson.

• Grief Circles: Facilitate or attend small groups where people can process loss — making grief communal again.

• Micro-Mentorship: Offer a single-session mentorship call to someone entering your field.

🎨 Creative Co-Creation

• Street Poetry Drop: Write or record a poem that gets anonymously dropped into someone’s inbox or physical mailbox.

• Neighborhood Art Jam: Host a weekend sidewalk mural event where kids and adults paint together.

• Sound Commons: Record ambient sounds of your city or nature walk to build a collective sound library of our times.

🧠 Sensemaking + Learning

• Collective News Digest: Join a pod that digests the week’s news and turns it into a single-page clarity brief.

• Ethics Jam: Monthly guided conversation on AI, governance, and future ethics — asking “What kind of world do we want?”

• Skill Swap: Learn a practical skill (like sourdough baking, basic carpentry, or storytelling) from another JoyCraft user.

💓 Acts of Micro-Repair

• Conflict Concierge: Help mediate small disputes in your neighborhood or online group with kindness.

• Loneliness Outreach: Send a check-in message or deliver tea to someone living alone in your building.

• Emotional First Aid: Take a training and be “on call” for a day to support someone through panic or heartbreak.