Is this the way the world is going?

[Thiscantgoonlikethis]

Lack of jobs. 70% unemployment after AI. 2/3 of people currently calling themselves ‘content creators’. No one has money to buy actual stuff anymore, apart from the basics. Lots of people unemployed, no money, constant scrolling on SM watching ‘content’. All trying to make it as ‘content creators’ as views and engagement is the only income viable. It’s a highly precarious income, constantly trying to out do and ‘max’ ourselves for viewing numbers and subscribers. No one has any real purpose, all children, pets, experiences are used for content. Education becomes devalued, no need for school as childcare anymore, whole families can sit and scroll together. School attendance gets in the way of ‘experiences’ anyway. No one works menial jobs as they are all too anxious, depressed, distracted and of course thats nothing to do with social media, it’s a lack of reasonable adjustments and shouldn’t their employers know that they can’t serve customers in their customer service job as it’s too triggering/ anxiety provoking. All pets have to match furniture. There’s no social care. We all die with our hands in claw like positions with very tired thumbs.

I don't agree that u need to go online to meet people if u crave human interaction unless U physically can't get out of your house ! I thinks it's more isolating!!! X

I think the very bleak outlook presented by the OP isn’t likely to happen in the short term.

But in the medium to long term, the human race is toast. I’m not miserable about that, or upset. I live a very full and active life and as I stated, it’ll see us out. And you can sit there thinking everything is rosy in the garden if you like. But there are very clear signs humanity has peaked and we’re on the downward curve.

Mine does. Cat’s fur is 80% white 20% grey, my soft furniture (carpets, sofa, curtains) are grey and covered in her white fur.

Why just the UK?
Are you arrogant enough to think that no other counties have the internet or something?
AI is just as popular worldwide. If anything poorer countries will be more fucked as they will be even more affected by the massive water resources needed to power it.

I agree the world will look very different in even 5, 10 years time let alone 50 and in many ways it is very scary. I find it depressing that so many people are happy to outsource their thinking and creativity to AI. But on the other hand there are also massive benefits to it in terms of health, innovation etc. We just have to make sure that its used the right way.

Jobs won't cease to exist. The more machinery we use the more oversight and maintenance they will require. Not to mention we have the power to make the change. In the same way as when companies outsourced customer service to overseas, when enough people complained and left for their competitors they bought it back. Huge savings aren't worth it if you dont have any customers. If you want an actual person to have oversight over your banking, or write the books you read, or diagnose and treat your medical issue then make a noise and refuse when companies try to give you an AI alternative.

IQ is no longer rising. It’s begun to decrease.

Anyone who feels sorry for themselves should watch BBC’s Storyville called Welded together. About a young woman in Belarus. Who has an alcoholic mother and earns her living as a welder. The only woman in a mans world.
It is a depressing and sad but true documentary.

I hope that you won’t feel sad about the world around you in the UK once you have watched it.

In fact I wish it was compulsory viewing in schools.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/05/journalist-taking-on-tech-fascists-silicon-valley

Adjacent to the conversation.

I was a zero hours contract worker
I am out of work because of the government trying to “help” the zero hours contract workers

Please I beg governments, when you think you have a bright idea to help a section of society. Please don’t.

Please stop and think what the people you are penalising in order to “help” others will do

In my case and the case of everyone else who worked for not just the particular company I worked for but a lot of other companies who operate like this company. They have stopped giving work to the very people you were trying to help

No good guaranteeing a certain amount of work based on previous work hours. If those work hours are Zero.

So thank you very much to all those who waved this bill through and who can’t see the obvious issues it was going to cause to the very people it was supposedly going to help

A lot of the problems today stem from governments who don’t think from anyone else’s point of view

They have this mindset of helping and don’t think about where their policies could lead

In this case, just the beginning of more unemployed workers and a bigger benefits bill.

Try doing that to someone with dementia, fragile skin, pain, cancer, acute anxiety, delerium, a fracture or very low bmi.

So sorry to read this @FairKoala

The predicament you and other zero hours workers find yourselves in is not difficult to predict if this amateur government even took 1 minute to think beyond their shallow ideological goals. Talk about the law of unintended consequences. Labour's misguided attempts at helping people to get secure employment has only seriously hurt the economy and the young, old and employees of every age to find jobs at all.

The government should focus on doing the difficult job of creating economic growth that benefits everyone. No, let's just pass a standalone law that outlaws bad things because that must surely go according to plan.

Nope. We’re just in a period of adjustment just like we were during the agricultural and industrial revolutions. We’re also dealing with political and economic volatility on a global scale - again phases of which we have been through before, adapted and survived. That is the beauty of human beings - our creativity and adaptability. AI can’t replace that. Not saying it won’t be painful to live through, but I have every faith we will come out the other side.

Not yet because the generation is keeping things less dystopian but it seems to be going that way. This thread might be onto something in 10-15 years

Actually maybe even sooner. Yeah I think sooner. We are in early stages. It won't be be for everyone.
.

A lot of folk are doing very well these days. Most people. However, if the world population doesnt stop increasing there will be big trouble in a few years.

Yup. Gen Z are 16-29, a large chunk of them won’t be working and not just because of youth unemployment.

@Thiscantgoonlikethis I did enjoy your last sentence

I don't think AI will replace 70% of jobs. That is not what is happening in real life except maybe a reduction of jobs at the entry level in certain sectors. Companies still have to find a way to train up junior staff to create the pipeline of workers. Until then, there is a transition period whereby companies are not hiring as much at the entry/graduate level.

However, the skillsets of people needed to navigate the age of AI will change. There will be less need for pure repetitive work, data entry and administrative roles. For example, secretaries and data entry clerks and similar office type roles will not survive.

What are needed are higher order analytical skills to work with the AI output. This requires critical thinking facilities. I am not sure the workforce is currently set up to do this. Too many workers do not have the requisite skillsets in the AI age. So there may be structural unemployment.

I Mean the older generation

It’s worse in the UK, didn’t notice the SM and phone thing as much in Europe. Still seem to value actual ‘living’.

Do you think there will be a short term need for more people with IT skills?

But we are having a jobs crisis, look on here, look at all the graduates out of work. I am on a forum for people on UC, so many posts now say ‘my child has left education and need their own UC claim, they are disabled, I am disabled’. It’s unprecedented. And I don’t think they’re faking it. We have never been more sick and unhappy.

I think, given the work done in robotics, we will have robots in care settings in the future.

I'm disabled, and I hate the idea. But I think it will likely happen.

Oh you can. It’s coming for all industries.

Japan use robotic devices and prototypes in elderly care due to a severe work shortage.

Why just the UK. Because I live in the UK.

Are you arrogant enough to think that no other counties have the internet or something? No, I fully understand that other countries have the internet.

What the actual fuck are you on about?

I will read up on this. I'm not surprised.