{"text":[[{"start":7.63,"text":"The writer is director of the Institute for Technology and Humanity at the University of Cambridge and co-author of ‘Should You Choose to Live Forever? A Debate’"}],[{"start":18.37,"text":"Are you worried about what you will do when machines can do everything better? We regularly hear warnings that AI will usher in “a new era of mass unemployment”, as London mayor Sadiq Khan put it recently. The implications of this are not just financial — work is how many of us find purpose. A 2024 study found that 93 per cent of participants experienced anxiety about meaninglessness in light of AI advancements. "}],[{"start":46.400000000000006,"text":"These worries are understandable. But this dystopian fantasy of uselessness is not inevitable. The idea that AI will make our lives meaningless is based on three fallacies."}],[{"start":58.940000000000005,"text":"The first we can call the winner-takes-all fallacy. This is the idea that humans need to be the best at an activity for it to be meaningful. After losing to Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo in a famous 2016 showdown, Go player Lee Se-dol quit the Chinese strategy game, saying AI “cannot be defeated”. But 10 years on, Go remains immensely popular. It turns out that we can find satisfaction in activities without having to beat everyone or everything else. I have run marathons — but never for a moment did I think I would win, let alone be faster than a machine. What mattered was doing the best I could, in a spirit of community and celebration."}],[{"start":103.87,"text":"Second is what we can call the survivalist fallacy: the idea that meaning requires a struggle to survive. If artificial general intelligence — AGI — caters to all our needs, then pessimists fear we will become infantilised. But most modern jobs can hardly be described in terms of epic struggle. This is a good thing. People who live hand-to-mouth want nothing more than to escape that state. If the necessities are guaranteed, more people can move up what American psychologist Abraham Maslow called the hierarchy of needs. That is, with physiological and security needs secure, we will be free to pursue belonging, esteem and self-actualisation."}],[{"start":148.7,"text":"Third is the presentist fallacy: the presumption that what we today call work is the best benchmark for meaningful human activity. There are fears that, without the jobs we have now, we will become what Yuval Noah Harari calls a “useless class” of “unnecessary people”. But most of what we consider work has only existed for a few decades. It is not clear that our ancestors would regard sitting at a desk sending emails as meaningful activity and equally unclear that we will mourn its loss to AI. "}],[{"start":185.57999999999998,"text":"We should be wary of thinking that the way we spend our time now is the only or the best way. While some people do find meaning in their jobs, there are plenty who are keen to quit them. In many wealthier countries, older people — who are more likely to be retired — report the highest levels of happiness of all age groups."}],[{"start":208.51999999999998,"text":"Change naturally causes anxiety. Indeed, with economic and social systems as they are, redundancy causes very real pain, financial and psychological. "}],[{"start":220.55999999999997,"text":"But we should be galvanised by the potential of AI to rethink these systems in order to allow everyone to lead meaningful lives. Better welfare — for example through universal basic income — is necessary but not sufficient. The conditions for a meaningful life touch on many more aspects of public policy. While meaning and purpose might feel very personal, the conditions for finding them are also structural. "}],[{"start":250.09999999999997,"text":"Freedom from labour should mean more than simply freedom to be a passive consumer — otherwise, redundancy will lead to ennui. Meaning comes from active engagement with life (and for some, what might lie beyond this life). Policy can support this."}],[{"start":268.65,"text":"“The wise use of leisure,” philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in 1932, “is a product of civilisation and education.” We should expand access to adult education to normalise the learning of new skills and interests throughout life. "}],[{"start":286.17999999999995,"text":"Active engagement also comes through community, which can be supported through better urban design, or by broadening participatory forms of governance that allow more people to be involved in the future of their neighbourhoods. And it can come from engaging with the rhythms of life beyond the human, which can be supported through better access to nature."}],[{"start":306.5799999999999,"text":"We cannot be complacent: poorly designed AI could foster dependency and undermine our connections. But it also presents an opportunity for us to rethink how we spend our time, and how we can arrange our societies so we spend more of it doing what matters to us most. "}],[{"start":326.50999999999993,"text":"Letter in response to this comment:"}],[{"start":329.0999999999999,"text":"Maslow’s pyramid and the liberating power of AI / From Shahid Mahdi, Director at EnerKnol; Expert in Energy Regulatory Policy, Critical Infrastructure and Cybersecurity, New York, NY, US"}],[{"start":352.4799999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776081622_7167.mp3"}