The common analogy of AI to electricity is dangerously rosy. AI is more like fire: a transformative tool that, if mismanaged or weaponized, can spread uncontrollably with devastating consequences. This mental model better prepares us for AI's inherent risks and accelerating power.

Drawing on Cory Doctorow's insight, the immediate risk for workers isn't being replaced by a competent AI, but by an incompetent one. AI only needs to be good enough to convince a manager to fire a human, leading to a lose-lose situation of job loss and declining work quality.

Drawing on Frédéric Bastiat's "seen and unseen" principle, AI doomerism is a classic economic fallacy. It focuses on tangible job displacement ("the seen") while completely missing the new industries, roles, and creative potential that technology inevitably unlocks ("the unseen"), a pattern repeated throughout history.

Unlike a plague or asteroid, the existential threat of AI is 'entertaining' and 'interesting to think about.' This, combined with its immense potential upside, makes it psychologically difficult to maintain the rational level of concern warranted by the high-risk probabilities cited by its own creators.

The career risk from AI is not being automated out of existence, but being outcompeted by peers who leverage AI as a tool. The future workforce will be divided by AI literacy, making the ability to use AI a critical competitive advantage.

The narrative of AI replacing jobs is misleading. The real threat is competitive displacement. Professionals will be put out of business not by AI itself, but by more agile competitors who master AI tools to become faster, smarter, and more efficient.

AI's impact on labor will likely follow a deceptive curve: an initial boost in productivity as it augments human workers, followed by a crash as it masters their domains and replaces them entirely. This creates a false sense of security, delaying necessary policy responses.

The most dangerous long-term impact of AI is not economic unemployment, but the stripping away of human meaning and purpose. As AI masters every valuable skill, it will disrupt the core human algorithm of contributing to the group, leading to a collective psychological crisis and societal decay.

The narrative "AI will take your job" is misleading. The reality is companies will replace employees who refuse to adopt AI with those who can leverage it for massive productivity gains. Non-adoption is a career-limiting choice.