The human brain is wired to fear scarcity and solve problems. When technology and capitalism fulfill most basic needs, this problem-solving instinct doesn't disappear. It latches onto more abstract, often social or political, issues, fueling neurosis and creating a population that externalizes its anxieties onto the world.

Even if AI is a perfect success with no catastrophic risk, our society may still crumble. We lack the political cohesion and shared values to agree on fundamental solutions like Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would be necessary to manage mass unemployment, turning a technological miracle into a geopolitical crisis.

Influencers from opposite ends of the political spectrum are finding common ground in their warnings about AI's potential to destroy jobs and creative fields. This unusual consensus suggests AI is becoming a powerful, non-traditional wedge issue that could reshape political alliances and public discourse.

Ross Douthat points to a surprising social trend as a warning for a future of abundance. Despite unprecedented freedom, people are having less sex and forming fewer relationships. This suggests that addictive digital entertainment can overpower even fundamental human drives, a bleak indicator for a society with unlimited leisure.

Left-leaning parties are losing worldwide because they offer economic solutions (e.g., more government programs) to what is fundamentally a cultural problem. Voters feeling existential anxiety from globalization and social change are drawn to the right's message of nostalgia and tradition, not the left's policy proposals.

The argument that the US must race China on AI without regulation ignores the lesson of social media. The US achieved technological dominance with platforms like Facebook, but the result was a more anxious, polarized, and less resilient society—a Pyrrhic victory.

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.

Public backlash against AI isn't a "horseshoe" phenomenon of political extremes. It's a broad consensus spanning from progressives like Ryan Grimm to establishment conservatives like Tim Miller, indicating a deep, mainstream concern about the technology's direction and lack of democratic control.

The true danger isn't partisan bickering but the collapse of shared cultural institutions like family, faith, and community. These provided a common identity and purpose that held the nation together, and their erosion leaves a void that politics cannot fill, removing the nation's "center of gravity."