As AI commoditizes execution and intellectual labor, the only remaining scarce human skill will be judgment: the wisdom to know what to build, why, and for whom. This shifts economic value from effort and hard work to discernment and taste.
When facing economic ruin, humans don't become conservative. They enter a psychological 'lost domain' where they become risk-seeking, making high-stakes gambles like meme stocks or crypto in a desperate attempt to recover their losses in one move.
The coming economic shift won't create a simple rich-poor divide. It will create a new four-tiered social structure based on two key traits: judgment and entrepreneurial ability. The majority who lack both will be left economically non-viable.
Capitalism values scarcity. AI's core disruption is not just automating tasks, but making human-like intellectual labor so abundant that its market value approaches zero. This breaks the fundamental economic loop of trading scarce labor for wages.
Widespread AI-driven job loss will reduce consumer spending. In response, businesses will be forced to cut costs further by accelerating AI adoption, which in turn leads to more job losses and even lower consumption, creating a vicious cycle.