What will people do?

Ok, there is a lot of justified angst about AI and jobs.  I have spent years thinking about the topic and there are few simple answers.  There is going to be a transition, and it is going to be rough for many. Skills just aren't what they used to be.

It is also a myth that high tech creates its own jobs in equal or greater numbers.  It just doesn't.  High tech is job destroying.  The good news isn't that it is wealth creating, because that wealth tends not to be local (i.e. on the High Street).  It tends to be in Silicon Valley, etc.  So, by all means, be a mini-Silicon Valley.  If you are not so, in some sense, the future is indeed grim until someone decides to pay your way.

But local has many options.  It doesn't have to be global linked 24/7.  It can grow its own food.  It can have emphasis on local markets and producers.  It can celebrate the artisan and the low carbon producers.  And it should.  That is part of the High Street Green.  And this is what people will do.

The US has had a true explosion of craft brewers.  There are thousands selling beers now in the US in a market once dominated by what now seems to be one company or maybe 2 or 3.  Breakfast cereal was similar.  Coffee shops... etc. etc.  It isn't just food.  With  maker/repurposing centres, it is possible to launch businesses that fix old clocks, repair expensive shoes, and grow unique orchids.  These can be more than supplemental livings for many--and they can contribute mightily to quality of life.

We do need to realize that spaces will need to work for consumers, local producers, and global producers.  The deck cannot be stacked too much one way.  And that requires market interventions. That is a painful reality for those justifiably suspicious of all things that don't have a clear incentive structure for performance.  We need to worry about that.  We need benchmarks from other locales and other tools to make sure people are not drawing a paycheck saying they do something when they don't deliver.  That said, some form of basic income (eventually) seems inevitable.

The simple truth is that we cannot all survive making baskets and artisan breads for each other.  And technological efficiency is simply too high for us to employ 7-9 billion folks.  Something's got to give.  It will.