Yuval Noah Harari’s concept of the "useless class" refers to a potential future, driven by AI and biotechnology, where a large portion of the population becomes not just unemployed, but unemployable. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, AI may outperform humans in both physical and cognitive tasks, creating a class of people seen as socially and economically irrelevant.
- Definition: The useless class consists of people who are not contributing to the economy or to society's knowledge,, as described by the Institute for Internet and the Just Society and Psychology Today.
- Cause: AI and biotechnology are advancing faster than labor markets, making many human roles redundant.
- Why "Useless?": As discussed by Medium and Psychology Today, AI may make more economical sense than human labor, rendering many workers "superfluous".
- The Difference with Past Revolutions: While previous technological revolutions replaced human labor with machine labor (physical), this new revolution threatens to replace human cognitive skills (brainpower) as well.
- The Danger: The issue is not just unemployment, but the creation of a group of people who are unemployable, creating intense social and political tension.
- Proposed Solutions: Harari highlights the need for solutions such as Universal Basic Income (UBI) and developing new definitions of human value beyond work.
