The unironic truth is that I want to be fluent in the AI landscape so I can make enough money to be able to work, finally. I don’t mean labor. I mean the good work we all should have a constitutional right to; if you have something you want to work on, you should be given the space and resources—academics, internet amateurs in whatever field, janitors, cashiers, teachers, moms without jobs, anybody.

We all derive a sense of meaning from work and that is why the post-labor world is so bright. We’re gonna do so much stuff.

I cannot wait for the day: it’s a nice summer day in Barcelona, and I’m on my balcony smoking cigarettes and writing a novel on a manual typewriter. I have a device that I’m using as a paperweight for my draft so far and on it I have an AI that I consult as a thesaurus, encyclopedia, and thematic ideation partner. There is no war and climate change has been figured out, cancer cured.

I just want to work on my fiction on a manual typewriter. And I want everybody to have the space and material resources to do what they want to do. Everybody deserves a break from labor so we can finally work.

I fully believe AI will result in that future or humanity-ending totalitarianism. I am trying to do my part.