Are you all in on AI, or are you bracing for an AI-pocalypse?
asserted
you → brace → pocalypse
While Wall Street wagers on skyrocketing profits at artificial intelligence firms and chipmakers alike, regular joes worry about big, noisy, water-hogging data centers – not to mention their jobs.
asserted
joes → skyrocket → centers
Many, no doubt, have been prompting their chatbots to navigate the latest convulsions.
asserted
Many → prompt → convulsions
Yet AI’s future remains largely unknown – even to supposed “experts.”
asserted
future → remain → experts
Take the case of Leopold Aschenbrenner – the 25-year-old “Nostradamus of AI” whose high-flying hedge fund Situational Awareness got laid low by its leveraged bets on a bumpy sector.
asserted
fund → take → sector
That notable casualty notwithstanding, the doom-and-gloom AI “bubble” babbling you hear is broadly bogus, as I explained last December.
asserted
I → hear → ?
Conversely, buying stocks on grandiose AI speculation and recent IPO hype amounts to peak arrogance.
asserted
buying → buy → arrogance
Indeed, with every prospect ceaselessly vetted – whether it’s a headfake, a conundrum or a once-in-a-generation opportunity – knowing something that others don’t is impossible.
asserted
others → vet → something
Stocks pre-
asserted
Stocks → pre → ?
AI cassandras warn of fast, vast and tough-to-stomach changes – among them the widely broadcasted “jobpocalypse.”
asserted
cassandras → warn → them
AI is US businesses’ top cited reason for 2026 layoffs.
asserted
AI → cite → layoffs
This year’s tech job cuts have already surpassed 2025’s full-year total.
asserted
cuts → surpass → total
Oracle is reportedly eyeing firings next month to offset its huge AI infrastructure debt.
uncertain
Oracle → eye → debt
That’s after slashing over 20% of its workforce in its latest fiscal year.
asserted
That → ’ → year
Wrongly supposing that innovation destroys but doesn’t at the same time create – an age-old error.
In 1981, economists widely warned that computers would displace workers in droves.
asserted
computers → suppose → droves
What happened instead?
asserted
What → happen → ?
Jobs changed, workers learned new skills.
asserted
workers → change → skills
Life improved.
asserted
Life → improve → ?
The pattern permeates history – and will continue to do so.
asserted
pattern → permeate → history
Thus far, the evidence shows that AI often spurs retraining and expanded hiring, not mass unemployment.
asserted
AI → show → retraining
Globally, many firms that made AI-driven layoffs are rehiring for similar positions, including IBM and Ford.
asserted
that → make → IBM
They vastly underestimated the value of human judgment and oversight.
asserted
They → underestimate → judgment
Job-cutting tech firms like Jack Dorsey’s Block – which, citing AI, slashed nearly half its workforce in February – had simply over-hired post-pandemic.
asserted
which → cut → pandemic
AI has become a highly convenient scapegoat.
asserted
AI → become → ?
AI will change some industries greatly – others, less so.
asserted
others → change → industries
Can it improve pizza or duct tape?
asserted
it → improve → pizza
It may help streamline logistics for transporting and storing them.
uncertain
It → help → them
Big innovations seldom include either/or scenarios.
asserted
innovations → include → either
Food delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash surged while grocery and restaurant sales kept growing.
asserted
sales → surge → Eats
Big-box stores changed retailing, then came online retail.
asserted
retail → change → retailing
Yet small shops still find niches and thrive.
asserted
shops → find → niches
Optimists also overrate the speed of big change.
asserted
Optimists → overrate → change
First came clunky desktop dial-up.
asserted
up → come → ?
It took decades.
asserted
It → take → decades
These limitations, plus political pushback and chip shortages, will slow rollouts globally.
asserted
limitations → slow → rollouts
Eventually, it will enable young lawyers to ditch rote tasks for more productive work.
asserted
it → enable → work
Eventually, self-driving vehicles will multiply – despite early New York resistance – alleviating truck driver shortages while giving blind and disabled folks previously unfathomable independence.
asserted
vehicles → drive → independence
AI will aid big financials, but replace everyone?
asserted
AI → aid → everyone
Customers don’t just want expertise.
asserted
Customers → want → expertise
They also want responsibility.
asserted
They → want → responsibility
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
