AI and universal basic income promise a post-work future, but both can only count work that already has a price, and miss the unpaid care labor holding it up.
The distinction between price and worth, especially through the dinner example, is so sharp because it exposes the part of the AI productivity conversation we keep politely stepping around. We talk so much about automating paid work, while the truly load-bearing labor is sitting underneath the whole system, unpaid, unseen, and apparently holding civilization together with a grocery list and mild resentment. Such a powerful piece. 🩷🦩
Very thought provoking. Ironically the people who are accustomed to doing the invisible labors, will probably be doing the invisible labors of making sense of the gap and making the missing pieces explicit.
Ok, the dinner turn is SO real lol. Something that looks dead simple from the outside is actually a full coordination task that's easily missed and not priced. Honestly, I hope your agent comes out with a 365-day dinner plan for you and just handles it forever. My wife and I try to splurge on a cleaning service every now and then, and honestly, I think of it as buying back time and brain space, not a luxury. As a personal example on an extension of your argument, my brother literally just had a baby and childcare is astronomical right now but that's the tracked version. The unpaid version, the lack of family stepping in, and the invisible labor of care appear nowhere in any ledger book. That's exactly the hole you're pointing out imo. Really great insights as always, Kristi.
Ha! the agent handling 365 days of dinner sure is the dream. And yes, “buying back time and brain space” is exactly it. The fact that we have to frame it as a splurge to justify it is its own tell. Your brother’s a perfect example, the tracked version has a terrifying number on it, and the untracked version, the family that does or doesn’t show up, the 2am labor none of it touches, is the whole point. Congrats to him! And to you. I became an auntie long before I became a mom and it to this day is one of my absolute favorite titles.
The distinction between price and worth, especially through the dinner example, is so sharp because it exposes the part of the AI productivity conversation we keep politely stepping around. We talk so much about automating paid work, while the truly load-bearing labor is sitting underneath the whole system, unpaid, unseen, and apparently holding civilization together with a grocery list and mild resentment. Such a powerful piece. 🩷🦩
Very thought provoking. Ironically the people who are accustomed to doing the invisible labors, will probably be doing the invisible labors of making sense of the gap and making the missing pieces explicit.
The layers of it all can be truly stunning
Ok, the dinner turn is SO real lol. Something that looks dead simple from the outside is actually a full coordination task that's easily missed and not priced. Honestly, I hope your agent comes out with a 365-day dinner plan for you and just handles it forever. My wife and I try to splurge on a cleaning service every now and then, and honestly, I think of it as buying back time and brain space, not a luxury. As a personal example on an extension of your argument, my brother literally just had a baby and childcare is astronomical right now but that's the tracked version. The unpaid version, the lack of family stepping in, and the invisible labor of care appear nowhere in any ledger book. That's exactly the hole you're pointing out imo. Really great insights as always, Kristi.
Ha! the agent handling 365 days of dinner sure is the dream. And yes, “buying back time and brain space” is exactly it. The fact that we have to frame it as a splurge to justify it is its own tell. Your brother’s a perfect example, the tracked version has a terrifying number on it, and the untracked version, the family that does or doesn’t show up, the 2am labor none of it touches, is the whole point. Congrats to him! And to you. I became an auntie long before I became a mom and it to this day is one of my absolute favorite titles.