Summary of Key Points
This article reveals a trend that is more profound than the “decoupling between China and the United States” or the “retraction of globalization”: the ultimate separation of capital and labor. For hundreds of years, the expansion of capital has relied on hiring large numbers of ordinary people (trade-in labor for wages, with wages supporting consumption and living standards), forming an invisible contract where “capital earns profits and labor obtains a means of subsistence.” However, now capital has found new “amplifiers” in the form of AI, robots, and data centers, which no longer require as much human labor. As a result, the value of ordinary people’s work has declined, the middle class has become vulnerable, employment has become difficult, and there is even a crisis of being considered “superfluous by the system.” The article concludes that ordinary people need to shift from being mere “labor” to accumulating abilities that machines cannot replicate—such as judgment and credible relationships—to redefine their value.
1. Why Does Capital Require Fewer People? Because It Has “New Employees”
In the past, capital had to hire people to expand: factories needed workers, restaurants needed servers, and banks needed clerks. But now, capital’s new “bodies” are AI, robots, and data centers—tools that do not eat, do not rest, and have nearly zero marginal costs.
For example, NVIDIA generated $215.9 billion in revenue in 2026 but only had 42,000 employees, averaging a salary of $5 million per person—meaning it achieved huge profits with very few people. Another example is the Swedish fintech company Klarna; its AI customer service handled 2.3 million conversations in just one month, equivalent to the workload of 700 full-time clerks, and also helped the company earn an additional $40 million.
The way capital calculates has changed: hiring people was once a “necessary cost,” but now AI systems are cheaper and more stable than humans (they don’t get sick or quit), so machines are naturally the preferred choice.
2. The Root of Middle-Class Anxiety: The Ceiling on Hard Work
Many people feel that hard work is no longer useful, and this is not an illusion—it’s the result of the dilution of the value of labor.
U.S. surveys show that nearly 70% of people believe the American dream of getting rich through hard work has shattered, with only 25% thinking they can improve their standard of living. For instance, Jeff, who used to be able to support his family and buy a house with one salary, now finds that his children cannot afford to do the same despite saving diligently; an elite couple in Atlanta with an annual income of 2.5 million yuan wants to move into a bigger house and have a second child but is stuck due to doubled mortgage rates.
In the past, hard work could elevate you from being a “small gear” to a “large gear,” but now machines have taken those positions, setting a ceiling on the rewards of effort: no matter how hard you work, you can’t compete with AI that can operate 24 hours a day.
3. The Intangible Economy + AI: The Accelerator of Decoupling
The economy today is increasingly driven by “intangible things”—such as Apple’s iOS system, brand value, and data. These have two characteristics:
1. Low marginal cost: Writing a piece of code and replicating it thousands of times costs almost nothing.
2. Winner takes all: The combination of Apple’s iOS, App Store, and iCloud creates an ecosystem that is difficult for others to replace.
This has led to a decoupling between growth and employment: companies’ profits increase and their market values rise, yet they still lay off employees (for example, Amazon says it will reduce its workforce after adopting AI); industry capital spending soars (AI-related investments could reach $1.6 trillion in 2031), but new jobs are not created accordingly.
AI is also taking away white-collar jobs: tasks like data analysis for junior analysts, customer service conversations, and initial design drafts that used to require humans can now be done by AI. What’s more frightening is that even the “entry-level opportunities” are disappearing—young people no longer have chances to start their careers because these low-value tasks are being automated.
4. Survival Strategies for Ordinary People: Stop Being “Replaceable Labor”
Competing with machines by being more like them is a losing proposition; ordinary people need to acquire abilities that machines cannot replicate:
- Judgment: Machines can provide answers, but you need to know which questions are worth asking and whether the answers are reliable (for example, AI-generated reports may overlook risks).
- Credible Relationships: Machines can replicate skills, but long-term trust (from customers or colleagues) cannot.
- Organizational Skills: The ability to bring people, tools, and resources together to achieve a goal is something machines cannot do.
- Narrative Skills: The ability to explain why something is important—for example, to clearly communicate the value of a product to users; machines can generate content but do not understand human emotions.
- Responsibility: While machines don’t take responsibility for mistakes, the willingness to accept consequences (such as being accountable for project failures) becomes increasingly valuable.
In short: Don’t just sell your time; accumulate assets that machines cannot take away.
5. A More Terrifying Reality than Unemployment: The Crisis of Being “Unneeded” by the System
In modern society, we define ourselves through our jobs (I’m a doctor/programmer/teacher); work is not only a source of income but also a source of dignity—it tells us that we are useful. But now, systems may no longer need your labor:
- You see data centers operating and chip companies making money, yet you don’t get a share of it.
- You’re not unemployed, but the “valuable” parts of your job have been taken over by AI, leaving you with only trivial tasks like communication and taking the blame.
- You realize that your time is becoming less valuable because machines can complete your tasks more cheaply.
This is not about “exploitation” (at least exploitation still involves a clear structure); it’s about being considered “superfluous”—you no longer have a place in the system. The AI era forces us to rethink: What value do humans have beyond our jobs? Babies and the elderly may not have direct labor value, but they represent hope and memory for their families. Humans cannot rely solely on market prices to define their worth.
Conclusion
This is not the “end of the world,” but the beginning of a redefinition of what it means to be human. The separation of capital and labor has already happened, and we can’t pretend that the old contract still holds. In the future, what will be scarce are not people who can work, but those who understand why humans cannot be reduced to mere commodities. Those who can judge, connect, organize, and take responsibility will not be replaced by machines.
In other words: Stop being “tools”; become “human beings” with genuine value. This is the ultimate test for our generation.