A while back, I wrote about The Meaning Economy  — the idea that as AI and automation steadily absorb traditional labor, the next wave of value creation won’t come from what we do for a living , but from what we create, express, and share  as humans. That idea felt theoretical at the time — but now we’re starting to see the first real-world on-ramps appear. One of the clearest? Tech storytelling. The Human Layer That Machines Can’t Replace Across industries — politics, media,

“Optimus will eliminate poverty and provide universal high income for all.” — Elon Musk That line didn’t just drop into the news cycle — it landed like a flare. Because if Elon’s right, we’re not talking about the next version of work. We’re talking about the end  of it. For generations, we’ve been told that work is what makes us who we are. But what happens when machines do the work — and humans get the why ? The Digital Labor Class Came First Let’s start with a little truth

For most of human history, our lives moved in time with the planet. Work wasn’t a set number of hours on a clock—it was a rhythm in sync...