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Inequality, AI and Digital Life Are Undermining Society May 19, 2026
Trying to convince ourselves that this is "Progress" and therefore it will all work out just fine isn't the same as it actually working out just fine.
That society is on a terminal trajectory toward collapse is self-evident, as is our desire to evade acknowledging this distressing reality. I have curated four recent articles / essays to establish the baseline argument: inequality, AI and social media are undermining society in mutually reinforcing ways. The dynamics are scale-invariant: they undermine the cognitive, emotional, financial and social stability of individuals, families, communities, the economy and ultimately society, which includes the economy--not the other way around, as we've been led to believe: society doesn't exist, the economy is everything. This claim is the ultimate source of the dynamics of system-societal collapse. Let's go through four sources that lay out the dynamics of social collapse. 1. The collapse of identity, marriage, family, security and universally accessible positive economic-social roles. Jaded with work and school, some young men are opting out. Meet the NEETs: not employed, in education or in training. (yahoo.com) 2. The globalization of inequality not just in wealth and income but in agency (control of one's life) and opportunity to marry, establish a family, own a home and secure a positive economic-social role. What's being globalized is anxiety, desperation and loneliness, not prosperity. The Shared Feeling of Being Harvested by the Future. (nytimes.com) I have spent years reporting and living in both the United States and China and wrote a book chronicling the history and evolution of the Chinese internet. Moving between the two countries, I've been struck by how they have come to mirror and resemble each other. There is a shared sense of precarity that lies beneath the envy and distrust: the technological future is taking shape at vertiginous speed yet its promise is not shared by all. Researchers are courted with nine-figure salaries like N.B.A. stars, and roadside billboards call on residents to 'Supercharge your A.I.' and 'Stop Hiring Humans.' Tech workers have earnestly adopted China's infamous '996' work schedule: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. They are hustling hard and 'locking in' to ensure that they emerge as the rich and powerful victors of the A.I. gold rush. China's tech hubs are driven by a similar sense of urgency. "It's a highly competitive environment right now," a Shenzhen software engineer told me. "I feel like if I stop, I'll be left behind." His anxiety is not new. Unstable work situations and economic insecurity long predate the current A.I. boom. But A.I. has supercharged those anxieties and made them much harder to contest. A parallel set of memes has emerged to capture the sense of powerlessness. In the United States, the Silicon Valley tech elite identify as 'high agency,' while the rest of us are 'bots' condemned to the 'permanent underclass.' "This is not 'embracing the future,'" one disillusioned user on RedNote described the OpenClaw craze. "It's 'being harvested by the future.'" In China, ordinary workers describe themselves as shechu ('corporate cattle') and jiabangou ('overtime dogs.') These same workers have long used the viral term 'involution' to capture the feeling of being trapped in a cycle of meaningless competition. In both countries, those disaffected by A.I. identify with the gaming meme of the 'NPC' or 'non-player character.' They feel like the background role in someone else's video game, existing only to fill the world but not to shape it. 
The knowledge workers of both countries feel the surveillance presence of the technology. Outside the office, both Chinese and Americans have become enamored with A.I. as a source of frictionless companionship and emotional validation, with companies now monetizing emotional intimacy at scale. In China, one survey found that nearly half of young Chinese had used an A.I. chatbot to discuss their mental health. A.I. companions have emerged as a quick fix to a growing loneliness epidemic. This year, the app 'Are You Dead?' --which alerts a contact if a user fails to check-in -- has been wildly popular. The people of both countries are turning toward the spiritual for solace and agency in a world accelerating out of their control. When the future loses its promise, the past becomes a refuge. Both societies have seen a surge of nostalgia, a longing for a time remembered as simpler and more stable. Faced with such a system, the simplest response is to surrender: accept one's fate, sink into the apathy of inevitable decline and, in the words of Chinese netizens, 'let it rot.' It's easy to flee the friction of the real world for the comfort of our feeds and to confide in chatbots rather than friends. 3. The undermining of the family, which is the foundational structure of the human experience and social order. Stability is being replaced by desperation, anxiety, insecurity, disconnection and profound alienation. Meet the Sad Wives of AI: Are you married to a man who's obsessed with AI? I'm so, so sorry. There's a strange and under-discussed side effect of the AI boom: what it's doing to family dynamics. By which I mean: how it's potentially destroying family dynamics. I'm sure this applies to all kinds of families, gay or straight, rich or poor, with any AI-pilled members. The technology is coming, has come, for us all. Often it goes like this: He works in AI, and she does everything and anything else. Other times, it's bleaker: He desperately wants to work in AI--or feels he must work in AI--and she wants him to do literally anything else. He's off in another world, a world of prompts and benchmarks and epiphanies, while she's firmly in this one. Princess Diana famously said there were three people in her marriage. For the sad wives of AI, the third is a chatbot. Neither of my friends' husbands actually makes money from AI. Not yet. There is this sense, I offered, among people in AI--and people adjacent to it, and people who are pretty sure it's coming for them--that this is their last chance. They've tried everything else, these men, from writing screenplays to investing in crypto. It's AI or bust. Their partners, meanwhile, have quietly taken on a second job: emotional support. Chief Existential Officer, uncompensated. No one asked us if we wanted the gig. This is the question I ask everyone: Has any part of the AI boom made things better at home? Could it ever? 4. The hollowing out of social mobility and stability by financialization, turning everything into a market that can be rigged and exploited. The Profitable Rot of the Middle (Noel Johnson) Look around and you will see that the concept of ownership has radically changed. What we have now is licensing, a mere permission to use a thing or a service. This is the matter of the profitable rot at the deepest level. The societal transformation from owners to tenants is the very center of the transition. This propagates everywhere. It is the main principle of chokepoint capitalism. The social contract is being broken down between generations. If the calculation shows the hardworking generation can't get a house, health security or an honorable retirement anymore, then their attitudes change. Instead of going for the traditional achievements, they are saying 'nah' and quietly dropping out of the rat race. This is often misinterpreted by the media as 'quiet quitting' or lack of ambition. The truth is that it is neither. It is a highly rational reaction to a rigged casino. Why play a game where the rules are entirely dictated by the house and the house has explicitly stated its goal is to empty your pockets? We are witnessing a powerful psychological shift. The constant stress and worry characteristic of modern life are pretty much the awareness that a single medical emergency, job loss or rent hike will send you into complete ruin. The safety net has been privatized, sold off and financialized and the latter has been offered to us at an unaffordable price. Every pillar which used to provide stability to the middle class has been turned into an extraction vector. So what really makes us, us? What defines the modern working class? They shared a common understanding that the cavalry will not come to rescue it. 
Why does it matter so much? Because a society that has no middle class is by definition fragile. It's a brittle construct incapable of withstanding systemic shocks. In the absence of social mobility avenues, the impoverishment of individuals is not the only thing that happens. The legitimacy of the very institutions erodes. Whenever the distance between the rulers and the ruled gets too great and the social contract is voided by the elites at the top. History shows that the system does not end up simply incapable of resolving a state of permanent inequality. The system breaks down completely." Will inequality, AI and Digital Life collapse society? Yes. I have curated a list of my own essays that address society's accelerating trajectory into collapse: How Things Break / Model Collapse that includes a summary. I also have a curated list of my Essays on AI. The real-world commons where people learned to socialize and gain their sea-legs as adults has been replaced by ultra-processed Digital Life: addictive digital technologies / phones / devices that don't just enable surveillance, tracking and algorithmic entertainment, they monetize and incentivize these sources of addiction, disconnect, alienation, loneliness and isolation. Social anxiety is a "market" that invites profitable exploitation. The real-world commons and sources of stability that are the foundations of social stability are eroding right before our eyes. AI is not the answer, it is one of the drivers. There are no simplistic economic or political answers to the decay and collapse of society, for the root causes include every aspect of Ultra-Processed Life, from addictive digital scrolls to addictive junk food to a pervasive desperation and anxiety as the ground gives way beneath our feet. Will buying (or more likely, leasing) a household robot fix what's broken, or is the fantasy that there is a profitable technological "solution" to everything the reason why everything of value is breaking down? This is the core dynamic of what I call Anti-Progress: a profitable technology sold as "Progress" that is actually the opposite of Progress, for what's broken can't be fixed by what broke it. Avoidance, rationalization, denial--these coping mechanisms have very short half-lives. After denial comes Anger, and we're unprepared for anything other than artifice permanently propping up denial. But there is nothing permanent about artifice or denial, as both are self-liquidating by their very nature. Trying to convince ourselves that this is "Progress" and therefore it will all work out just fine isn't the same as it actually working out just fine, and the difference between the two is about to be starkly revealed as denial is replaced by anger. My trilogy maps this territory: the Mythology of Progress fails, the consequences of Ultra-Processed Life break through denial, and this acts as a catalyst: The Mythology of Progress Ultra-Processed Life Investing In Revolution Short video: Inequality, AI and Digital Life Are Undermining Society (1:57 min) My book Investing In Revolution is available at a 10% discount ($18 for the paperback, $24 for the hardcover and $8.95 for the ebook edition). Introduction (free) Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com Subscribe to my Substack for free My recent books: Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases originated via links to Amazon products on this site. THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY: Investing In Revolution Ultra-Processed Life The Mythology of Progress Systemic Problems/Solutions Investing In Revolution (2025) Introduction (free) The Mythology of Progress (2024) Introduction (free) Global Crisis, National Renewal (2021) Introduction (free) Money and Work Unchained (2017) Introduction (free) A Radically Beneficial World (2015) Introduction (free) What You Can Do Yourself Ultra-Processed Life (2025) Introduction (free) Self-Reliance in the 21st Century (2022) Introduction (free) When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal (2022) Introduction (free) Get a Job, Build a Real Career and Defy a Bewildering Economy (2014) Intro (free) Novels The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher Intro (free) The Secret Life of an Asian Heroine First chapters (free) Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Subscribe to my Substack for free Investing In Revolution print $18, (Kindle $8.95, Hardcover $24 (145 pages, 2025) 
Only now do we see that we've been investing in revolution for decades--not the revolutions we thought we were investing in, revolutions in technology and finance, but in the social revolution made inevitable by the extremes that we've reached in our single-minded pursuit of private gains.
The pendulum that we've pushed to an extreme will swing to the opposite extreme, and the artifices that have propped up a facade a stability for decades will accelerate the disorder rather than reverse it. We now stand at the point of decision, and this book offers a path to a reformation and renewal that serves the shared interests of us all, not just the few. Introduction (free) Ultra-Processed Life print $16, (Kindle $7.95, audiobook, Hardcover $20 (129 pages, 2025) 
Ultra-Processed Life: the substitution of a synthetic, commoditized, very profitable facsimile for what was once authentic.
Ultra-Processed Life is my term for everything that is analogous to ultra-processed snacks: attractively marketed, instantly alluring, easy to consume, addictive by design, tasty in the moment but harmful over time, its origins a black box of unknown processes, the brightly colored product bearing no resemblance to the real-world ingredients, an idealized form of what is inherently imperfect, untethered from the natural world. As with many others, the catalyst for my exploration was a life-threatening medical crisis that did not have a specific cause. This led me to wonder if our entire way of life is like an ultra-processed snack: tasty but not healthy, edible but stripped of the nutrients we need to be healthy, addictive by design. Introduction (free) The Mythology of Progress, Anti-Progress and a Mythology for the 21st Century print $20, (Kindle $9.95, Hardcover $24 (215 pages, 2024) audiobook, Read the Introduction and first chapter for free (PDF) 
What if the policies to accelerate growth are no longer working because our fix for every problem--growth at any cost--is failing? We're told Progress is inevitable as a result of technology, but everyday life is getting harder, not easier--the opposite of Progress, what I call Anti-Progress.
What if the real source of the unraveling is far deeper than economics or politics? What if the problem is what we see as the inevitable destiny of humanity--Progress--is actually a modern mythology, disconnected from the real-world consequences of growth for growth's sake? We indignantly reject that Progress is a mythology, but our need for mythology hasn't gone away because we've mastered technology; we've created a modern mythology of technology that is heedless of its own consequences. To truly progress, we need a new mythology aligned to 21st century realities. Read the Introduction and first chapter for free
Recent entries: Inequality, AI and Digital Life Are Undermining Society May 19, 2026 We've Optimized Fragility, Failure, Denial--and Rage May 18, 2026 Remember: In a Crisis, Everyone Will Consider Themselves 'The Good Guys' May 13, 2026 Chaos Unleashed: When "Irrational" Makes Perfect Sense May 12, 2026 When US Treasuries Play a Reverse Card May 11, 2026 What Would Be Truly Bullish? Actually Fixing What's Broken May 6, 2026 Recession and Revolution: Our Experience Isn't a Model or System May 4, 2026 Why We're Helpless When Things Break Down May 1, 2026 AI, Money, Human Nature and the Problem with Problems April 29, 2026 Sex, Money and Demographics April 27, 2026 Mercantilism: China and Beyond April 24, 2026 When the Cost of Truth Is High, We--and AI--Lie April 22, 2026 The Questions Nobody Asks as AI Replaces Human Workers April 20, 2026
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April 17, 2026
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"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." (Douglas MacArthur) "We are what we repeatedly do." (Aristotle) "Do the thing and you shall have the power." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." (E.F. Schumacher, via Tom R.) "He who will not risk cannot win." (John Paul Jones) "When we drink coffee, ideas march in like the army." (Honore de Balzac) "Progress is not possible without deviation." (Frank Zappa, via Richard Metzger) "Victory favors those who take pains." (amat victoria curam) "The man who has a garden and a library has everything." (Cicero, via Lee Bentley) "A healthy homecooked family meal and a home garden are revolutionary acts." (CHS) "Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything." (Napoleon Bonaparte) "The way of the Tao is reversal" Or "Reversal is the movement of Tao." (Lao Tzu) "Chance favours the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur) "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill) "Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasures." (Rumi) "The realm of gratitude is boundless." (CHS, 11/25/15) "History doesn't have a reverse gear." (CHS, 12/22/15) Smith's Law of Conservation of Risk: Every sustained action has more than one consequence. Some consequences will appear positive for a time before revealing their destructive nature. Some consequences will be intended, some will not. Some will be foreseeable, some will not. Some will be controllable, some will not. Those that are unforeseen and uncontrollable will trigger waves of other unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences. (July 8, 2014)(thanks to Lew G. for retitling the idea.) Smith's Neofeudalism Principle #1: If the citizenry cannot replace a kleptocratic authoritarian government and/or limit the power of the financial Aristocracy at the ballot box, the nation is a democracy in name only. The Smith Corollary to Metcalfe's Law (The Network Effect): the value of the network is created not just by the number of connected devices/users but by the value of the information and knowledge shared by users in sub-networks and in the entire network. (CHS, 4/6/16) My Credo of Liberation: I no longer care if the power centers of our society--the distant, fortified castles of our financial feudal system--are changed by my actions, for I am liberated by the act of resistance. I am no longer complicit in perpetuating fraudulent feudalism and the pathology of concentrated power. I no longer covet signifiers of membership in the Upper Caste that serves the plutocracy. I am liberated from self-destructive consumerist-State financialization and the delusion that debt servitude and obedience to sociopathological Elites serve my self-interests. (Thank you, Klaus-Peter L., for reminding me) "We've become a culture of excuses rather than solutions: solutions always require sustained effort and discipline." (CHS 4/9/16) "Fraud as a way of life caters an extravagant banquet of consequences." (CHS 4/14/16) "Creativity = problem solving = value creation." (CHS 6/4/16) "Truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems." (CHS 7/21/17) "We live in a system of human emotions that masquerades as a science (economics)." (CHS 1/1/18) "Always remember, your focus determines your reality." (George Lucas) "Diversity is for poor people. Sameness is for the successful." (GFB) "When power dissipates suddenly, it dissipates completely." (CHS 7/14/19) "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." (Henry David Thoreau) "Markets cannot price in the value of non-monetized natural assets such as diverse ecosystems." (CHS 7/14/19) "Magical thinking isn't optimism, it is folly." CHS 1/3/22) "Tune in (to self-reliance), drop out (of hyper-consumerism and debt-serfdom) and turn on (to relocalizing capital and agency)." (CHS 1/5/22) "The path to everything you desire starts here: like yourself as you are right now." (CHS 11/20/22) "There are only two signals: how many essentials you produce and share and if you're consuming less with better results. Everything else is noise." (CHS 12/17/22) "Liberation is no longer needing any confirmation or feedback from others or the world for one's sense of self. Wealth, fame, recognition, admiration, praise, prestige, approval, sainthood, martyrdom, success: none are needed, none are desired." (CHS 12/26/22) "When fame, wealth, prestige, status and glory are out of reach, you're free to pursue other more valuable things." (CHS 2/6/22) "It is the sacred duty of every activist who seeks to better their community to grow and share as much life-giving food as is humanly possible." (CHS 6/15/23) "Being anonymous, gray and unknown is the ideal state of freedom." (CHS 3/15/24) "We seem to have entered a world of anti-leisure and anti-productivity in which the unpaid shadow work demanded to keep all the complicated digital bits in motion obliterate our leisure and productivity." CHS (5/22/24) "It is axiomatic that failing systems work the best just before they fail catastrophically." Ray W. "Looking younger is mere technique; thinking younger demands creativity." CHS (10/16/24) "Tell me what's taboo and I'll tell you the truths that threaten the status quo." CHS (12/15/24) "This is the core of the Attention Economy: the ultimate addiction is the addiction to ourselves." CHS (1/28/25) "If You Seek the Truth, Look for What's Taboo." CHS (7/18/25) "My definition of self-reliance: the less you need, the easier it is to get what you need." CHS (7/26/25) "Mastery requires reading and doing." CHS (7/28/25) "The replacement of authentic value, quality, agency, choice, trust, legitimacy and experience with self-serving facsimiles is the key dynamic of Ultra-Processed Life, my term for the present-day human condition." CHS (8/12/25) "Ultra-Processed Life replaces an authentic experience with a synthetic, simulated, commoditized, highly profitable version that's superficially attractive but destructive over the long term." CHS (8/12/25) "What we see everywhere is the replacement of authentic things--including democracy--with synthetic facsimiles designed to maintain the illusion of choice and value." CHS (8/12/25) "Sometimes certainty is the enemy we don't even see and uncertainty is our most faithful ally." CHS (9/20/25) "Sanitized, homogenized, synthesized Ultra-Processed Life isn't more fun; it's just more profitable." CHS (4/6/26) "AI is ultra-processed cognition." CHS (4/6/26) |
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