Reading Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle is like reading a critical analysis of today's society. Except it's written in 1967...

Debord argued that automation creates a contradiction capitalism can't resolve: the more efficient production becomes, the more the system has to invent new jobs to keep people employed, and keep them consuming. Yes, he reads cynical here. But he was spot on.

In 1967 that meant expanding the service sector. In 2026, read "service sector" as "knowledge work." And read "automation" as AI.

The doomsday scenarios today sound very familiar:

➡️ AI will displace millions of jobs ➡️ A new class of work will emerge to replace them, but we don't yet know what ➡️ Universal basic income is back on the table ➡️ Is the economy digging its own grave?

My take: Debord is probably right that the system always finds a way to absorb displaced workers into new forms of labour.

🤞 I hope he's wrong that those new jobs are meaningless. David Graeber called them "bullshit jobs" in 2018.... and a lot of knowledge work already fits the description.

I believe new classes of work can be more meaningful than what they replace. We don't necessarily have to further commoditise ourselves.

Are we rightfully cautious? Or is the world heading to a new phase of growth and abundance?